Comedy

Drama...Any Questions?

Ok, let's talk film. I want to talk about comedies today. Good comedies. Good comedies are hard to find. What makes a good comedy? I dunno. Don't ask me that question. You know I have limited brain cells! I know what it takes to be funny. I can be funny. I am funny in my own life. I have learned to be funny, you have to keep it simple. You have to tell simple jokes, simple one liners. I know if you try to hard to be funny, you're hoing to fail.

You see Will Ferrell comedy and he tries really hard to be funny. Mike Meyers goes above and beyond extravagant to be funny. The whole Austin Powers thing is riotous, yet very over produced. However like I think I am saying, I think the funniest films are the ones that kept it simple. National Lampoon's Vacation is a simple film I mean just saying the title, makes you giggle. The king of all film comedy, Airplane? Very funny. Although I don't know if that film still stands the test of time. Yet, straight up. That film was simple.

This whole blog may be full of BS today, not that that's unusual for me, but I am just going to explore what may be funny in film, in my humble opinion. I could argue all day what makes a good drama, drama is personal. But what is comedy? Funny is different for everyone. Comedy is Pizza and Drama is steak. Everyone knows that Filet Milnon is the best cut of steak. That is universal. That is indisputable. You may not agree that Filet is the best, but it is. The best drama is personal. I think I have wrote a lot about that last week.

So what is comedy? Well let's dive into the world of messy metaphors. Comedy is pizza. What you think is funny, I guarantee you the guy sitting next to you will disagree. I personally like my comedy with sarcasm, a little brutal humor, sexual innuendos and a "little person" or two thrown in. Well as you may guess my next sentence, not everyone likes it like that. I don't think Joe Dirt is funny. I think Spinal Tap is hilarious. Some people I know don't think Something About Mary is funny.

When I think of comedy I like to use Shakespeare's old formula, Tragedy + Time = Comedy. I think that is one true theory. Some people think people falling is funny. Depends on the person there. Seeing Donald Trump falling in front of a cab would be hilarious. Well then that dips into cruel humor. Hollywood still thinks hitting guys in the balls is funny. I think if you ask Hollywood execs, they would say that would be the safe comedy. Neil Simon, one of the great comic writers ever and one of my inspirations, says TUNA FISH. TUNA FISH is always funny.

So what is mass produced funny? Well I could babble for a while on this, but instead I will tell you a little about a Cambridge University Professor named Christopher Beach. He says that Class distinction and speech is the main focus of American Film Comedy. That is apparently what sells. Class distinction in all areas of life is funny. John Hughes made his living exploring class distinction in the 80's. Even in the battle of the funniest impersonation of a Mid Eastern Foreigner, between Sacha Baron Cohen, Mike Meyers and Adam Sandler, it is an exploration of speech and culture. Fish out of water stories are also fully. So we can safely say that mainstream funny film is based on social class and speech.

Class distinction is targeted mainly in Animal House, Caddyshack, Trading Places, The Big Lebowski, and There's Something about Mary. Usually the fun comes in when one class is mistaken for another. This concept can be taken back to Eliza Doolitle in Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw, which is the play My Fair Lady is based on. Adjacent to class distiction, social handicaps or real handicaps can be moved to the spotlight of farce.

Fish Called Wanda and again There is Something About Mary, made fun of handicaps in a cruel and (if you choose to laugh) in a funny way. Though repeating again as I like to do, what is funny for one person may not be funnier for another. Pepperoni and Anchovies.

The battle of comedies this weekend at the B.O. is based on ethnic class comedy like Austin Powers and Borat. The middle eastern invasion is continuing with Mike Meyers trying a spiritual verion of Borat. I wonder what will be next? Will Ferrell as Osama? Living here as a school teacher the whole time when we were looking in Afgan? That actually could be funny. I actually wrote a script like "Chuck and Larry" four years ago. It was called "Couple of Friends" better title I think. Well I guess that's just a failsafe testament of mine. Those who can't write scripts that sell, write blogs that no one reads. As for me I just like being original.

My future, we'll have to wait and see.

Fish Called Wanda doesn't only remind me on Anchovies, it reminds me of a fun fact. Well maybe a disputed fact, but I think it's fact. Hollywood does not recongnize comedies when comes time for Oscars. Specifically the performance Oscars, like the Actor awards. No one has won best actor for an all out comedy. Yet, Best Supporting Actor or Supporting Actress have, for instance. There have only been TWO winners in flat out comedies for Best Supporting Actor and Actress. Yes I know, Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl, Lange in Toosie, Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphordite have won, but I think those were a mixture of Drama in them also, so they don't count as all out comedies.

Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda and Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny are the only ones who won in flat out laugh every second comedies with no drama at all in them. Just a fun, crazy fact for you to dismiss. yet they are very well deserved Oscars. Kline and Tomei are historic in their comic performances. And strange enough, nither of them are comedians.

Which brings me to another point. I think the best actors out there have comic talent. Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Steve Carrell. Yet the best dramatic actors are not the best comedians. I think comedians can do more than dramatic actors. I know kill me now for saying that. But I stand by it.
Two performances that I think that I think should have been nominated were Eddie Murphy in the Nutty Professor and Jim Carrey in Liar, Lair. Both perfect performances in comedy. Makes me remember that performances CAN up stage the entire film add to the enjoyment or save the entire film entirely





So this weekend, the most mainstream one is Get Smart. It will dominate Love Guru. I will probably see both this week. I like Steve Carrell and Mike Meyers a lot. I like a lot of toppings on my pizza. Until tomorrow, let's talk film!