I'm usually a big fan of old movies, and I generally like screwball comedies like The Marx Brothers but this was just annoying from start to finish. I actually have a headache after watching it all the way through.
Did anyone else feel this way?
Can't say I did, no. It's not my favourite of the thirties screwball comedies (I think I'd give that honour to "The Awful Truth"), but it's a lot of fun all the same.
shareThis one draws strong reactions both positive and negative I love but my mother finds it too frantic.
shareYes, I've noticed the extreme reactions. I wouldn't be surprised if "Twentieth Century" is similar.
shareWe watched the movie for the first time last night. After about 10 or 15 minutes my 11-year-old daughter quit watching. She said Hepburn's character was too annoying. :)
share:-) I can respect that. It could be fair to say the character was a bit over the top.
shareYep, hepburn's character was the weak part of the film. She sure appeared a real (love)psycho by today's standard and a complete put off for today's males. Take notes girls of what not to do.
Cary grant's character also was bad, oh yeah. Overacted, especially with the dog parts.
Maybe at the time (1938) this movie was funny, but now...
The thing is many of this film "funny" bits are old and tired for us viewers cause they've been done so many times in the past in films, or tv shows or commercials.
I won't be too harsh on this film cause it probably was one of those films that influenced many more afterwards.
Hepburn's character has a flawed vulnerability but that kind of works with Cary Grant's character.The movie is light and fun.
shareFunny you should say that, Hepburn's character was one of my favourite things about this film!
shareas20 wrote:
The thing is many of this film "funny" bits are old and tired for us viewers cause they've been done so many times in the past in films, or tv shows or commercials.Amusingly, that is what the notorious original review in the New York Times complained about.I still think that it is funny as hell after having seen it several times.David-CG's very useful Scripts for Firefox: http://userscripts.org/users/67626 share
No, I love this movie!
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This film is genius! What are you talking about?!
This is one of my all time favorites, but I did find, when I showed it a couple of years ago to my movie group at my apartment complex, that many didn't care for it. However, I will be showing it again within a couple of weeks. The group has changed and just maybe the current ones will appreciate it more.
I'm the kind of guy, when I move - watch my smoke. But I'm gonna need some good clothes though.
I'm usually a big fan of old movies, and I generally like screwball comedies like The Marx Brothers but this was just annoying from start to finish. I actually have a headache after watching it all the way through.Precisely. You spoke my mind. I watched the film a few days ago for the first and last time - and couldn't even make it through to the ending, but turned off 10 minutes early. Never did I see such an unfunny 'comedy' with such irritating lead characters. No wit, no charm, not enough over the top either. The only thing I liked a bit was the leopard (the first one), but unfortunately it didn't have enough screen time to keep me interested.
Did anyone else feel this way?
I enjoy the movie for what it is. Im just glad it was made. It certainly push forward comedies into being fearless with jokes.
"I have no memories I'm prepared to share with you."- Peter O'Toole
Yes, I really found this film annoying, and yet I am a Cary Grant fan and thought Katherine Hepburn was excellent in "The Philadelphia Story". But from the very start with the golf course scene and then the silly night club scene where she was throwing her olives it all seemed so inane.
I guess almost anything can be funny if you empathize with or like the characters. But Hepburn's came across as just annoying (!) I turned this film off after 15 minutes, but because I had rented it I was determined to get to the end.
Groucho Marx is visually funny & bizarre, yet charismatic, but in comparison the Susan Vance character is preoccupied and came across as both rude, and stupid. I also found Cary Grant's character irritating because he is handling the situations with constant incompetence.
I guess the writing is responsible as well. And yet this film is a classic, with fantastic reviews. I am a bit fussy about what makes me laugh, so maybe it is just bypassing my comedy "triggers".
I thought I would give "Bringing Up Baby" another try, as it was just on TCM. I don't mean to offend any Katharine Hepburn fans out there, but I find her performance to be forced, grating and irritating. I think Cary Grant is very funny, but the leading lady role called for a more spontaneus comic actress. Carole Lombard or Irene Dunne would probably have been better choices. On the other hand, I do like Hepburn in comedies that are more of the drawing room variety, like The Philadelphia Story". Screwball comedy was a very hard type of genre to pull off. Most of the greatest stars were'nt very good at it, though they tried. They might have been hits, but Davis in "The Bride Came COD" and Crawford in "Love on the Run" contained even worse performances. While "Bringing Up Baby" is the better film of the three, even though it wasn't successful, I wish Hepburn weren't in it. Just my opinion.
shareI agree. I've enjoyed other screwball comedies, esp. with Carole Lombard and Irene Dunne, but Hepburn was unbearable. I was so disappointed. Somehow, I'd never seen the film until tonight, and I watched it until the end because I know it's a classic. There was a lot of clever writing, and I think I would have enjoyed it with a different leading lady.
I would have been happy to watch the leopard in every scene, although I always have misgivings about how animals may be trained to act like that. The same leopard played the roles of both leopards. If you want more information about Nissa the leopard, I found it at : http://acgsphiles.blogspot.com/2010/02/nissa-aka-baby.html
I think she did a better job than Hepburn!
Also, did anyone notice in the credits that George is played by Asta? Another great actor.
I love old movies, and while Katherine Hepburn isn't my favorite, I thought she did okay in this, although her performance was a bit forced. There were parts that were cute/humourous, but I agree w/ one of the posters above that said it's kind've hard to stand up in today's world, when we've seen these things repeated, even if perhaps this was one of the first to do some of those things. It was pretty dated, but it is what it is and I didn't find it annoying, but it's not one I'd watch again.
It's amazing to me what does hold up over time - the Marx Brothers movies & Lucy were made between 50-70+ years ago, and yet they're still funny - both my daughter (who's almost 10) and I (30) think so. We LOL at them, and watch repeatedly, while other films/tv shows from the same era just fall flat, even though I realize it must've been funny at the time.....it just isn't now.
"Are you going to your grave with unlived lives in your veins?" ~ The Good Girl
"Baby", and "Holiday" (a very different Hepburn and Grant film) are considered to be two of her finest films!
I do love this film, but if pressed, I'd almost say Grant was the one just a bit over-the-top with his character (Be with you in a minute, Mr. Peabody!). I thought Hepburn nailed it perfectly with hers, though. And it was so well directed, and so many details were done so well to reinforce what was happening in the action for such an early film.
Take for instance Susan's formal attire early in the film at the country club bar--the scene where the bartender was teaching her to pop olives into her mouth. That head wear, the two thin pieces of wired ribbon that kind of radiated outward (scattered?) in different directions from her head (the bends in the ribbon making it slightly reminiscent of radiating lightning bolts), was a perfect representation of her seemingly scatter-brained personality! That wardrobe detail was a small stroke of genius, IMHO.
I do think that Grant's David, being constantly on-edge with nervous energy, can sort of wear you out by the middle of the film, and when it lags a bit here and there, you're about ready to collapse from exhaustion yourself! So, I guess I can see how it could be annoying to some.
But it's one of my favorite early screwball comedies, nonetheless.
Ron H
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I just watched Bringing Up Baby for the first time. Very annoying film in about 10 different ways. Painful and embarrassing to watch. If I cut it some slack for being old - and I do like animals - I can generously rate it 3.3 out of 10 which rounds off to 3 for imdb purposes.
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