This is the youngest I've seen Joe E Brown in a film. I am used to him being loud, obnoxoius and brash in later films, so it was great to see a wider range of his acting abilities. His acting even reminder me of Don Adams in Get Smart at times, with some of his mannerisms here.
I think the tone is fine in the beginning, you can do comedies with down-on-their-luck characters. It's all about how they respond and get out of their situations. What lowers my enjoyment for this movie is the second half where the whole plot turns absurd. Characters start making decisions that no sane human would make, and the tone shifts greatly from the first half where the characters were more grounded.
Also, great use of names, Feet Samuels, "the brain", etc. They were likely trying to mock gangster names but 90 years later all the names sound fun and cool to me.
I think the tone is fine in the beginning, you can do comedies with down-on-their-luck characters. It's all about how they respond and get out of their situations. What lowers my enjoyment for this movie is the second half where the whole plot turns absurd. Characters start making decisions that no sane human would make, and the tone shifts greatly from the first half where the characters were more grounded.
Also, great use of names, Feet Samuels, "the brain", etc. They were likely trying to mock gangster names but 90 years later all the names sound fun and cool to me.