I watched two movies pretty much in parallel, Room Service and Stuck On You. While Room Service is certainly lacking much of the Marx' brothers usual tempo and gags, I was surprised to find that this was the one of the two that gave the most laughs by far, while the other mostly bored me. I had expected the opposite.
Almost the whole movie takes place in a hotel room, which is certainly due to being a stage play, and that comes for a cost. There is more talking and less action than other Marx movies. The first half or so drags considerably, but the brothers do manage to use their characters in good ways. In particular, Harpo does a good job on bringing in some visual gags.
Mr Wagner (Donald MacBride) is rather tiresome, but from the moment the backer is clear to him, he gets a well deserved break from being the sourpuss of the movie. And that's right where I start liking the movie. It takes quicker turns, scenes are getting increasingly hilarious (Harpo's death scene is great), and ends pretty much as expected but just right.
I certainly wouldn't advice anyone new to Marx to start here, but once you are fond of the Marx brothers and like their characters, this is a nice bonus, which is better than I thought it would be.
Almost the whole movie takes place in a hotel room, which is certainly due to being a stage play, and that comes for a cost. There is more talking and less action than other Marx movies. The first half or so drags considerably, but the brothers do manage to use their characters in good ways. In particular, Harpo does a good job on bringing in some visual gags.
Mr Wagner (Donald MacBride) is rather tiresome, but from the moment the backer is clear to him, he gets a well deserved break from being the sourpuss of the movie. And that's right where I start liking the movie. It takes quicker turns, scenes are getting increasingly hilarious (Harpo's death scene is great), and ends pretty much as expected but just right.
I certainly wouldn't advice anyone new to Marx to start here, but once you are fond of the Marx brothers and like their characters, this is a nice bonus, which is better than I thought it would be.