The film starts with what very quickly feels like an interminable theme song, over a black screen. And then launches into a long Saul Bass directed animated sequence…
The Bass bit is poss my favourite part of the entire film?
It’s a ‘comedy epic’, of sorts. It’s unarguably epic, length-wise. It even has an Intermission! Comic? Well, I did laugh occasionally. But it’s more shouty than funny.
Madcap? Yes. Chaotic? Yep. Fun or relaxing? Erm… I’d have to say no, neither.
Like the title song, it’s an ordeal. How long can they keep this up? Especially when the plot-driving McGuffin is so quintessentially American, in the worst way: it’s about money, and it’s so insubstantial as to not really exist at all.
In that respect the film lives up to its title. It’s zany, and screwball. It’s a demolition derby. And it’s entirely pointless. Worse still, it might well give you a migraine, with all the shouting.
I don’t suppose – given the ‘stellar’ comedy cast – there were auditions. Had there been, one imagines they would’ve simply been shouting matches. With a bit of grimacing and gurning thrown in.
