Excellent, a Must See

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

There's not a lot of point in describing the plot to What's Up, Doc?, it's so convoluted and silly. Essentially, it's about a free spirit, an uptight musicologist, four identical suit-cases – one full of jewels, another with top secret documents – with different people after different bags. Needless to say, what ensues is a lot of confusion and misunderstandings.This Peter Bogdanovich film was his first light-hearted feature in which he re-worked the then unfashionable sub-genre, the screwball comedy. It's probably a film a little out of step with his New Hollywood peers, it harks back to an earlier type of movie and is decidedly unedgy. But you know what? This film has always worked for me. I mean its humour isn't always very good and it has some clunky moments but it's an immensely likable effort, helped hugely by a couple of very engaging comic performances from Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal, with another notable turn from Madeline Kahn as O'Neal's prickly fiancé in what was her film debut. The plot is merely a means of stringing together an elongated series of zany events which are played up to maximise their comic potentials. It's not a stupid film though as it mixes in quite a bit of comic word-play in amongst the madcap slapstick and physical humour. The most famous of the latter is an extended chase through the iconic streets of San Francisco, which is always a lot of fun to watch.At the end of the day, this film is good unpretentious fun. It's silly yet quite clever at the same time and that's always a good thing in my book.

... and this is definitely one of those films. The movie opens with a fantastic rendition of Cole Porter's "You're the Top" sung by Barbra Streisand and then proceeds to tell the story of four identical plaid overnight bags that get mixed up: one bag contains rocks belonging to professor Ryan O'Neal (the "doc" of the title), one bag contains Barbra Streisand's clothes and underwear, one bag contains top secret documents and one bag contains a wealthy woman's jewels. Instrumental versions of various Cole Porter songs are heard throughout the movie.Barbra looks beautiful and sings "As Time Goes By" about halfway through the movie. At one point she's hanging from a hotel ledge wearing only a towel! Madeline Kahn is hilarious as Ryan's O'Neal's fiancé. The movie seems to be an homage to screwball comedies from the 1930s and the actors do a good job with the fast-paced dialogue.The car chase through San Francisco near the end of the movie is a lot of fun . There's a pane of glass that some men are trying to cross the street with that you just know is going to get broken as all the cars go by, but what actually causes it to break was quite unexpected.

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!

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