dmataylor-43810
Duck Soup is supposed to be the Marx Brothers' funniest movie. It is supposed to be #60 on AFI's top 100. Well, it is not worthy of any of those titles. This movie was not funny at all; it was dumb. The brothers clearly showed that they do not know how to act in this movie; they were terrible. This 1h 8min movie felt like 3h, and I have concluded that the Marx Brothers are no better than a 1/10.
Osmosis Iron
Marx Brothers are completely hilarious with their relentless brand of chaotic humor, and this is possibly their finest film. I guess it's sort of their "politics/war movie". There is no one brand of humor for them, they use basically every known(and unknown) form of humor and do it well!
gorf
I usually love old comedies. Laurel and Hardy makes me laugh so much it hurts.But Duck Soup is extremely overrated. There are some genuinely funny parts, but most of the time it only made me chuckle. It's just endless one-liners and some mean-spirited slapstick scenes that last forever. I also didn't like the creepy sexual stuff near the end of the movie. It's "mild" compared to modern movies, but still...I didn't see the last few minutes of Duck Soup, but I really doubt those minutes would change my opinion.I haven't watched a lot of the Marx Brothers' comedies, but if this is their best movie, I don't want to see their worst...
atlasmb
Released in 1932, "Duck Soup" is surely one of the best Marx Brothers films, blessed with countless memorable lines and plenty of free-form comic insanity.The story takes place in the mythical country of Freedonia, where they are in need of a new leader. Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont), who exerts some control over the nation's doings by virtue of being a sizable creditor, recommends Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) to replace the old ruler, who didn't measure up.Ms. Dumont, it should be noted, is the perfect foil for Marxian histrionics. If anyone doubts that being the straight person is a talent unto itself, they should watch the way she embraces the comedic lines with a flawless balance of understanding and disregard.The "T" in Rufus T. Firefly must stand for timing. Groucho and his brothers Chico and Harpo let fly with wonderful streams of wordplay and puns that pass too quickly to notice them all on first viewing.Much of the humor in this film comes from tit for tat exchanges of physical affronts. Laurel and Hardy were also expert at this; see their film titled, appropriately, "Tit For Tat". Such humor later found its way into the pages of Mad Magazine in their "Spy vs. Spy" features.This type of comedy is not everyone's cup of tea, but those who appreciate skewering by wordplay as much as swordplay should enjoy it immensely.
AD
