January 3, 2005
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What’s funny to you?
I’m a movie buff. I can’t remember my own address, but I can recite pages of dialogue from decades of movies (a fact that routinely makes my wife insane). I would easily say that my favorite type of movie is comedy. In fact, below is my top twenty list of all time favorite movies, and out of the twenty, thirteen are comedies (this isn’t a list of what I think the twenty best movies ever made are, but rather a list of movies that I will watch again and again on cable when they come on even though I’ve already set through them at least 30 times each). Here is the list:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail The Godfather
Airplane When Harry met Sally
Grosse Point Blank High Fidelity
The Princess Bride Ground Hog Day
The Ten Commandments The Blue’s Brothers
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Cybil
Ghost Busters Serendipity
The Shawshank Redemption The Terminator (original)
Naked Gun Unforgiven
Animal House The Color Purple
I’m noticing a trend in movies that disturbs me. This trend has to do with what constitutes “funny” in some new movies. Let me begin by saying, that I’m not offended by language, I’m not offended by nudity, I’m not offended by violence, and I’m not offended by sophomoric humor; not at least when they are done well and in context (this is probably pretty obvious from the list above). I am offended, however, by stupidity, pandering, and meanness.
I like humor that is based on witty dialogue, irony, and pure silliness. I don’t like humor that is based on meanness, humor derived at the characters expense, or “shock” humor that is supposed to be funny just because it’s shocking. This is why Billy Crystal, Bill Murray, and Eugene Levy are hysterical, and Ben Stiller, Seann Williams Scott, and Snoop Dog are not. That’s why “imagine every molecule in your body exploding at the speed at light (reply) ok…so that’s bad…important safety tip” from Ghost Busters is funny and the “f-word” used more times than can be counted in American Wedding is not. That’s why the orgasm scene from When Harry met Sally is a classic, and the bedroom scene from Shallow Hal is not.
Now, I know that movies and what constitutes funny is a deeply personal thing and that many of you are saying “how can you possibly think Ben Stiller isn’t funny?!?!” So, I’d love for you to tell me why I’m full of hot air and what you think makes funny….funny.
Comments (4)
It’s much like the scientific study of matter. When anti-matter shares space with matter, it completely destroys it, making it a black hole of what it once was.
Ben Still is anti-funny. Anything funny that he touches is completely destroyed and becomes a mere mockery of humor. Imagine Ben Stiller in any classic comedy…
The Princess Bride, for instance.
“It’s possible, pig.
It’s conceivable, you miserable vomitous mass, that I could be bluffing…”
But instead of continuing with this witty diatribe about “to the pain” I’m going to do something with a cat flushing a toilet…
I totally agree with you. I don’t want to hear the F word continually…if at all. I enjoyed several of the movies you listed above…I LOVE Shawshank Redemtion. It is kind of like (if you ever watched it) Saturday Night Live….it use to be funny…now most of the skits are really stupid. (the same goes with much of their musical people on there…yikes…they are pretty scarey!) I would have to say the two movies that make me laugh again and again are Christmas Vacation (I LOVE Chevy Chase) and Duplex (I adore Drew Barrymore). Take care and have a great day!
I’d like to start by saying that The Princess Bride is the best movie ever made. The trend of appealing to the lowest common denominator, which continues to get lower and lower in this twisted game of limbo that is life, disturbs me. There are a few movies, however, that do give me faith in humankind. Take, for example, just about anything made by Pixar, as exemplified by their latest release, The Incredibles. So great! And much of the classic humor of Mel Brooks. This goes for television too (yea for the Gilmore Girls and witty dialogue), but that’s another diatribe altogether
I am ashamed to admit that I’ve been watching copius amounts of the Gilmore girls. The dialogue is just fantastic, and I think that if I were female, (and was my father) that’d be me and dad.