The overblown title of this film gives a clue as to what appears to be the creative and pretentious intention of its makers, and that was no doubt to make the most ambitious, epic "comedy" with the biggest comedic cast ever.
Unfortunately, somewhere in all that effort, they forgot to include a script that would actually elicit laughter.
"Mad etc. World" attempted to utilize a "bigger is better" approach with the misguided notion that that approach alone would guarantee hilarity. Unfortunately it does not. Much is made over the cast, which was well padded with cameo roles. Apparently, just the appearance of a Don Knotts, or the Three Stooges, or a Jerry Lewis, et al was supposed to be cause for laughter, so no attempt at actually giving the cameo comedians funny lines or utilizing them in a clever way was a consideration.
Not only are the attempts at humor lame and unfunny, but a heck of a lot of time in this 3 hour movie is nothing but dead space, with a lot of film footage spent on the cast getting into and out of automobiles, transitioning from point A to point B, and chases that are neither cleverly choreographed nor funny. It makes me shudder to think that the director had to reluctantly cut this mess down from an original running time of FIVE hours!
Anyway, no sense in beating this dead horse, it's not even worth the commentary. Suffice to say, the final scene perfectly captures the essence of this film. Ethel Merman slips on a banana peel, and the rest of the cast immediately launches into forced and extremely fake laughter, as if trying to ram down the viewer's throat what he or she is supposed to find hilarious. If that brand of humor, completely devoid of anything subtle, clever or creative is what makes you laugh, then by all means don't miss this one.
Unfortunately, somewhere in all that effort, they forgot to include a script that would actually elicit laughter.
"Mad etc. World" attempted to utilize a "bigger is better" approach with the misguided notion that that approach alone would guarantee hilarity. Unfortunately it does not. Much is made over the cast, which was well padded with cameo roles. Apparently, just the appearance of a Don Knotts, or the Three Stooges, or a Jerry Lewis, et al was supposed to be cause for laughter, so no attempt at actually giving the cameo comedians funny lines or utilizing them in a clever way was a consideration.
Not only are the attempts at humor lame and unfunny, but a heck of a lot of time in this 3 hour movie is nothing but dead space, with a lot of film footage spent on the cast getting into and out of automobiles, transitioning from point A to point B, and chases that are neither cleverly choreographed nor funny. It makes me shudder to think that the director had to reluctantly cut this mess down from an original running time of FIVE hours!
Anyway, no sense in beating this dead horse, it's not even worth the commentary. Suffice to say, the final scene perfectly captures the essence of this film. Ethel Merman slips on a banana peel, and the rest of the cast immediately launches into forced and extremely fake laughter, as if trying to ram down the viewer's throat what he or she is supposed to find hilarious. If that brand of humor, completely devoid of anything subtle, clever or creative is what makes you laugh, then by all means don't miss this one.