Howd' Ya Like That? is a messy, loud slice of old-school chaos

If you're the kind of person who needs a tightly wound script to enjoy a movie, stay far away from Howd' Ya Like That?. But if you have a soft spot for loud, slightly frantic, and genuinely weird vaudeville-era comedy, you might actually have a blast.

It’s a Prohibition-era romp, which basically means everyone is either drunk, hiding booze, or yelling about booze. The plot is just an excuse to get Shemp Howard into a room and let him do his thing, which is usually just making funny faces while things explode around him.

There's this one scene where they're trying to hide the smuggled liquor in a theater, and the timing is so loose it feels like the actors are just making it up as they go. It’s not graceful, but it’s definitely live.

Lionel Stander is there too, growling at everyone. He plays the jealous boyfriend with such intensity that you start to wonder if he actually forgot he was in a comedy.

The pacing is honestly a disaster. It jumps from a ship to a stage to a basement without really telling us why. It feels less like a movie and more like a series of sketches that were stapled together in the dark.

Watching this made me think of the sheer absurdity in The Pill Pounder, where the energy is high but the logic is completely checked out. You’re not here for the storytelling. You’re here for the physical bits.

The Customs officer character? He shows up, looks angry, and then disappears for twenty minutes. It’s great. It’s like the movie just forgot he was chasing them because it was too busy focused on a pratfall.

Is it a classic? Not by a long shot. It’s messy, it’s loud, and the audio quality sounds like it was recorded inside a tin can.

But there’s a genuine charm to how little it cares about being a 'good' film. It just wants to be funny. Sometimes it succeeds, mostly by accident.

• Shemp's physical acting remains undefeated.
• The plot is barely a suggestion.
• I really need someone to explain that one outfit choice in the final act.
• It's short, which is its greatest strength.

If you want something polished, go watch The Third Alarm instead. But if you want to watch a bunch of people run around a New York theater shouting about gin, this is the one. Just don't ask too many questions about where that bottle actually went. 🥃