What's Up, Tiger Lily?

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely hilarious
Review: This is one of my all-time favorite comedies, despite what Woody Allen thinks about it now (i.e. a "sophomoric effort"). Take it for what it is -- pure, silly, delirious nonsense. An action-adventure pursuit of an egg-salad recipe? C'mon, this is an absurdist's delight, you can't take it too seriously. Some of the most memorable lines ever ("a salad so delicious you could plotz"), you have to see this movie and I promise it will make you laugh and cheer you up.

Rating:
Summary: You need to see this movie!
Review: This is one of Woody's earliest movies, and perhaps, especially given it's obscurity, his best! The video portion of the movie appears to have been a Japanese Action/Adventure movie featuring a swinging James Bond-type hero surrounded by beautiful women and rival gangsters. Allen has dubbed the movie and has changed the plot, from what was probably a typical 007 scheme, to a scavenger hunt for a secret egg salad recipe! Allen interupts the film on a few occasions to provide commentary, and also splices in a couple of psychadelic rock (mock?) videos. I think you will agree that this is another testament to Allen's artistic versatility and comic genius. This is a very funny movie. END

Rating:
Summary: Woody's crowning achievement
Review: This is the greatest comedy film ever made. I laughed till I stopped

Rating:
Summary: Phil Moscowitz, lovable rogue
Review: This movie has clearly got both Mystery Science 3000 and Austin Powers licked. In terms of sheer originality and crazy spy humor, this one is an instant classic.

Rating:
Summary: It's just too funny!!!
Review: This movie was definately one of the most hilarious i've ever seen. I don't think i ever stopped laughing! It's like you are looking at this serious old time japanese war flick but what you are hearing is so funny and the way it matches up to what the people are doing on screen makes it even more hilarious! It's brilliant! It's definately for everyone!

Rating:
Summary: MY GOD WHAT A TRIP
Review: This movie would have been funny without beer in the old system. It is WELL worth the buy. I was laughing SO hard my sides hurt and i was crying my brains out.

Rating:
Summary: ."...a salad so delicious you could PLOTZ!"
Review: Thus utters "Wing Fat", Japanese gangster and Wayne Newton lookalike, in Woody Allen's "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" in reference to a much-coveted secret egg salad recipe.
"What's Up, Tiger Lily?" has, in my opinion, always been looked upon as Mr. Allen's filmic poor relation. To the yuppified, nouvelle cuisine-eating self-appointed Allen "aficionados", "Tiger Lily" is a cinematic Nathan's hot dog. What a shame, because it is a very funny, unpretentious, inspired piece of nonsense. Mr. Allen took a 1960s Japanese James Bond [pretend] film, wiped out the dialogue track and, with the help of some very talented performers (including his then-wife Louise "Mary Hartman" Lasser), dubbed in some of the funniest dialogue ever heard on screen. I can't even guess what the plot of the original film was (it's actually pretty [darn] funny without the dialogue), but after Mr. Allen finished with it, the drama centers around the coveted egg salad recipe. The recipe has been stolen from Raspur, a "nonexistent yet real-sounding country", and rival bad guys Shepperd Wong and Wing Fat both want it for their own sinister purposes. Hero Phil Moscowitz (played by Matt Helm [pretend] Tatsuo Mihashi) plays double agent in this mishigas (in between his womanizing shenanigans, unsuccesfully trying to seduce Japanese dolls Miss Teri Yaki and her sister Suki). One must wonder which filmmaker copied who, because actresses Mie Hama and Akiko Wakabayashi, who played the Yaki sisters, both went on to star opposite Sean Connery in the James Bond opus "You Only Live Twice" a few years later! I won't go any further into the plot line of this film, thin as it is, nor will I spoil the fun by quoting the dialogue, but I will simply say that the film is very, very funny and not for the slow-witted. The dialogue is a rapid-fire combination of Borscht Belt humor, and also prefigures the hilarious, brainy quips uttered by the 2 robots on "Mystery Science Theater". There's the obligatory cartoon violence (kick, punch, chop, shoot) and a somewhat superfluous musical score by John Sebastian and The Lovin' Spoonful, and footage of the 1960s rock group is interspersed throughout the film. Undoubtedly this was added to the film to attract the "young, hip" audience. At least the clothes, hairdos and dance steps of the "young folk" are worth a few laughs! And, of course, there are brief filmed interviews with Woody Allen himself, deadpanning and double-talking his way through all of this, making it even funnier, and a striptease by voluptuous China Lee, a former Playboy Playmate, providing even more Asian eye candy for the horndog viewers. "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" is a very enjoyable 89 minutes, but be warned-an hour later, you'll be hungry for more laughs again!

Rating:
Summary: watered down
Review: Unfortunately, this version has some of the best jokes replaced with bland, non-sexual speech. (The "Disney-fied" version described by the reviewer below). Still a funny movie, but it's a shame that the best humor's been hamstrung in the interest of political correctness.

Rating:
Summary: More Reasons Why You'll Never Get Away In A Moment...
Review: Whether or not you're a Woody Allen fan - and in my moviegoing experience it's a pretty divisive issue, you either love him or hate him - 'What's Up, Tiger Lily?' is a comic curveball of zingers, one-liners, puns, gags, and all-out innuendo all cleverly sneaking through the side door and turning an otherwise run-of-the-mill spy movie (back then, they were everywhere...EVERYBODY wanted to make the next James Bond) into a giddy treat.
The opening shot - featuring a scene from the film with its original audio track, followed by an introduction/confession by Woody Allen himself - doesn't really have a whole lot to do with the madness that ensues, except perhaps to provide a hilarious contrast. The story goes as thus: Fresh from wrapping up one caper, self-proclaimed lovable rogue Phil Moskowitz is enlisted by the leader of a fictional country to retrieve its most priceless treasure - the recipe for the world's greatest egg salad - before it comes their turn to be put on the map. With his two lovely lady-friends, Moskowitz becomes caught in a power struggle between Shepherd Wong, who has a thing for women's football and a passion for mayonnaise, and Wing-Fat, who carries a rather unique camera and whose henchmen officiate the wedding of a snake and a chicken. Yep, that's pretty much the plot of the movie.
Any question of where the Spike Network came up with the idea for 'Most Extreme Elimination Challenge' seems answered to a tee with this flick, and again, you don't have to be a Woody Allen fan to enjoy this mindlessly-funny romp, particularly if you get a kick out of all those old dubbed Japanese monster movies. As a bonus, we get the Lovin' Spoonful making an appearance here and there in the flick, and even a few more comical cameos by Woody in the middle and at the end.
If you're an afficionado of the classic movie spoof - a genre that includes early Mel Brooks and Zucker/Abrahams works like 'Young Frankenstein' and 'Airplane!' - you'd get a kick out of 'What's Up, Tiger Lily?'.

Rating:
Summary: Woody Allen's first effort
Review: While this film was fun and will surely give you lots of laughs, it shouldn't be taken seriously. Even Allen tried to keep it from getting released, and later called it a "sophomoric exercise". Great for Woody Allen fans, but others should check 'Bananas' for farce, 'Manhattan' for comedy, and 'Crimes and Misdemeanors' for drama, before watching this one.