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This 1968 comedy satire directed by George Seaton appropriately sets the stage with the cacophony of New York. People’s rude voices yell over each other; noises of traffic and construction blare. The city is framed as a decidedly unhappy place.
In What’s So Bad About Feeling Good? Pete (George Peppard) and his girlfriend Liz (Mary Tyler Moore) live with a community of beatniks for whom melancholy is the purest state of existence and belittlement is the highest compliment. The loft receives an unexpected visit from a toucan that recently spread a virus among the crew of a boat traveling from South America. Highly contagious, this respiratory virus is revealed to infect people with happiness.
Pete contracts the disease from the bird, who is later affectionately dubbed as “Amigo.” Deciding he wants nothing more than for his friends to be happy too, he deliberately sets out to infect them and succeeds. With a newfound buoyancy, the group enacts a plan to spread their euphoria all over New York. The outcome is both humorous and a little curious. People become not only “happier.” They speak more kindly, dress more nicely, shave their beards, get married, and stop buying cigarettes and alcohol. This includes those like Liz, who were never infected at all; positive attitudes simply rubbed off on them.
The mayor (John McMartin) and city leaders are distressed that the pandemic threatens New York’s economy and the two-party system. Consequently, J. Gardner Monroe (Dom DeLuise) is sent by the federal government to halt the outbreak. In an overstated manner, the film indicts those very government leaders. They not only want people to be miserable, it says, they’re also bumbling fools!
What’s So Bad offers quite a few laugh-worthy antics and clever lines, but other bits could be seen as overdrawn or even cringeworthy, as when the newly-infected Pete dresses up as a stranger and pulls in Liz for an unwanted kiss.
The new Blu-ray edition offers audio commentary by film historians Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson. Should be considered as an addition to classics shelves. Optional.