If ever a Hollywood movie title was right on the nose, this is it. "Soup to Nuts" is a line in the film, and this film is really a mixed "soup" of oddities and oddballs. And, the characters are almost all nuts. I vaguely remember an old saying (mid-20th century) that when something was so odd, unusual or hard to qualify, it was referred to as a "Rube Goldberg." Well, Goldberg, the sculptor of strange ("modern art"?) works, cartoonist, inventor and writer, wrote the original screenplay for this hodgepodge. So, what would one expect? He's also in a short scene, opening a pile of "fan" mail while sitting at a table in the Yodel Inn.
There's no real plot in this so-called comedy. The dialog in the screenplay is mostly humorless. It doesn't have any clever or witty lines, and the few lines that Ted Healy has that were probably intended for comedy are of the type that a century ago may have - I say, may have elicited some chuckles or laughter. There are also a couple of half-funny song attempts, but they hardly qualify this as a musical. And, there are no other acts or skits to liken it vaudeville
The DVD I obtained of this film has the original Three Stooges featured on the cover. But, they're just a small part of the film, and not funny at that. My reason for getting the DVD was because it's touted somewhat as screwball comedy. I'm willing to give most such films a showing. Well, I can see the screwball attempt, even though it doesn't have the main elements of such. It is a wacky conglomeration of scenes that are mostly very dumb - even outlandishly stupid. And that's what made me laugh heartily a couple of times - the sheer dumbness or stupidity of the plotless screenplay.
One can forget the Three Stooges input for comedy, and Ted Healy is just a little funny, but he's otherwise sort of a figure around whom the various disparate parts seem to coalesce. He has one early scene with Queenie (Frances McCoy) in which they yell at one another over the telephone, and tell others listening that this is their sweetheart whom they are mad about. The comedy is all in the antics and goofiness of just a few scenes - and the heart of all of these is Charles Winninger as Otto Schmidt. Remove him or his character, and this film would be an abysmal thing to watch. He accounts for four of the six stars I give this film.
But, unless one can laugh at things that aren't funny, just because they are so unbelievably bad or dumb, I wouldn't recommend this film. Here's the only line of dialog that might get a chuckle from some fans. Teddy, on the phone with Queenie, says, "Hey, you can't talk to me like that. We're not married yet." See what I mean?
There's no real plot in this so-called comedy. The dialog in the screenplay is mostly humorless. It doesn't have any clever or witty lines, and the few lines that Ted Healy has that were probably intended for comedy are of the type that a century ago may have - I say, may have elicited some chuckles or laughter. There are also a couple of half-funny song attempts, but they hardly qualify this as a musical. And, there are no other acts or skits to liken it vaudeville
The DVD I obtained of this film has the original Three Stooges featured on the cover. But, they're just a small part of the film, and not funny at that. My reason for getting the DVD was because it's touted somewhat as screwball comedy. I'm willing to give most such films a showing. Well, I can see the screwball attempt, even though it doesn't have the main elements of such. It is a wacky conglomeration of scenes that are mostly very dumb - even outlandishly stupid. And that's what made me laugh heartily a couple of times - the sheer dumbness or stupidity of the plotless screenplay.
One can forget the Three Stooges input for comedy, and Ted Healy is just a little funny, but he's otherwise sort of a figure around whom the various disparate parts seem to coalesce. He has one early scene with Queenie (Frances McCoy) in which they yell at one another over the telephone, and tell others listening that this is their sweetheart whom they are mad about. The comedy is all in the antics and goofiness of just a few scenes - and the heart of all of these is Charles Winninger as Otto Schmidt. Remove him or his character, and this film would be an abysmal thing to watch. He accounts for four of the six stars I give this film.
But, unless one can laugh at things that aren't funny, just because they are so unbelievably bad or dumb, I wouldn't recommend this film. Here's the only line of dialog that might get a chuckle from some fans. Teddy, on the phone with Queenie, says, "Hey, you can't talk to me like that. We're not married yet." See what I mean?