His Favorite Pastime

His Favorite Pastime is only about 16 minutes long, yet I found it so boring I nearly fell asleep. The plot makes even less sense than usual, and Chaplin seems to be sleepwalking through the comedy.

There are a few interesting gags, such as The Tramp vs. a pair of saloon doors, and later, the Tramp riding the front of a streetcar, but nothing really gels in this early silent Chaplin. His drunk act was starting to get old by this point, and in fact the character he plays here is little different than the character he played in his previous film, Tango Tangles, except that the comedy in the earlier short is far superior.

My advice: unless you have a desire to see every film Chaplin made, good or bad, skip this one.