Duck Soup is supposedly the greatest of all the movies made by the Marx Brothers. You know, Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo. I know many people find them laugh-out-loud hysterical. I did not. It had a few moments of brilliance, I concede. An infamous mirror routine between Groucho and Harpo, a hat switch bit with a lemonade vendor that actually made me smile and a fabulous Busby Berkeley entrance set up for Groucho which, of course, he misses. That said, I was put off by the fat jokes, the flat delivery of lines by Groucho and the many, many bits of humor that I simply think did not work.
I had high expectations for Duck Soup. I knew it to be a satire about war and government and I also had some recollection about this NOT being about contemporary leaders of the day: Hitler and Mussolini. I expected to laugh but I didn't. Not once.
The relevance of this film today is difficult for me to determine. It wasn't about the history we now know of the day and it wasn't exactly a "slice of life" from 1933. But it does convey how ridiculous politics and government can be... something that's surely not changed since the days this movie was conceived. While I'm sure this classic continues to be referenced by name in contemporary storytelling, I can't recall a recent example of the film's overall influence. I am sure someone will quickly correct me!
Duck Soup is not a movie I'll be queueing up again soon at Netflix. It does not make me want to Tivo the next Marx Brothers marathon on AMC. And while this movie did not convert me into a Marx Brothers fan, it does make me understand how someone else could love them.
I rated Duck Soup 6 out of 10 stars at IMDB and 2 out of 5 stars at Netflix.
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