Although the cast and script make this piece rather like "Beach Blanket Bingo in the Bronx", the internal analysis of the Beat philosophy makes this a classic comedic excursion into 20th century mentality.Fairly ordinary turns by Peppard and Moore are turned, by clever directorial work into a glib and pleasing commentary on the Cold War, American values and the paranoia of being the stalking horse of the Free World.Mary Tyler Moore is wonderful as a free-thinking positivist drawn by her boyfriend (George Peppard) into the grim world of "Hoffnungslosigkeit", the theory of Hopelessness proposed by a renowned German existentialist thinker.Given that your parents were either Beats, Hipsters or Hippys, you will wonder how you were ever conceived....

This is a distinctly old-fashioned comedy, created by middle-aged guys who'd written Marx Brothers movies and cute comedies like Miracle on 34th Street. In some ways, the movie feels antiquated and out of touch; its '60s nihilistic "East Village artists" are Beatnik throwbacks, and the writers believe that if people were happy, men would be clean shaven and wear suits, women would get their hair done, and everyone would get married. But if the film is out of touch with the world it's set in, it is perfectly in touch with the Capra-esque sensibility it's aiming at. After a slow start, the movie becomes quite funny, and it has a charm and sweetness about it that was already long out of style by the time of its release.I saw this movie decades ago and really liked it, and I'm happy to say that, all these years later, I still find its humor and positive message (and no, it's not a particularly subversive message, though it is a sweet one) compensate for its old-fashioned out-of-touchness.

I just got the film & watched it tonight! An old recording from Comedy Central, first to VCR and I got it on DVD. I'd say it is acceptable quality, but MUCH better than nothing. Available at, E-Bay com under "What's So Bad About Feeling Good". The seller is in California and is OK. I would also make copies for people in Europe.so much of the film remains with me.... The title song. Many things were just bits & pieces.... except the feeling that I got from it. Pete pretended to be the head of the cult from Germany. All wondered why such a hopeless man was so cheerful. He asked if it is true that the only hope is the end of the world? Then if the world is destroying itself? They said yes. He continued by pointing out that they then had nothing to worry about. Pete as the "cult leader" wanted to kiss Liz and pass on the virus. She resisted. Then he explained it would be a teeny-weeny kiss, like he gives his sister. She allows it. She tries to fight him off as he lays a 5-10 second kiss on her. Shocked she say's, "And that's how you kiss your sister?!?". He answers in his accent, "My zizter and I have a zleitly inzestuous relazionzhip." [email protected]

Beyond its attractive, feathered hero and a surprise appearance by Thelma Ritter (her last as it happens) as a woman in the hospital's waiting room, "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?" actually has very little to recommend it even to the most desperate entertainment-seeker.In this labored farce, seemingly endless variations on its one joke are tirelessly milked to extinction.True, Dom De Luise, when he finally appears on the scene, does liven things up considerably. But is it worth waiting for Dom through a boring hour with pallid George Peppard and tiresome Mary Tyler Moore? Even the New York locations and a Vic Mizzy score fail to overcome the ennui produced by a combination of dull writing and charmless leads.