Rating of
2/4
"Bringing Up Baby" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 01/07/12
An eccentric heiress takes a shine to a stuffy paleontologist and then inadvertently reduces his life to chaos in her attempt to keep him from marrying another woman. Considered a classic by most, Bringing Up Baby is one of those old school comedies that defines the term "screwball". It's essentially a farce involving a pet leopard who gets loose while the professor attempts to conceal his identity from a wealthy dowager while hunting for his missing bone that has been stolen by her pet dog and, well, you get the picture. It's really just a lot of falling over, running around and walking in and out of rooms while various onlookers are frightened by the big cat and no-one ever believing the unlikely explanations proffered for the various ridiculous situations. Cary Grant once more shows his talent for comedic timing but although I'm a big fan of Katharine Hepburn, here I just found her constant jabbering and trickery rather irritating. The "plot" is also just a series of absurd coincidences, which is fine if it's funny but it didn't really make me laugh. Comedy is a very personal thing and as I prefer the screwball comedies that rely on snappy dialogue rather than slapstick, this one didn't really do it for me. I'll take His Girl Friday over it any day.
