Laughing Gas

Charlie at his Keystone-sadistic worst is an assistant in a dentist’s office. You can pretty much guess where it goes from there.

The most interesting thing about the movie’s plot is how it comes full circle – Charlie harasses people within and out of the office, yet by movie’s end, every one of his victims is there to give him full-throated revenge.

Otherwise, the movie is a waste of potential. People’s fear of dentists has a long range of history in movie comedy (from Laurel & Hardy to Steve Martin, at least), but this one starts out with Charlie eager to wallop anybody in sight, so it never builds to anything. The best scene is probably Charlie’s heavy-duty flirting of a female patient in the dentist’s chair.

Click here to return to: