A Night at the Opera (Matt)

I'm going to go ahead and say it right now. This is one of the funniest movies ever made. I say that entirely free of impressions of Kanye. It's a simple fact. This movie was made in 1935, that means it is 75 years old, and I laughed harder watching it than I do watching the vast majority of modern comedies. It holds up that well. I think that is a huge compliment to give a comedy as humor seems in many cases to be tied to periods of time. A great example of this is the early episodes of Saturday Night Live. They have some funny skits occasionally sure, but most of the material when viewed today is just not funny at all. This movie completely transcends that restriction and remains as funny now as it was when it was created.

Lets start with this movie being black and white. This, as I have stated previously, tends to be a block to me enjoying movies. I get bored without the color. I hate admitting that but that is how it is. If a black and white movie is not exceptionally entertaining, I have a terrible time connecting with it. This movie I didn't even notice was in black and white. Never once was I even close to bored. I never had a chance to be, I was constantly assaulted by comic gags that kept me laughing.

The acting was pretty stereotypical Marx brothers, which is to say VERY animated and overacted. This wasn't a problem however as it is what the audience expects when watching these older comedies. The characters were as believable as they needed to be, which is to say, the characters didn't really matter that much. The acting as well as the story takes second place to the comedy, which really is why anyone would watch this movie in the first place. You don't watch this looking for a beautifully crafted, emotional story. You don't want to see deep characters responding to hardship or bonding. You want comedy. You want to have a good time. That is exactly what this movie provides. I did want to mention in particular the acting of Sig Ruman as the movies antagonist Gottleib. He was quite outstanding. His animated acting and facial expressions place him perfectly into this movie and I like his scenes in particular. He really played a great villain.

I've already mentioned the comedy but I'll say it again. The funniness of this film is absolutely timeless. I laughed for the entire film. I was cheering for the good guys and booing for the bad guys, and every time the Marx brothers pranked one of the villains I was thinking to myself "take that!" and laughing more. Some of the scenes in this film are quite honestly the funniest scenes I've ever seen in a movie. You should see this movie, every one of you.

I don't have anything bad to say. I loved this movie. Every single minute of it.

10 bearded officers out of 10.

~Matt