MovieChat Forums > What's Up, Doc? (1972) Discussion > AWFUL!!!

AWFUL!!!

posted 18 years ago by flyingcandy
43 replies | jump to latest

THE LAST PICTURE SHOW gets totally blasted by imdb people (here and again) but this movie, which is downright awful, gets all praises, zero negative comments.

i guess it's one of those movies that people dont care enough about it to comment on it if they hated it.

peter bogdonavitch went from making one of the best movies, LAST PICTURE SHOW, and his ego got the best of him and he then made this horrendous movie.

it was a hit, i realize... which means nothing.

HORRIBLE MOVIE!

[–] bobj1961 14 years ago

The Flintstones would be right up you alley.

[–] Chason_S 14 years ago

The Last Picture Show is a PERFECT Peter Bogdanovich drama. What's Up, Doc? is a PERFECT Bogdanovich comedy (though I would be hard pressed to decide between this one and Paper Moon).

[–] claudenorth 14 years ago

I'd say that Paper Moon is a PERFECT Bogdanovich comedy-drama.

[–] Chason_S 14 years ago

Paper Moon IS absolutely PERFECT! I can't even tell you how many times I've seen it! Ryan! Tatum! Madeline!

[–] logicalskeptic 13 years ago

As SingJohn and perhaps others, whom I shall apologize to for my omissions, have pointed out this is SATIRE it is satire of mainly the 50's of which Bogdanovich is a wannabe participant and almost slavish worshiper. He LOVES the 50's and I say this as one who grew up in the ghastly (for me) 50's. This is truly one of my very favorite comedies.
Barbara Streisand thwarting Ryan O'Neil's attempt to purchase a headache remedy,
Streisand and O'Neil and everyone else under the table, any scene with the great Madeline Kahn or Kenneth Mars, the house detective, CIA agent and the whistle blower repeatedly mishandling the bag(s), Streisand appearing out of nowhere on the piano, the absolutely madcap scene where the plate glass was finally smashed and San Francisco Bay was filled with vehicles and the following court scene.
Granted this is no original "Ladykillers", it's slapstick and slapstick that I believe even the unparalleled Laurel and Hardy would have admired.

There are only two things are actually knowable:
It is now and you are here. All else is merely a belief.

[–] Mickey77 13 years ago

"...i guess it's one of those movies that people dont care enough about it to comment on it if they hated it...."

Guess you just disproved your own statement.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=32397724

[–] franzkabuki 13 years ago

Let´s see about these negative comments... well, roughly the first hour of the film was pretty poor actually with only about 1 joke out of every 4 or so being genuinely funny... and plenty of them downright lame. I mean stupid. The second half, however, improves considerably and there´s even some laugh-out-loud kinda material included (some of the chase as well as the court scene being quite hilarious). But, of course, that´s overall still way inferior to the film´s obvious ancestors Bringing Up Baby & The Lady Eve. One particularly big and obvious problem is Barbra Streisand who not only looks creepy, but also can´t act (it must be said though that Kenneth Mars steals the show from her in these regards as an even more insufferably unfunny nuisance). Katherine Hepburn may have been somewhat annoying in the aforementioned Bringing Up Baby, but at least she didn´t come across as a scary stalker the way Streisand does here. So overall it´s a bit hard to make up the mind about it... but it ain´t bad though. 6,5/10 might be an appropriate rating.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] TVholic 12 years ago

Barbra Streisand who not only looks creepy, but also can´t act

You keep saying this, but that won't make it true. She's been nominated for and won in the leading actress category at the Oscars, BAFTA awards, People's Choice awards and a slew of times in the Golden Globes. Yet we're supposed to accept the opinion of "franzkabuki" as if it's gospel? Franz who? I don't think so.

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

I like Bringing Up Baby, but I think What's Up Doc is funnier. I don't think Streisand is any creepier than Hepburn.

[–] Enrique-8 12 years ago

I feel soooo sorry for you....

Enrique Sanchez

[–] ConDeuce 12 years ago

"What's Up Doc?" gets praises not because it's a great "art" film or something like it but because it's funny. There's nothing pretentious about it. Peter Bogdanovich obviously loved the fast paced comedies of the late 30s and wanted to pay homage to them. And he did it well with this movie. To call it awful doesn't make sense and comparing it to "The Last Picture Show" makes even less sense.

[–] tseybert 10 years ago

I was wondering if What's Up, Doc? has a "crazy hater" thread.

Yup.

Janet! Donkeys!

[–] choyt19 9 years ago

I wouldn't call it awful (I mean, we're not talking Year One here), but...I found precious little about the film that was funny.

It felt less like a comedy than an unwieldy stew of influences that Bogdanovich adored (Hawks, Hitchcock, Sennett, Looney Tunes).

Also, I found Judy intensely annoying and Howard a spaghetti-spined drip. They deserved each other.

------Jesus loves you, but only as a friend.------

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

i don't agree. I thought it was hilarious when I first saw it 40 years ago, and I think it's hilarious still.