Dr. Strangelove is a strange movie. When I saw it, I might have chuckled a few times. But when I think about it now, I feel I want roll over laughing. It proved that either the movie is brilliant or I am slow. Could be both.

The thing that I could really appreciate is the performance. You have the ever reliable Peter Sellers and George C. Scott. And then you have Peter Sellers and Sterling Hayden, another good veteran actor. Did I mention Peter Sellers twice? Wait, there is another Petter Sellers. I'm not nuts, it's just that this very very versatile actor played three parts in this movie, namely the Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley and the title character himself Dr. Strangelove. Watch out for a separate performance by the latter's hand.

And did you know that he was supposed to play the part played by Slim Pickens, the gung-ho cowboy pilot of Leper Colony which is a bomber by the way? Well, Sellers also had a tough competition in form of the Russian premier whom we don't even see or hear, who is in the phone with President Muffley most of the time. And watch out for George C. Scotts' performance which also almost overshadowed Sellers. It even looked a bit like the performance in Patton - in a hysterical maniacal way.

The film was intended to be a satire. To think of it, thats how I wanted to see it in the first place. I went straight to the message, the subtext and the performance. It is a deadly serious look at cold war and nuclear possibilities. Pretty scary. But thinking of individual scenes now, I feel like bursting. There are definitely very funny.

Kubrick is a great filmmaker. But I find his films to be a bit on the dull side at times. They are mostly great visual treat, such as Space Odyssey 2001, Clockwork Orange, Paths of Glory, Sparctacus and Full Metal Jacket. But this film is never dull. You get the kind of shots you expect from Kubrick (usually long masters with most of the ceiling in) and in addition, you get great lines, the kind that normally would not appear in a Stanley Kubrick film.

This may be a thinking person's comedy, but it doesn't lack in humour that make a lay person like me smile or laugh. I got to take another look at it. Then, I shall discuss more. Till then, enjoy it.