Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Review: Kubrick's Doomsday Farce
9.5/10 — Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Pros
- Peter Sellers's triple performance
- Pitch-black satire
- Iconic war room
Cons
- Broad humour in places
When a deranged US general launches a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, the president and his advisors scramble to stop a catastrophe. Peter Sellers plays three roles, including the title character.
What works
Sellers is a comic marvel, and George C. Scott’s blustering General Turgidson and Sterling Hayden’s paranoid General Ripper are brilliant. The war room set is iconic, and the script is a sharp satire of mutually assured destruction.
Where it falters
The humour is broad in places, and the film’s Cold War context requires a little background for younger viewers.
Verdict
A sharp, hilarious and chilling satire that still feels relevant.
