Unfunny Comedies?

Yup. Based on the trailers, I thought it'd be fun, but instead, it was just cruel, hateful and stupid.

I worked at a restaurant back then, and the night after I saw it, I asked the bartender if he'd seen it. He said he had and called it a lot of fun. I still so mad about the movie that I tried to whack him in the head!

 

Actually, I think all of those are pretty erratic in terms of filmmaking. They're all basically a string of gags held together by loose narratives - I don't think they're well put-together at all.

Especially "Caddyshack" and "Blues Brothers". The latter is little more than a collection of car chases and musical numbers, while the former is a narrative disaster - it's poorly constructed as a film.

I like two of those movies but I wouldn't hold up any of them as strong examples of well-crafted films. They're comedies that have their moments but lack coherence and consistency...

 

I think you overstate the presence of that style of humor...

 

Okay, - fair enough....so what current comedies do NOT contain these comedic elements?

 

Very, very bad film. You can't believe somebody of Mel Brooks' caliber could write and direct this and say, "yeah, this is great! This is funny! This will do well!" Kill me.

I worked on Blades of Glory for months, and Will was funny as hell in dailies. The movie isn't great, but it does have a few laughs. Farrell is one of the few people I've seen who will do a few takes as written, then start to ad-lib and make the material 600% funnier than what was in the script. A truly funny, interesting man. Kind of quiet and withdrawn on set except when he's acting, but (my observation) a solid guy and very smart & quick-witted.

 

Well, there is a plot in Blues Brothers, just not a very good or believable one. But I think it's actually a pretty enjoyable film if you can buy into the setup.

There's 1000 musicals in the history of Hollywood that have silly or unbelievable plots, but the 20 musical numbers usually help you forget the plot and just sit back and be entertained. Some of the musical numbers in Blues Brothers are absolutely show-stopping; Aretha Franklin's updated version of "Think" is fantastic, as is Ray Charles' "Shake Your Tailfeather." Great, great moments.

 

When I see the words unfunny and comedy in the same sentence my mind instantly returns the name Adam Sandler.

 

Overanalyze much?

 

Tammy, Wild Hogs, Epic Movie and Bride Wars would have to be the worst comedies I've ever seen.

I stopped letting that friend pick movies to hire.

 

You mean the movie that was stolen by Steve Buscemi in the first 15 minutes?

 

any "comedy" with:

adam sandler
will ferrell
ben stiller
jim carrey
drew barrymore
melissa mccarthy

and

jerry lewis
or
steve martin

is sure to be unfunny.

 

Rat Race is one that I've always gotten some enjoyment out of. Sure, it's basically a knockoff of It's a Mad Mad Mad World, but there are some pretty funny performances. Not an F-bomb in sight.

I still get a laugh out of the bus load of Lucille Ball impersonators.

I don't think it was well-received, but I've also never claimed to be a movie critic. I like what I like.

 

Strangely enough, when you spend 16 years writing reviews of movies, you tend to analyze them.

I guess I could just write "it was funny!" or "I didn't like it!" and leave it at that...

 

"Although still shown worldwide, The Benny Hill Show has not been shown on UK terrestrial, networked television since a tribute season on Channel 4 in 1992, and not on satellite or cable since a run on the now defunct channel Granada Plus – now ITV3 – in 1999. To quote his biographer Mark Lewisohn, 'In Britain, Benny Hill is taboo'."

 

I meant when the show was originally produced and aired. For over 30 years. In Great Britain. Somebody there must have liked him.

 

You may barely remember "It's Complicated", a "rom-com" about White People's Problems with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. I actually found myself getting pissed off while watching it. It looked like a TV commercial for Glade air fresheners and seemed to be written by some type of software program programmed with dozens of cliches.
On the other hand, "Enough Said" with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini succeeded in almost every thing "It's Complicated" screwed up.

 

"Big Daddy" and "Anger Management" were good, though. They were two of the rare times he was actually funny.

 

It's awful. There are only 2 things I like about 2 broke girls, and both of them belong to Cat Dennings.

on the other hand south park still makes me LOL.

 

The theatrical release was funny, but the extended version later released on home video was flabby and unfunny. It is one of the best examples of how an editor can improve a movie.

 

I liked bits of Zoolander, but most american comedies of that last 15 years have been crap.

 

don't like caddyshack???? isn't that un-American???

chad

 

I think those are two of the crummier Sandler movies!

"Billy Madison", "Wedding Singer", "50 First Dates", "Zohan" - those are all pretty good Sandler...

 

Should be!

You're forgetting "Happy Gilmore".