Duck Soup

1933 comedy

Rating: 18/20 (Dylan: 13/20)

Plot: It doesn't really matter. But Rufus Firefly has been put charge of Freedonia, a country with all kinds of financial difficulties. Firefly picks fights with an ambassador from Sylvania over the love of benefactress Mrs. Teasdale. The ambassador uses a pair of inept spies--gregarious Chicolini and mute Pinky--to find out Firefly's secret war plans, and eventually the war begins. It ends, too.

We were playing a game called Apples to Apples after eating at my dad's house yesterday. It's a game that involves matching cards in your hand to adjectives that are turned up. Points are earned if the judge picks your card as the one that fits with the adjective the best. The word was "zany" and I was thrilled to have "The Marx Brothers" as one of my cards. Unfortunately, the judge for that one was Dylan, and some other answer not as good was picked as the winning card. It was arguably the worst moment of my entire life. I stood from the table, threw my cards across the room, and stormed out of the room. A kitten was kicked. Leftover stuffing was hurled. I waved a finger at my family and called them all a "bunch of bitches" who I was "thankful would some day wind up in hell" and ended up chewing up and swallowing the card that said "zany" and hiding the "Marx Brothers" card underneath the couch. When I cooled off a bit, I realized that there was a gap in Dylan's education that needed to be addressed immediately. He thought it was a punishment at first but laughed enough to make me wonder why he only gave it a 13. Is it dated? Of course! It's from 1933. But when this thing is funny, it's funny with the f-word in front of it. The Marx Brothers might not be for everybody (or are they an acquired taste?) but I like 'em and think this is their funniest effort.