Dr. Strangelove Review
Strange Screening: My Review on Dr. Strangelove (1964) AshleyNicole Ellis Film History & Analysis
March 27, 2014
Upon my first viewing of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Quit Worrying And Love The Bomb, I found the film to be unamusing and almost painful to watch. However it became more and more barable with each of my 3 screenings. While I can acknowledge the cleverness and audacity of director Stanley Kubrick for the films political satire and the memorable character performances, all in all I found the film to be tepid, muddled, and lacking both cohesion and climax.
The combination of the films eclectic characters felt out of place, but none quite so out of place as Dr. Strangelove himself. His character was too random and seemed to be “thrown in” and didn’t add anything to the film other than further confusion for the viewer. And I still can’t figure out for the life of me why the film is called “Dr. Strangelove. Why is Dr. Strangelove even called “Dr. Strangelove”? Nevertheless Peter Sellers triple performance as Dr. Strangelove, President Muffley and Captain Mandrake was downright impressive. And because of his ability to perform each role so uniquely, I honestly did not realize all 3 were one in the same until my final screening. The most entertaining character of the film though is General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott), who says so much stupid stuff, with so much conviction and such funny faces, that he almost seems drunk.
All of the films key characters are fit for a straight jacket and considering that this plot is supposed to take place within the Military and Pentagon, some level of character believability would be appreciated. Seriously, can that many “higher ups” really be that reckless? It was like monkeys wearing hard hats were running the place. The over-the-top performances made the characters come across more like caricatures. The film is classified as: Comedy, Drama, and War.
March 27, 2014
Upon my first viewing of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Quit Worrying And Love The Bomb, I found the film to be unamusing and almost painful to watch. However it became more and more barable with each of my 3 screenings. While I can acknowledge the cleverness and audacity of director Stanley Kubrick for the films political satire and the memorable character performances, all in all I found the film to be tepid, muddled, and lacking both cohesion and climax.
The combination of the films eclectic characters felt out of place, but none quite so out of place as Dr. Strangelove himself. His character was too random and seemed to be “thrown in” and didn’t add anything to the film other than further confusion for the viewer. And I still can’t figure out for the life of me why the film is called “Dr. Strangelove. Why is Dr. Strangelove even called “Dr. Strangelove”? Nevertheless Peter Sellers triple performance as Dr. Strangelove, President Muffley and Captain Mandrake was downright impressive. And because of his ability to perform each role so uniquely, I honestly did not realize all 3 were one in the same until my final screening. The most entertaining character of the film though is General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott), who says so much stupid stuff, with so much conviction and such funny faces, that he almost seems drunk.
All of the films key characters are fit for a straight jacket and considering that this plot is supposed to take place within the Military and Pentagon, some level of character believability would be appreciated. Seriously, can that many “higher ups” really be that reckless? It was like monkeys wearing hard hats were running the place. The over-the-top performances made the characters come across more like caricatures. The film is classified as: Comedy, Drama, and War.