Best movie of this year hands down!

Undescribable Perfection

Awesome Movie

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

If you watch this film as a Marx Brothers fan then there is some hope, but for the neutral it's a disjointed and disappointing effort that raises few laughs, has no plot to speak of and goes nowhere with no purpose. Film buffs will tell you that the minute of the film in which a young Marilyn Monroe appears is worth the entrance fee (it's not) or that Raymond Burr as a vertical baddie is wonderful (it isn't) or that it's great to see so much of Harpo (give me strength) but this independent, though grumpy, soul thought it was a dog's breakfast of a film stitched together from mediocre musical numbers and half-hearted Marx Brother's cameos. If you take it as given that the Marx Brothers in their pomp were great (which I'm afraid these 21st century eyes don't) then this is the runt of their offerings and should be consigned to the file marked 'watch once, forget'.Bottom line....I didn't love it and it didn't make me happy.

This day being the one Groucho Marx died 30 years ago, 3 days after Elvis, I decided to watch some of his movies that I either have on tape or just checked at the library. Love Happy, I taped 12 years ago from AMC. This movie came 20 years after Groucho and his brothers' talkie debut in The Cocoanuts. His participation is limited here which is just as well since he doesn't have many funny lines except with the villainous Ilona Massey and, in her brief part, a well-endowed Marilyn Monroe. Says Groucho to her, "Is there anything I can do for you? (turns to audience as he see-saws his eyebrows) What a ridiculous statement!" The story mainly concerns Harpo, as himself, as he steals plenty of sardine cans as they're being thrown at him unknowingly by Eric Blore. One Blore doesn't throw but has stolen unbeknownst from him by Harpo has some valuable diamonds. There's also a plot about a musical show with dancer Vera-Ellen and singer Marion Hutton (Betty's sister) that's for the birds. Best parts of those segments concern Chico's piano playing with violinist Leon Belasco though there's also a sexy Vera-Ellen number that got my temperature rising. Worst parts for me were Chico's wooing of Ms. Massey and Vera-Ellen's constant crying in front of Harpo. Most interesting part was the chase sequence at the end where Harpo rides on lots of billboards in one of the rare instances of product placements of the period. Many of those gags probably came from former animation director Frank Tashlin, a co-writer of the script. While there's one scene with Groucho and Harpo, the one with Chico at the end probably was shot on separate occasions since they don't share that scene together, just a cut to Chico after Grouch calls out to him. So, technically, this isn't really a "Marx Brothers" picture, just Harpo starring with Chico in support and Groucho in an extended cameo. Having not seen The Big Store, I reserve judgment on whether this is the worst movie of their career but Love Happy is certainly one of their lesser ones. P.S. Raymond Burr is one of the henchmen.

Despite the heavy advertising of Marilyn Monroe on the cover for any of the videos, she only has a small walk-on role. That's only one of many disappointments awaiting the person who rents this movie. The Marx Bros. were filmed separately - they have no scenes together - so there's no chance to capture that manic comic energy. Harpo plays the harp often, with the movie grinding to a halt every time this happens. Groucho literally phones his scenes in - he's in an office with a phone and nearly everything he does happens here. Meanwhile, nothing funny happens anywhere. A sad final note in what was otherwise a hilarious and illustrious career by one of the greatest comedy film teams ever.

Because I like the Marx Brothers I am willing to give this film a 5. If it had starred Wheeler and Woolsey or the Ritz Brothers, I might have given it a 2.After ROOM SERVICE, only A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA had any real merit among the final Marx Brother films. In the case of these two films, the former was based on a successful Broadway farce (which is still produced occasionally), and the latter had some planning involved in it as well (a novelization of the complete screenplay - certain parts were edited out of the final film - was published). The other four are mediocre at best. And LOVE HAPPY is the weakest.Yeah, Harpo gets some nice moments, like him riding the neon lit "Pegasus" on a rooftop sign. He and Chico have one or two good sequences together (one of those patented "Chico-verbally-interpreting-Harpo's-mimed-message" sequences is good). Chico also has a wonderful moment when he tries to be romantic to Ilona Massey, promising to cover her in sardines. But these are so few and far between that the weaknesses in the film are shown.Yeah, Groucho is an afterthought. He has that one famous moment with Marilyn Monroe, but that's it. It looks like much of Groucho's material ended up on a cutting room floor. His "Watson" figure is Eric Blore (an interesting combination of comic talents there), but Blore too is only briefly seen. One wishes to know what more there was to that sequence.But even if we discount shortchanging Groucho, what is left is nothing to shout about. It is a disappointing film, especially as it was the last real Marx Brother feature film. The following movie the brothers were all in was THE STORY OF MANKIND, and each was in a separate segment. There were three television shows they were in together (though one was with other Hollywood comics like Ernie Kovacs), but none of these had the strengths of their best nine movies.