The problem with negative critics of this movie, whom I’ve read are that they like the ‘straight man’ character take everything literally and in the context of what should normally happen in the real world and the movie doesn’t follow it. They then in turn reject the premise of the movie for that reason alone, when THAT IS the reason for the shock and audience reaction humor towards the actions in the movie. Madcap screwball comedies exist in a MAD reality with presuming and mentally unconnected characters, whose antics and behaviors ARE SUPPOSED to be seen as humorous for the fact no one in the real world would, should or could deal with them or put up with them. We laugh at the chaos and havoc wrought upon/around the main ‘serious’ character trying to keep the straightline in the madness till the other mad characters finally get the clue. Great directors like Hawks know how to bring out the finest actor portrayals and seamlessly weave the seemingly disparate story connections together working the best (yes) cliche comedic vaudeville type pratfalls and dialogue to make a the ultimate best of the screwball comedies of that time. People then were obviously overwhelmed with a ton of poor to mediocre and constant onslaught of ‘screwballesque’ cartoons, comedy such that ‘Bringing up Baby’ was considered just one more, as Hepburn and Grant were not near to their height in iconic performer/actor recognition by the public. So their fantastic work was poo-pooed back then til time proved their movie work majestically displayed.