Horse Feathers
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: August 19, 1932 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Not a masterpiece but divine all the same. The Marx Brothers bring their special brand of anarchy to the world of college football in this wonderfully madcap comedy. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The Marx Brothers in one of their messiest, sloppiest, greatest Paramount comedies. [27 Feb 2015, p.C5]
90
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
The madcap Marxes, in one of their maddest screen frolics. The premise of Groucho Marx as the college prexy and his three aides and abettors putting Huxley College on the grid-iron map promises much and delivers more. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
In their cockeyed prime, the Marx Brothers dismantle higher education by taking over Huxley College and setting it on a collision course with football arch-rival Darwin. [30 Dec 2005, p.C4]
83
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Anarchy finally reigned supreme in 1932's classic Horse Feathers, which was the first Marx brothers comedy that smoothly integrated the story into the troupe's routine. Read full review
80
The New York TimesMordaunt Hall
Some of the fun is even more reprehensible than the doings of these clowns in previous films, but there is no denying that their antics and their patter are helped along by originality and ready wit. Read full review
80
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
The Brothers have never been so chaotic or so aggressively funny. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid Parkinson
Marx brothers anarchy that makes up for plot inconsistencies with infectious humour. Read full review
80
The GuardianPhilip French
The movie is packed with brilliant, logic-chopping dialogue and surreal visual gags that, though familiar and often quoted, come up fresh at each viewing, none funnier than Harpo getting money from a phone as if it were a fruit machine. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderDon Druker
This 1932 release was the first Marx film to take on the Depression, and the brothers manage to satirize everything from education to prostitution and bootlegging. Read full review
70
The New YorkerPauline Kael
The Marx Brothers in one of their niftiest corny-surreal comedies; it isn't in the class of their Duck Soup but then what else is?
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