What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)

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In this comedy, New York City undergoes a dramatic change when a toucan carrying a strange virus is smuggled through customs. In those it infects, the virus causes an intense euphoria and a desire to do good. The first man to receive the infected bird is a misanthropic, cynical artist who lives in… More In this comedy, New York City undergoes a dramatic change when a toucan carrying a strange virus is smuggled through customs. In those it infects, the virus causes an intense euphoria and a desire to do good. The first man to receive the infected bird is a misanthropic, cynical artist who lives in an apartment with his girlfriend. The couple names the toucan "Amigo," and soon they are indeed happy. They decide to spread it around and so the bird is freed. The Big Apple goes into an economic tailspin as its residents become deliriously happy and stop buying cigarettes, booze and tranquilizers. To save the financially foundering city, the mayor and a presidential envoy begin distributing unpleasant masks to the happy city-dwellers. The artist and friends thwart the officials' scheme by infecting the masks. So begins a battle between the officials and the artist. Eventually Amigo is caught, and an antidote is delivered. The renowned rudeness, cruelty and selfishness of the native New Yorkers quickly returns, and the city is saved. The artist realizes that his quest has been futile, and he devotes the rest of his time and energy to making his girlfriend happy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Directed By: George Seaton
Genres: Comedy

In Theaters: May 17, 1968 Wide

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Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

goofy but sweetly good natured
Eric B

"What's So Bad About Feeling Good?" has a title that reeks of mediocre gimmickry, and indeed this film is more than a little silly. A mysterious toucan carrying a virus that causes delirious happiness comes to New York via a Greek freight boat. Its first local stop is a… More
"What's So Bad About Feeling Good?" has a title that reeks of mediocre gimmickry, and indeed this film is more than a little silly. A mysterious toucan carrying a virus that causes delirious happiness comes to New York via a Greek freight boat. Its first local stop is a cynical beatnik pad, where dropped-out longhairs (led by the miscast George Peppard and Mary Tyler Moore) eternally scowl about the hopelessness of metropolitan life. (You'll want to see Moore, a couple of years before superstardom, gamely singing a free-form guitar lament with lines like "I find peace of mind in the theory/That true existence is dreary.") The bird works its magic -- personality transformations are signaled with a none-too-subtle "boing" sound -- and soon the gang is merrily dancing arm in arm on the roof. From there, they conspire to spread the bug around town, and soon the frazzled mayor is worried about the loss of city revenue (reduced smoking and drinking mean less sales tax, you see). Eventually, he calls in a flamboyant government agent (Dom Deluise, who has the film's best part) to solve the problem. "What's So Bad" has some cute moments (several involve "The Sack," an unnamed girl who protests the world by hiding in a burlap bag), but the stodgy script isn't sharp enough to have any real satirical bite. The beatnik characterizations feel outdated in the time of peace-and-love hippies, and the leads' initial euphoria quickly fades to a bland, status-quo conformity that isn't consistent with the infection's established pathology. Moore and Peppard get haircuts and polish their wardrobes, and soon pass for casually "normal." They even turn stressed and neurotic when trying to hide the bird from the authorities. Wait, weren't they supposed to be irrationally happy? By the end, the film's mixed message seems more about frowning on deviant values than preaching the virtues of good cheer.

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What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)

No Critic Reviews Found…

Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

Eric B

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