Hollis Alpert observed, "Wilder's is not a delicate sense of satire," and this is more than evident in the premise and comedy of this film about the complications ensuing from a runaway marriage between the dizzy daughter of an American soft-drinks millionaire and a scruffy communist East Berliner. But it can be very instructive to study Wilder's travesty of Cold War politics, and it is possible, "at this point in time," to enjoy a good deal of the outrageous slapstick, which is furiously-paced and evenly distributed in its cracks at American imbecilities and American-viewed practices of communist officialdom. "Of all recent comedies, few are as side-splitting as One, Two, Three.... In a way it reflects the Viennese proverb that, while the situation is hopeless, it's not impossible. (Vienna-born) Wilder's bitterness is very much in evidence, coated over with all kinds of fancy dressing and verbal gymnastics, but always lurking around the corner. A trait of German humor has always been to make fun of sacred cows, no matter how sensitive they may be.... In One, Two, Three, the Berlin Wall gets its share.... There are jokes for the 'ins' and jokes for the 'outs'.... He steps on everyone's toes and his victims love it...and while we are laughing, we can feel just a tiny bit uneasy, which is not a bad thing." --David Stewart Hull