Big Ears

Big Ears (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Incredibly distasteful Our Gang short has Wheezer overhearing his parents fighting and saying they're getting a divorce so he decides to make himself sick so that they'll stay together. This is a rather ugly film for several reasons including the subject matter of divorce but the film gets even uglier as we get a few racial slurs to the black kid Stymie and an even uglier scene where Wheezer is in bed with a tummy ache only to have the thread of various medicines being fed to him. Even with all the ugliness surrounding the film there are still a few funny moments but most of these are during the first half of the film. These scenes have Wheezer trying to get his parents to stop fighting by talking to each one separately and then bringing them together. Bobby Hutchins, the kid who plays Wheezer, does a great job in the adult subject matter.