Bringing Up Baby

While trying to secure a rare bone and a one-million dollar grant for his museum, a paleontologist (Cary Grant) finds himself mixed up with an heiress (Katharine Hepburn) and her pet leopard, Baby.

Despite its critical darling status today, Bringing Up Baby was such a commercial flop upon its release in 1938 that studio RKO bought out Katherine Hepburn’s contract (almost ending her career in the process) and fired director Howard Hawks from his next production Gunga Din.

And it’s easy to see why. This is a “screwball” comedy where all the characters behave ridiculously. Hepburn’s character is completely self-absorbed and absolutely unlikable, while Grant’s character is a stuffy pushover who refuses to stand up for himself. There’s no straight man for the audience to identify with, thus reducing the film to an exercise in patience as a series of unlikable characters get into farcical situations.

Granted, the physical comedy is well done, and Hawks keeps things rolling at a breakneck speed, but the film rests on characters you don’t care about, don’t want to spend time with, and ultimately don’t like. No amount of gags can overcome that.

If you’re big on “screwball” comedies, Bringing Up Baby might be right up your alley, but others would do well follow the crowds and critics of 1938 and avoid this one.