Tockinit
not horrible nor great
UnowPriceless
hyped garbage
Stoutor
It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
Portia Hilton
Blistering performances.
MIKE OVERALL
I first watched this sometime in the 80's, and after having seen it hundreds of times, it is still so funny. It never occurred to anyone that there might be more than one type of suitcase.
BlackJack_B
While I'm not a fan of Pierre Elliot Trudeau's ex-girlfriend, there's no question Barbra Streisand is a superlative talent as an actress, singer and composer. She has more talent in her pinkie finger than Jennifer Lawrence has in her whole body. She owns What's Up Doc? fully and delivers a tour-de-force performance. Streisand sings, acts, showcases her comedic chops and even sizzles with her understated sensuousness throughout the zany proceedings.Peter Bogdanovich's delicious take-off of the classic screwball comedies of yesteryear is spiced up with references to iconic Bugs Bunny cartoons. Bab's Judy Maxwell is a wisecracking, confident go- getter who is attracted to mousy scientist-musician Howard Bannister (Ryan O'Neal), who has come to San Francisco with his frigid fiancée Eunice (the late great Madeline Kahn in her film debut) to compete for a grant.You also have a hilarious game of cat-and-mouse involving four exactly alike duffel bags being stolen and re-stolen by various shady characters (one of whom is future Boss Hogg Sorrell Booke) without them looking inside of them. These individuals and Maxwell reek havoc on the posh hotel in uproarious fashion.Eventually, these two story lines mesh in a crazy chase through the streets of San Francisco where the screwball also meshes with Bugs Bunny.I really enjoyed WUD. It actually is a funny film and the references to the classic film shorts are spliced in at the right time. Like so many other Warner Brothers films of the last Golden Age of Cinema, you will never see anything like this today. It's family-friendly but adults will find plenty to tickle their funny bone. In a day of fart jokes, blue humor and sexual tastelessness, there is always the classics to turn to and WUD is a fine film.If only there were more Judy Maxwells in Ottawa...
sandnair87
In 1972, director Peter Bogdanovich had the smarts and - let's face it - balls to attempt to make his own version of an old-school full-blown farce, specifically a remake of Howard Hawks' Bringing up Baby. Now, matching up to Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn was always going to be a tough ask, but Ryan O'Neal and Barbra Streisand gave it the ol' college try, resulting in the criminally entertaining What's Up, Doc?A timid professor Dr. Howard Bannister (O'Neal) comes to San Francisco for a musicologists' convention with his prissy fiancée Eunice Burns (Madeline Kahn) to get some much-needed grant money. Here he bumps into an eccentric, disaster-prone "daffy dame" Judy Maxwell (Streisand) whose antics slowly but surely throw his carefully ordered life into upheaval. Judy is an inveterate flirt who won't take "no" for an answer but Howard unavoidably finds himself gravitating to Judy's gravitational center. For the plot to crackle with necessary screw-balling mania, a beautifully disordered case of mistaken identity involving identical red plaid overnight cases - one containing Howard's precious igneous rocks, one Judy's lingerie, another full of valuable gems and the final one carrying top-secret government documents - adds to his woes.All through its 94 minute run-time, Peter Bogdanovich is busy paying homage to all his favorite flavors of humor, efficiently packing them into the brief runtime, hurtling from buffoonery and slapstick, to impersonations and word-play, and lets his leading lady have the one song to smooch up a romantic moment. One of the biggest surprises about 'What's Up, Doc?' is how wonderful Streisand and O'Neal are at comedy and at witty banter - and how much chemistry they have. Barbra Streisand has never been sexier than she is in this movie. She succeeds in scaling down her superstar personality to fit the dimensions of farce, giving us a character which is surprisingly appealing. Ryan O'Neal is even better in an equally tough assignment. He is charming as the unworldly professor, who finds himself lost in all the mayhem. With Bogdanovich directing with a lovely lightness of touch, both of them together manage to work up a kooky charm more befitting of the hippie-era of the early '70s. Also notable among the supporting cast is Miss Kahn, who in her utterly brilliant debut outing, just about walks off with the movie as O'Neal's impossibly square fiancée.If you miss the screwball classics of the early 30s, you owe it to yourself to watch this one. 'What's Up, Doc?' is sinfully enjoyable!
Python Hyena
What's Up Doc (1972): Dir: Peter Bogdanovich / Cast: Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, Liam Dunn: Hilarious send off to Loony Tunes humour done in live action. Four identical suitcases end up in wrong hands, and the innocence of a chance encounter. Ryan O'Neal plays Howard Bannister who is set to give a speech for his research but encounters the forcefully friendly Barbra Streisand creates one catastrophe after another. Director Peter Bogdanovich switches genres from his previous hit The Last Picture Show and proves to know the mechanics of physical humour and dialogue that is so funny and witty yet natural. Streisand plays off the naughty yet lovable qualities that render her sympathetic despite her chaotic actions. O'Neal is the perfect foil struggling to maintain dignity in the face of disaster. Madeline Kahn plays the controlling fiancée Eunice who is a victim of oversight. Kenneth Mars plays a stuck up competitor to the grant O'Neal is aiming for. Liam Dunn plays a judge in one climatic sequence and it becomes the single funniest portion of the film. Few films since The Great Race celebrates the spirit of cartoon slapstick so joyously with several classic moments ranging from the mixed up passing cases, to the road chase where a sheet of glass comes into play, to the most hilarious and surprising court summons. Result is slapstick humour at its very best. Score: 10 / 10