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6.3/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.3/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Hips, Hips, Hooray! remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you have a massive soft spot for the specific, frantic energy of Wheeler and Woolsey. If you like your comedies to have a plot that actually makes sense or jokes that don’t feel like they were pulled from a hat, you will probably hate this.
It’s loud. It’s messy. It’s barely a movie, really.
The whole thing revolves around these two guys trying to market a flavored lipstick. It’s a premise that feels like it was written on the back of a napkin during a lunch break.
They treat the lipstick like it’s a revolutionary invention. The way they talk about it is so intense that you start to wonder if they’ve actually lost their minds. It's not deep, but there’s a weird, desperate charm to it.
There is a scene where the sheer number of people crammed into one frame makes me anxious. The blocking is all over the place, like everyone was told to just move until the director yelled cut.
I noticed a lady in the background during the office scene who just… stops acting. She’s just standing there, looking at a lamp for like ten seconds. It’s the most interesting thing in the entire sequence.
It’s kind of funny how Hips, Hips, Hooray! tries so hard to be sophisticated. It fails, of course. But it fails with such gusto that I couldn't bring myself to look away.
If you've ever watched Brotherly Love, you’ll recognize that same frantic pace. It’s like the actors were told they only had five minutes to film the whole thing. Everything is rushed, and nobody seems to be listening to anyone else.
Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it weirdly watchable at 2 AM? Maybe. It doesn't have the grit of The Crash or the stillness of The Broken Butterfly, but it occupies its own strange little corner of the 1930s.
Also, the lighting is weirdly harsh. Faces look like they’re being melted under the studio lamps. It’s uncomfortably bright. I don’t know if that’s a technical choice or just the film stock giving up, but it adds to the fever dream vibe. 💄
