Film

Smashing Time

A 1967 British comedy following two aspiring entertainers who arrive in London determined to conquer show business. It's gloriously chaotic—a collision of swinging-sixties optimism, madcap musical numbers, and acidic satire about fame's corrupting pull. Anarchic, colorful, and deeply weird, it's for people who find joy in movies that refuse to sit still.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy sixties satire with a sharp, slightly giddy eye on fashion, pop culture and the cost of wanting to be seen, and you like comedy built on two very different performers.

Skip it if you want a tight, plot-driven story; this is episodic and loose, more a string of sketches than a steady narrative, and its humour can feel dated to modern ears.

What it asks of you: A brisk ninety-six minutes with quick cuts and musical numbers, and it wants you to keep up with its bright, cynical turns rather than settle into one mood.

If you liked this

A Hard Day's Night1964

The Beatles at their creative peak, playing versions of themselves in a film that's pure energy and invention. Playful, inventive, and fundamentally alive—it captures the exact moment pop culture exploded into art.

But It's now 60 years old and very much of its era. If you need plot or character development, you'll be frustrated by its sketchy structure.

A Hard Day's Night poster

Singin' in the Rain1952

The gold standard of movie musicals: genre-defining entertainment with genuine artistry underneath. Gene Kelly is a revelation, and the musical numbers are choreographed genius that still astonish.

But It's deeply earnest and sincere about show business. If you want cynicism, this isn't it—it's a love letter to the stage.

Singin' in the Rain poster

Performance.1970

Mick Jagger in a hallucinogenic dive into fame, identity, and rock-and-roll excess. Visually daring and genuinely unsettling, with a screenplay that scrambles your sense of who's who.

But It's trippy and oblique. The narrative deliberately falls apart, and sex and violence are woven throughout. Patience required.

Performance. poster

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Phantom of the Paradise1974

Both are corrosive comedies about ambition and the entertainment industry consuming those who chase it. Where *Smashing Time* is anarchic, this is gothic—same moral, different temperature.

Brian De Palma's operatic horror-comedy about a composer corrupted by the music industry. It's *Smashing Time's* darker cousin—same show-business destruction, but filtered through Hitchcock and rock opera. Wildly entertaining and genuinely twisted.

But It wears its artificiality proudly, which some find affected. The horror elements are campy rather than scary, and the plot is knowingly melodramatic.

Phantom of the Paradise poster
More like this (7)

Breakfast at Tiffany's1961

Audrey Hepburn as the ultimate optimist adrift in New York, chasing reinvention and glamour. Effortlessly charming and surprisingly tender about loneliness beneath the sparkle.

But It's been canonized to death. Its cultural significance can make it feel smaller than you expect on first viewing.

Breakfast at Tiffany's poster

Funny Girl1968

Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice, a woman determined to succeed in vaudeville and Broadway. Spectacular musical numbers and a performance that commands every frame.

But It's a conventional biopic underneath the production values. The second half slides into melodrama about a failing marriage.

Funny Girl poster

Pennies from Heaven1981

Steve Martin in a Depression-era drama that erupts into elaborate musical fantasy sequences. It's tonally brave—blending despair with sudden, jarring happiness in those dance numbers.

But The tonal whiplash won't work for everyone. It's also quite bleak about poverty and infidelity, which undercuts the musical joy.

Pennies from Heaven poster

Cabaret1972

Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles in Weimar Berlin, with Bob Fosse directing. The numbers are infectious, the political backdrop is chilling, and it captures seediness and show business simultaneously.

But It's heavy. The beauty of the musical numbers sits directly atop the rise of fascism, and that deliberate dissonance won't uplift you.

Cabaret poster

That's Entertainment!1974

A documentary compiling the best musical sequences from MGM's golden age. Pure visual pleasure—a greatest-hits reel of genuine artistry from cinema's most lavish studio.

But It's a compilation, so it has no narrative. You're watching clips, which means no investment in characters or story.

That's Entertainment! poster

Absolute Beginners1986

A musical love letter to 1950s London, with David Bowie and style for days. Visually audacious and genuinely felt, even when it stumbles tonally.

But It's uneven and sometimes tries too hard to be cool. Some sequences don't land, and the plot is secondary to the aesthetic.

Absolute Beginners poster

Enter the Dragon1973

Both track ambitious people entering a world that will test and potentially destroy them. *Smashing Time* is satire; this is a meditation on mastery. Same crucible, opposite response.

Bruce Lee's only major Hollywood film before his death—a perfectly calibrated action thriller. The plot is thin but functional, and the martial-arts sequences redefine what film can do. Pure physical genius.

But It's 50 years old and the other actors can't touch Lee's presence. If you're after character development, you won't find it. It's a movie about capability, not psychology.

Enter the Dragon poster

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