What’s Up, Doc? (1972)

Directed by Peter Bogdonavich. Starring Ryan O’Neal, Barbra Streisand, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, Michael Murphy, Austin Pendleton, Philip Roth, Stefan Gieracsh, Sorrell Booke.

Peter Bogdonavich’s love letter to the screwball comedies of the 1930s has a lot working for it…except for the fact that it’s rarely funny. The plot, as it is, involves daffy Streisand pursuing stuffy O’Neal while four identical bags (some of which contain top-secret documents and valuable jewelry) keep switching hands in a slapstick fashion. Hijinks aplenty, and several well-designed set pieces for outrageous comedy, including the destruction of O’Neal’s hotel room and an absurd chase scene through San Francisco, but the crack timing and whimsical touch needed for explosive laughter simply isn’t there. Kahn fares best in the cast (no surprise) as O’Neal’s uptight fiancée; hapless O’Neal (an actor with limited range) is fine early on but has deficient romantic chemistry with Streisand, who isn’t very good in a role that isn’t very good either—someone as aimlessly crackers as she is needs to be a supporting player, not the co-lead of a movie that expects the audience to care about her ending up finding love and happiness (by contrast, Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby seems positively sedate). Not without a few moments of sparkle and humor, but stick to the classics instead.

43/100