Room Service

1938 Marx Brothers movie

Rating: 12/20

Plot: A theater producer tries to con hotel management into letting him keep his room despite his lack of resources. At the same time, he works with his colleagues (not surprisingly, a mute guy and an Italian immigrant) to procure a turkey.

This is very stagy, and although there are a handful of funny moments (the aforementioned turkey in what is one of the dopiest special effects of all time, a bit involving poisoning), you really have to wait a while to get to them. There's actually very little interaction between the "brothers" and none of them seem particularly inspired in this one. There's no cutting loose, so it's like the Marx Brothers in a box. I really doubt any single moment in Room Service will be brought up in a discussion about class Marx moments. It's disappointing because there was potential with the story.