What's Up Doc?

What's Up Doc? (1972)
Director: Peter Bogdanvich
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, Madeline Kahn, Michael Murphy, Austin Pendleton
Memorable Line: "I'll give you your bike back - I'll give you a broken back if you don't be quiet."

What do you get when you mix an impulse young woman, an uptight and introverted scientist, some stolen jewels, some government spies practicing clock and dagger and four identical pieces of luggage? Either a bad thriller or a spectacularly funny screwball comedy. Fortunately, we got the screwball comedy.

Howard Bannister (O'Neal), a staid and practical researcher, is attending a prestigious ceremony to award a large research musicology grant when he encounters an outgoing and mischievous woman, Judy (Streisand). The hotel hosting the ceremony and its guests suddenly becomes embroiled in intrigue and hijinks as a woman's luggage with her jewels comes up missing. Adding to the mystery and mayhem are two men spying on each other. It seems that everything Judy touches turns to chaos. A room catches fire, there are chases in the corridors of the hotel, and a spectacular chase in which a car with Howard and Judy ends up in the San Francisco Bay.

Like a homage to the screwball comedies of the past, this is a no-holds barred, break-necked paced movie with a seemingly endless array of gags and great lines. Streisand is wonderful as the catalyst of chaos and Ryan O'Neal is great as the straight man. Bogdanvich never lets the pace linger for a moment as one gag seamlessly flows into the next.

While the film really has nothing important to say, it certainly entertains. If you're looking for an escape into a fast paced world of laughs, you should give What's Up Doc? a try.