AFI 100 Movies #85 Duck Soup (1933)

Argh! Where to begin?

I don't want to be entirely negative about this film. I suppose humour is subjective.

Groucho Marx as Rufus T. Firefly is very witty and comes out with some great one liners, Chico has some good exchanges with Groucho. I have to say, and I know this will divide opinion, Harpo is incredibly irritating. I like my fair share of "zany" comedy, but he just leaves me cold.

His one moment of class is the scene where he pretends to be Firefly's reflection in a mirror, the timing is perfect and it's genuinely funny.

But for me, the rest is pretty uninspiring. I like a lot of comedy from this era, for me what puts the likes of Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy and Buster Keaton above them is that their comedy comes from an empathy for the characters that they play. But I guess if we all liked the same things the world would be a boring place.

Not the least enjoyable film at this stage in the list but not far from it.