The President's Analyst (Theodore J. Flicker, 1967)

I take the positive reviews of The President's Analyst from Dave Kehr, Jonathan Rosenbaum, and Leonard Maltin (four stars!) (not to mention mountains of IMDb raves) as the final proof that I am constitutionally unable to receive satire because I found this hip, paranoid comedy utterly insufferable. Crazy inventive with a refreshing episodic structure, each skit nevertheless feels interminable; it took me three days to watch the thing. Flicker (what a name!) lacks the intensity that Aram Avakian brought to End of the Road (1970) or the consistent world view that Otto Preminger infused into Skidoo (1968), two much better films with similarly wacky dispositions. Instead, The President's Analyst just sits there all smug and confident in its ability to make you laugh. For once in my life, I wanted to leave a party early.

Grade: C+