What's Up, Doc?

The script and cast are excellent; the direction and comedy staging are outstanding; and there are literally reels of pure, unadulterated and sustained laughs.

Only a director in complete control can fashion something so effortlessly chaotic. What’s Up Doc? is one of the signature comedies of the 1970s whose throwback mixture of madcap hijinks and rat-a-tat-tat dialogue still works for a generation twice removed from its influences.

Trying too hard and generally too trying. Seek out Howard Hawke's Bringing up Baby instead and be done with it.

While WHAT'S UP, DOC? may not be as great as the classic screwball comedies of the 1930s and 40s, director Bogdanovich has delivered a film with energy, wit, and a madcap pace that is well worth watching.

The hyperactive humor grates at times, but is rarely as labored as many '60s comedies, thanks mainly to Bogdanovich's indulgence of the spontaneously absurd, and his inventive way of letting gags work their way across long, wide sets.

Bogdanovich takes the plot and the externals of the characters but loses the logic. His picture goes every which way; he restages gags from Buster Keaton and Laurel & Hardy and W.C. Fields, plus a lot of cornball devices.

The result is a comedy made by a man who has seen a lot of movies, knows all the mechanics, and has absolutely no sense of humor.