ridiculous rating

Overrated

A Disappointing Continuation

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

This isn't auteur Woody Allen, this is incredibly early and silly Woody Allen and it's hilarious. He took a cheap Japanese James Bond type movie, mixed up the scenes and redubbed it into English but having changed the dialogue completely. So while the original movie dealt with a spy story the new one deals with the ultimate egg salad recipe because he who owns it controls the world. Yes, that's right. You now have people fighting and searching for an egg salad recipe. And that's pretty much it. The situations are made all the more ridiculous from what the characters are now saying. Things like the hero Phil Moskowitz, a fine Japanese name if I ever heard one, calling his foes names like "Saracen Pig" and "Turkish Taffy" as he fights them. The aptly named "Cobra Man" who sounds a lot like Peter Lorre and he's getting his cobra ready to marry a chicken. And who can forget the High Macha Of Rashpur, a totally real sounding place and they're on the waiting list for a country and as soon as there's an opening, they're in.Above all else, don't try to take this seriously.

I was sitting here reading some reviews and just reading the reviews had me laughing like hell. This movie is the type of thing anyone with a sense of humor wants to do at least once. You take a movie that was probably not bad, may have been funny (some facial expressions and scenarios suggest it) and make it one hell of a farce. Woody Allen's early work was brilliant, off kilter and a bit bizarre. All that is what made it so bloody funny. (Interiors was heartbreaking. BLECH!) He showed comedic genius not just for the 60s, but for all time.Phil Moskowitz is a howl. The villains are a howl. The whole premise is a howl. It has elements that his other movies don't have, or they have and it doesn't. WHAT? Never mind, it's not like his other movies. This is an established movie, DE-established and rebuilt into his own insane image.Not every gag works, but the non-working gags are few, very few. Just watch and LISTEN and you'll laugh, unless you've got no sense of humor.

My friends and I have traded lines from this movie since I first saw it in high school in the 80's. Spartan Dog! Spanish Fly! I still laugh my ass off at this movie today. People may say it's dated but if you love Woody and get all the jokes (which I think most kids today won't) it is hilarious and will always be a classic. Woody is probably kicking himself he let this out of his ownership hands as many people are commenting on edited or re dubbed versions shown on TV. When I heard the great line again in the beginning when Phil Moscowitz looks at the girl when he opens her towel & gives his third Presidential answer as Lincoln (referring to his beard) I couldn't help but laugh had this been written today & he could have answered Bush! Just plain silly stuff that I still cry at including the shower peeking scene, "MOM!?" and "Where am I going to get a long thin coffin?!!" This movie is diffidently meant as background to a group hangout with friends accompanied by some intoxicants.

We have gotten used to Woody Allen films of the present day, most of which are a little more cerebral than WUTL but when this first hit the screens I thought it was hilarious. Nobody had seen anything like it and it struck a chord with those with an appreciation of the absurd. And what could be more absurd that running around looking for the perfect egg salad recipe with surprise musical interludes from the Lovin' Spoonful? It's all pretty ridiculous but somehow it worked at the time and still does......at least for some of us.There are some great quotes from this film that rival those from Monty Python films/TV programs. And I'm a Monty Python fan.I probably could have done without the China Lee strip-tease and frankly the Lovin' Spoonful as well.....but who could not love the zany Phil Moscowitz, Wing Fool,you Fat, who loves Phil in his own way, and Sheppard Wong who does not have the body of a killer. And if the movie appears dated, it's only because we have Airplane, and the Austin Powers films in more recent times which have refined the approach to this type of craziness.Granted, WUTL is an acquired taste but it may be worth a watch to see the precursor to the MST3K type of humor......and don't forget the mayonnaise!!