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5.6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Hip Zip Hooray remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you have a soft spot for the kind of goofy, low-stakes comedies they churned out decades ago. If you want a tight plot or sharp dialogue, skip this. But if you like watching Eugene Pallette try to navigate a store full of lace while looking like he’d rather be anywhere else, you might get a kick out of it.
The whole premise of Hip Zip Hooray is built on that classic trope of the tough guy being forced into the feminine world. It’s not exactly groundbreaking. You can see the punchlines coming from a mile away.
Still, there’s something oddly hypnotic about how confused everyone looks in these scenes. It’s like they were all just sort of wandering around the set hoping someone would yell cut.
Watching a sheriff run a lingerie salon is exactly as ridiculous as it sounds. The movie doesn't even try to make it make sense, which I guess is the point. It just happens, and we’re expected to roll with it. Sure, why not?
The pacing is all over the place. Sometimes it feels like it’s sprinting to the next joke, and other times it just hangs there in the air like a bad smell. There’s a scene where the store interior looks so sparse you wonder if they forgot to buy enough props to fill the shelves.
It’s not quite as charming as Lucky Star, which feels like it had a much clearer idea of what it wanted to be. This one feels a bit more like a collection of sketches glued together with tape.
It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in A Dog's Pal, though with significantly more silk and fewer puppies. The cast does what they can, but it feels like they’re fighting the script half the time.
Don't look for a deep meaning here. It’s just fluff. Sometimes that’s enough. Just don't blame me if you spend the next hour wondering why they thought this was a good idea for a movie. 🤷♂️