What-No Beer?

Directed by Edward Sedgwick, What-No Beer? follows a couple of friends (Buster Keaton’s Elmer J. Butts and Jimmy Durante’s Jimmy Potts) as they concoct a get-rich-quick scheme to cash in on the end of prohibition. There’s little doubt that What-No Beer? fares best in its erratic yet basically entertaining opening stretch, as the movie benefits from the affable chemistry between Keaton and Durante’s respective figures – which, in turn, ensures that it’s easy enough to overlook the ongoing emphasis on bits of decidedly unfunny physical comedy. It’s disappointing to note, then, that the picture segues into a meandering midsection that slowly-but-surely drains the viewer’s interest and enthusiasm, as filmmaker Sedgwick suffuses the proceedings with ineffective, time-wasting sequences (eg a drawn-out scene wherein Elmer and Jimmy attempt to make beer) that are exacerbated by Durante’s increasingly frantic and grating performance – which, despite the inclusion of an admittedly terrific third-act interlude detailing Butts’ efforts at dodging dozens of out-of-control beer kegs, ultimately does cement What-No Beer?‘s place as a disappointing endeavor that feels far longer than its 65 minute running time.

** out of ****