Where Are All The Laughs?
I confess a weakness for vulgar humor, which is probably why I liked both Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and, even more so, Role Models. I tend not to worry much about the explosion of vulgar comedy — it’s just locker-room talk. But what I do worry about, at least a little, is that, when it comes to big-screen comedy, there’s so little else, or at least so little else that’s actually funny. Sure, there are plenty of by-the-numbers romantic comedies and ho-hum kid flicks. Adam Sandler reliably churns out 100 minutes or so of dumb jokes every year. But these all strike me as purely efforts to cash in, rather than real efforts as clever, innovative comedy. The Apatow crew and its imitators don’t always succeed, of course, and their efforts are starting to feel awfully familiar — but I at least get the sense that they’re all relatively serious about being genuinely, memorably funny. You still see this on TV, of course, but at the movies, such efforts seem to be few and far between. So what you’re left with is a lot of clever heart-on-its-sleeve vulgarity. I like that a lot, of course, but wouldn’t it be nice if there were something else?
What’s the last intelligent, non-formulaic comedy to come out? Maybe Juno? They are few and far between.
— wph · Nov 7, 09:35 PM · #
I haven’t seen that many movies this year, but I thought In Bruges and Tropic Thunder were both good comedies of the distinctly non-Apatowan mold.
— Bo · Nov 7, 11:34 PM · #
Burn After Reading was hilarious.
— Mark · Nov 8, 01:31 AM · #
I’ll second Mark. Burn After Reading played like a lampoon of Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” thesis. I loved it — almost as much as I love the thesis!
— JA · Nov 8, 01:36 AM · #
Going back a ways, but:
Funny Bones
Run don’t walk.
— Steve Roth · Nov 10, 02:57 AM · #
I haven’t seen Burn After Reading yet, but the Coen Brothers comedies get closer than any other modern films to the sensibility and refinement of the Cary Grant screwball comedies.
Still, I can’t help wondering why Hollywood no longer seems capable of anything as sophisticated as Bringing up Baby or The Philadelphia Story. Modern Hollywood may be full of liberals, but where did THOSE liberals go?
— Sam Roggeveen · Nov 10, 10:50 PM · #
I second the recommendation of Funny Bones, and in turn recommend The Imposters.
— Dav Laurel · Nov 12, 09:28 PM · #