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6.7/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.7/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. A Nose for News remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Should you watch A Nose for News? If you have nothing better to do on a Tuesday afternoon and you really love 1930s slapstick, maybe. It is a thin, breezy, and mostly forgettable romp that feels like it was written on a napkin during a lunch break. If you prefer your comedies to actually make sense or have a point, you will probably hate it.
The plot is exactly as thin as it sounds. Joe gets a job, gets conned by a gangster, and spends the rest of the runtime trying to fix a mistake that feels almost impossible to make. It’s the kind of premise that would have been a five-minute sketch in a better movie like Little Miss Marker. Instead, it gets stretched out until the seams start to show.
There is a moment early on where the gangster steals Joe's pass, and the guard just walks away. It is one of those scenes that lingers a bit too long, and you start to wonder if the editor just fell asleep at the desk. The whole logic of the prison security here is basically nonexistent. It's funny, I guess, but mostly just confusing.
The pacing is all over the place. One minute we are watching a frantic jailbreak attempt, and the next we are stuck in a room with characters who don't seem to know what they are doing. It feels like the movie was trying to copy the energy of The Shindig, but it forgot to bring the actual charm along for the ride. 🙄
Watching Joe run around trying to break out of jail is sort of like watching a toddler try to solve a Rubik’s cube. You feel bad for him, but you also want him to just stop already. It doesn't have the grit of The Struggle, obviously, but it doesn't even have the heart of a standard B-movie either. It just exists.
If you watch this, don't go looking for deep meaning. Just turn your brain off and maybe go fold some laundry. It’s that kind of movie. 🤷♂️