 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
- Review Date: December 3, 2005
- G
- Genre: Comedy
- 1963
Common Sense Media says
It's a long, long, long, long classic comedy chase-epic.
Parents say
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that drinking (in the case of one character, comical nonstop drunkenness) and smoking are fairly common. There is an abundance of slapstick roughhousing, reckless driving, and cartoonish violence, with most of the cast ... in a cast by the end. A few minor off-color verbal jokes -- one is so sneaky you wonder if censors even noticed it. Main characters are driven by all-consuming greed, with only one showing conscience and disgust for the corrupting influence of the treasure hunt. You need to watch this in widescreen to get the panoramic scope of the comedy, not a full-screen cropped version. And be prepared for a long sitting.
What's the story?
On a Saturday morning on a Southern California desert road, four carloads of strangers from all walks of life see a driver -- who turns out to be a gentlemanly old bandit -- go off a cliff. Before he dies, the victim (legendary comic Jimmy Durante) confides that the $300,000 fortune he stole is all buried under "a big dubya" in a park 200 miles away. This inspires a free-for-all chase by the witnesses. The different carloads of treasure-hunters make more allies and antagonists along the way, all in their frantic, bumbling dash to claw up the money first. Meanwhile a retiring police detective (Spencer Tracey) who has been on this case for 15 years, keeps track of the growing mob and the mayhem by secret surveillance. When he finds he isn't going to get a promised pension, he tries to steal the loot as well.
Is it any good?
Director Stanley Kramer was best known for high-minded, serious movies about racism, justice, and other social ills; doing IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD was his attempt to prove he could do comedy just as well as preach. But moreover, he wanted to show he could do one of the BIGGEST comedies conceivable, hiring enough comic heavyweights for 10 movies (many of them, like Sid Caesar and Milton Berle, enjoyed their greatest successes on TV rather than the big screen, however), and putting other illustrious screen clowns like Jerry Lewis and the Three Stooges in quick-cut cameos and bit parts. Kramer also mounted epic-level stunts, and he violated a major rule of screen farce by making the whole thing last well over two hours (it was originally shown with an intermission break).
The result is undoubtedly entertaining, sometimes screamingly funny, but also somewhat elephantine and thin in the what's-the-point? department. It's all just a big chase, the sort of thing Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton (who appears briefly) would do in the silent era as a nicely compact short subject. Kids will laugh at It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in parts, but even the comedy gems here bump up against the cumbersome scale.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the corrosive effects of avarice. It's more absurd now because the $300,000 involved -- these days -- is rather small for all the havoc it inspires. The ending of the movie seems to suggest something about the healing power of laughter (though a classic movie called Sullivan's Travels did it rather more successfully). What modern-day TV contests does this movie remind you of?
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- Teens & kids
AGE
Um...it's not really worth the sit
I thought 2001: A Space Oddyssey felt long, but I probably should have spent the extra thirty seconds reading on Netflix for the length. I spread it out into two days. However, a movie like Avatar feels so short, yet is ten minutes longer. Why? Well, with the car chases, and crashes (I counted ten destroyed cars), double crosses and general mayhem, it wasn't the funniest thing in the world. I perfer silly comedies like Monty Python, and while this is one, there are more funny scenarios then jokes. And I really don't laugh at that. While it is enjoyable and down to the wire, it isn't funny. And at the end of the day, I wasn't the biggest fan.
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AGE
A magnificent accomplishment!
This had magnificent magnificent actors and if you children want to see a great movie this is it. No bad language, and all class! :D
Spencer Tracey! :D
Jimmy Durante! :D
MICKEY ROONEY!!
FANTASTIC!!
Overall, this is a very hilarious film, and is possibly one the best movies ever made! :D
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Kid, 10 years old
October 22, 2010
AGE
AWESOME!!!
LOVED IT!!!!........
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Kid, 10 years old
March 10, 2010
AGE
Great
It's really cool but there is the "h" word in it, and there's lots of fighting, and it's very destructive.
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AGE
For teens and adults.
I love this movie! It's so funny! It's a long film, and young kids may get bored, so it's really for teens. Some adults may know this movie from 1963, but I'm a teen and I love it. It's a funny comedy about a group of people who are desperate to find a hidden treasure.
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| Topics: | cars and trucks |
| Studio: | MGM/UA |
| Director: | Stanley Kramer |
| Cast: | Dick Shawn, Mickey Rooney, Spencer Tracy |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Run time: | 154 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | November 7, 1963 |
| DVD release date: | October 7, 2003 |
| MPAA rating: | G |
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