Review of What's Up, Doc? (1972) by Vadim D — 14 Apr 2015

If "Bringing Up Baby", "His Girl Friday", Ernst Lubitsch, Howard Hawks, and 1930s cinema don't mean anything to you, then "What's Up, Doc?" might not either. "What's Up, Doc?" is so good, though, you may start caring about those films and those directors and that era. The 1940s had film noir, the '50s had decadent, hip romantic comedies, and the '60s started cute and then went a little crazy (you cannot define them). Meanwhile, the '30s had the screwball comedy, a subgenre in which every character speaks like they're competing for the fastest talker in the world award and gets into situations you'd only find in your worst nightmares (e.g. cat-and-mouse games with leopards, falling in love with con artists/charming eccentrics). In other words, there's nothing better.

Apparently, Peter Bogdanovich thinks so too. He began his career as Martin Scorsese's brotha-from-anotha-motha (critically, that is) but has slowly faded, in terms of popularity and critical adoration (the last film he directed was "The Cat's Meow", a fluffer released in 2001). Like Prince, Bogdanovich hit his peak at the beginning of his career - naturally, keeping early acclaim is not an easy task. One can hardly fault him for being a quintessential '70s director: he has given us some of the best movies ever made. It's impossible to mention "The Last Picture Show", "Paper Moon", or "What's Up, Doc?" in the scope of cinematic history and only get a passing reaction.

But let's talk about "What's Up, Doc?" for a minute (or the rest of the review). It was made between the heaviness of "The Last Picture Show" and the sardonicism of "Paper Moon". Both were filmed in black-and-white, both were sad-funny (or just plain old sad), and both existed in a middle ground between bruising reality and sweeping cinematic fundamentals. "What's Up, Doc?" is the odd man out: it's filmed in color, is a full-blown comedy, and has nothing to say about culture except for a superiorly meta remark about "Love Story" (you know, the movie that made Ryan O'Neal a star?). It's a screwball comedy, though, and that's part of the fun. Most thought the genre died around the time 1949's "I Was a Male War Bride" came out; but no. "What's Up, Doc?" is too well executed and much too rib-tickling to be passed along as an homage. It's a cleverly conceived addition to an established genre that reigned all the way back to the days when Norma Shearer was still considered to be a big deal (and that was ages ago).

This time around, Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant are replaced by Ryan O'Neal and Barbra Streisand with gusto; O'Neal is the square, Streisand is the cuckoo bird who wins him and us over with her unrealistic, unintentional humorousness. O'Neal portrays Howard Bannister, a musicologist in town with his overbearing fiancee (Madeline Kahn) to receive a grant offered by Frederick Larrabee (Austin Pendleton); Streisand is Judy Maxwell, a fast-talking, multiple collegiate failing woman who decides that Howard is the man for her, and that Howard, from now on, will be called Steve. Other guests pass through the hotel, including Mrs. Van Hoskins (Mabel Albertson), an aging socialite covered in gleaming jewels, Mr. Smith (Michael Murphy), a potential whistleblower carrying top secret files, Mr. Jones (Phillip Roth), who is following Mr. Smith, a bunch of thieves who hope to steal Mrs. Van Hoskins diamonds, and more. But that's not all. Four of these people are carrying identical bags; four of them lose their bags; and four of them find themselves in the possession of materials that certainly aren't theirs. Farcial tensions ensue.

It's difficult to write about comedy, especially comedy like this, because, in the case of drama or other sweeping genres, there is an opportunity to go deep in the analysis, pointing out a metaphor here, an allusion over there. "What's Up, Doc?" isn't particularly scholarly, nor is it sweeping or deep, but boy is it funny. A film like this takes a cinematic master that has the ability to make such plot complications read seamlessly, and Bogdanovich is the perfect man for the job. He has clearly studied the pulses of films like "My Man Godfrey" and "Midnight", and emulates them without a single flaw. It's short - a quick 93 minutes - and not one moment goes by without a smile, a laugh, or something like that. The dialogue gets the tone of "His Girl Friday" just right, and O'Neal and Streisand are just as good as Grant and Hepburn were in "Bringing Up Baby". (Streisand has never been better.).

And there's that car chase. That car chase. I can't give away too much, but I will reveal that obstacles include a glass wall, a street blocking ladder, a costume shop, a Chinatown parade, drying cement, a wedding, and even San Francisco Bay. Things that wouldn't be obstacles in real life but are here, somehow easy to accept. How the characters run into them I cannot say, but the way Bogdanovich executes the scene is effortless. Its comedic panache is almost erotic. Like I said earlier, though, comedies are hard to write about. So I'll put it shortly and sweetly: "What's Up, Doc?" is one of the best, and one of the smartest, and missing out on its pleasures may as well be a federal offense. So get moving, buster.