No Laughing Matter

Speaking of gas and all, I just remembered a very funny story. We’ll entitle this one “Running on Empty”.

K.M. was out one night and got himself extremely intoxicated. So intoxicated almost to the point of a blackout, where not much was clear and he didn’t really know why he felt that way. On the (safe) ride home, Dan was running out of gas while K.M. was in the passenger seat. The following conversation occurred:

Dan: Dude, we’re on E
K.M.: (SHOCKED and worried that he’d finally figured out why he feels so terrible) We Aaaare??!

Which nicely brings us onto today’s topic, comedy. As a movie genre, I think comedies are the lamest of the lame. Not quite sure why, it’s probably because I’ve rarely found comedies to be funny. In a literal sense, I don’t laugh while watching (most) comedies. I can’t think of the last comedy I truly enjoyed, Not Another Teen Movie stands out because of its spoofy nature. That’s it; I enjoy spoofy stuff that pokes fun of things I’ve seen. The Scary Movie trilogy was also OK because I’ve seen all the horror movies they spoof.

For one, I think that comedies are extremely subjective. Which means the terms “blockbuster comedy” and “hit comedy” are both farces. I’ve found that it’s quite hard to get people to agree on the funniness of a comedy. I never rush to see a comedy and almost always wait until they’re out on video, better yet; I wait until they’re on cable. Comedies just doesn’t seem to be worth the 10 dollars as let’s say, something like ….oh… The Skeleton Key would be (Am I going to get an invite to the premiere for relentlessly linking to that movie despite Kate Hudson starring in it)???

I also don’t find Will Ferrell as funny as the rest of the world thinks he is. What’s so funny? I must have missed something. Tall man who’s ALWAYS out-of-place acting goofy … OK, we fucking get it. I will say that the prison scene in Starsky and Hutch (terrible movie) was the funniest I’ve ever seen Will Ferrell. Even when he was on SNL, I thought he was just OK (Horatio Sanz is by far the funniest SNL personality, He doesn’t even need to speak … just show up).

Adam Sandler is another disaster. Nothing funny about him, I’m beginning to suspect he has a speech impediment because he uses the same, lame affected voice/ accent in all his movies. Ben Stiller is OK. He’s capitalized on his un-cool appearance by always playing the over zealous “trying too hard” role. He’s had some very funny roles. Rob Schneider is also worth a mention, in a good way.

I would talk about Martin Lawrence but his dumbass doesn’t really star in comedies. He’s a comedian that stars in action movies or unintentional comedies to add some humor. Not surprisingly, he’s always playing the Black man who doesn’t know what to do with a gun, and for some reason that’s ‘funny’. Martin is “Martin” (funny TV show) in all his movie roles.

As for the females, well… I think it goes without saying that there’s a serious shortage of female comediennes in movies when certain comedies settle for J-Lo in the starring role. J-Lo was EXCELLENT in “In Living Color,” her best work yet.

It should also go without mention that I despise the “racial comedies”. You know the drill, take a white guy or girl and put their ass in “the hood” … You’re guaranteed a scene in the club where the white guy makes an ass out of himself (and then miraculously garners the support and admiration of the thuggish hip hop crowd) which in turn leads to their black co-stars FINALLY “appreciating” them and we have the equivalent of racial-comedic world peace. Give me a fucking break.

Now, what happens when you get the ‘serious’ actors doing comedy? A disaster. The formula is equally as lame as that of the racial-comedy; they poke fun at their own ‘seriousness’ and go through the entire movie as if playing themselves.

I will say that I’m more likely to laugh during horror movies. Again, I’m not sure why but I think it’s me subconsciously breaking the ‘tension’ by laughing at myself (and how affected I am by the events unfolding). I also laugh when other people react by screaming, or yelling their “oh my gods” or breaking out into full prayer. My favorite was when I watched The Village in theatres, we were sitting in a row full of high school students (about 14 or so) and EVERY single minute was a co-ed scream fest (even though the movie wasn’t really ‘scary’?)

I saw an online trailer for Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo, despite today’s post I’m very excited about this movie as I thought the first one was great. Maybe I’ll shell out 10 dollars to see it, but only if I can walk to the theatre because you know, walking is good for you.

Note: Comedy on television is much better with the likes of Dave Chappelle running the show. Today: Steel