My only experiences with the Marx Brothers are parodies of their work and seeing the I Love Lucy episode that Harpo Marx guest starred on. Everybody knows the mirror gag:
So I was a little apprehensive of this movie because it's so old and a lot of movies don't stand the test of time (1933). It's so old that I typed 1993 first out of habit. Now that was a great year for movies (i.e. Hocus Pocus).
But I was pleasantly surprised.
Duck Soup has more laughs in a minute than Jim Carrey's gotten in the past 10 years (To be fair, I did enjoy "Yes Man"). The plot is a political satire but it doesn't really matter what the plot is; as Groucho put it, they were just "four jews trying to get a laugh" (citation: wikipedia so you know it's legit). It's zany. It's kooky. But most importantly in regards to this blog, it's funny. It isn't some formulaic movie that's predictable and safe. It is really just four guys running around and making puns for an hour and a half. And I was okay with that.
Mussolini banned this film in Italy because he thought it was making fun of him (citation: imdb trivia section so you know it's legit). What more could you ask of a movie than to be banned by a fascist dictator? That's the mark of good comedy if you ask me.
It's on netflix if you're interested. But be prepared to get some shitty recommendations (citation: personal experience).
Funny-o-meter: 8/10.
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