Bringing Up Baby




I might have known it was you. I had a feeling just as I hit the floor.

This is a classic Howard Hawks screwball comedy with Cary Grant playing a nerd. Need I say more?

David (Cary Grant) is indeed a nerdy zoologist soon to be betrothed. He's on his way to acquiring a large sum of money for his museum when he meets Susan (Katharine Hepburn), and everything plummets straight downhill from there. She's ditsy but sweet, and merciless calamity for David is never far behind her. In the process of destroying everything David owns, she also drags him along to take care of her tame leopard, Baby.

Practically the creator of the screwball comedy, Hawks deserves full credit for this enjoyable romp. Towards the latter fourth it may lose some steam, but by that point it has more than earned a short break. The riotous gags are played out for every square ounce of laughs they're worth. The highlights include dogs snatching prehistoric bones, tame and wild leopards switching places, and general chaos and calamity ensuing in whatever Susan pulls David into. But what really happens to be the icing on the cake is the wonderful banter between the two. Susan is often oblivious to the harm she causes while David is all too happy to keep a running commentary on how she's ruining everything, proving that sarcasm really is the highest form of humor. It's a lighthearted affair that takes delight in playing around with the characters, and there's never a dull moment.

Grant and Hepburn always had chemistry as one of cinema's greatest pairings, and here they prove it with gusto. If Cary Grant wasn't, well, Cary Grant, it wouldn't be hard to believe he was every bit the uptight and forgetful nerd he plays. He makes for the perfect wet blanket stumbling behind Susan, all because he likes her of course; it's only a matter of Hollywood timing before he realizes it. Then there's Katharine Hepburn, absolutely stunning as the confident but bumbling Susan. In the rare instance when she's not being hilarious, she's snuggling up to our hearts as she warms up to David as well.

Perfectly helmed and casted, this is one of those irresistibly rare comedies where time is rendered meaningless for an all too short hour and a half.



-The Gnome