MovieChat Forums > What's Up, Doc? (1972) Discussion > Hysterical and fantastic movie, but Ryan...

Hysterical and fantastic movie, but Ryan O'Neal, arggh...

posted 13 years ago by TVholic
20 replies | jump to latest

I've enjoyed this movie for almost 40 years now, but with each time I re-watch it, I find Ryan O'Neal's performance more and more painful. He was a fine dramatic actor, but just not right for comedy. Especially in the courtroom scene when he's trying to explain everything to the judge, Liam Dunn as Judge Maxwell just absolutely leaves him in the dust where it comes to delivery and timing. Streisand was wonderful. Everybody else was very good to excellent. But Ryan... Ouch. He's certainly no Johnny Galecki or Ben Stiller when it comes to playing the flustered hapless nerd. Is it any wonder he never got many roles in comedies?

Everything and everyone else in the movie is great. Any chance we can get a 40th anniversary edition with a CGI character replacing O'Neal, or maybe a new actor - a real comedic actor - matted in?

[–] JohnnyJohnson (312) 2 months ago

I think the point was to cast O'Neal in a totally unlikely role. He was just coming off Love Story and was always cast as the stud. So for him to play a seemingly sexless nerd was supposed to make the audience go "Huh? Why is Ryan O'Neal playing a nerd?" Kind of like in the movie when he asks "Why did you pick me?". And Barbra answers the question everyone including Howard wanted to know: "Because you look good in pajamas!". I took it as an inside joke. There had to be a scene of unsexy/sexy Howard in his underwear. That's what the audience wanted to see, not his comedic talents.

But I thought Ryan O'Neal did the comedy above average. That's why Bogdanovich next put Ryan in the brilliant Paper Moon. He did comedy very well in that movie.