My dad is a huge W.C. Fields fan so I saw a lot of his work when I was growing up but I never actually watched one of his feature films as an adult until now. I'm not sure Never Give a Sucker an Even Break is a great first place to start to get the true essence of why Fields was so popular back in the day but it's a pretty funny flick and pretty far out there for 1941. Fields plays himself pitching a surreal script to a studio exec who can't comprehend what he's reading. The script's scenes play out on screen as the exec reads it, giving way to Fields usual assortment of one-liners and sight gags. It's obvious that Fields (who wrote the screenplay) is commenting on his personal experiences with trying to get his brand of comedy made in the very structured studio system of the time. At only 70 minutes, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break is pretty short and Fields was not in great physical shape at this point in his career but it's still a very enjoyable flick and predates the "meta" film explosion by at least 50 years.
Rating: 4/5
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