Posts filed under 'Comedy'
August 14th, 2009
THE GOOD opens this weekend, and while this Jeremy Piven comedy about a car lot trying to sell off everything might be amusing, I highly doubt it’s going to match the comic brilliance of USED CARS, the 1980 Bob Zemeckis film starring Kurt Russell as a salesman with an astounding lack of scruples.
Here’s a scene with my favorite actor in the cast, Gerrit Graham, playing Rudy, Kurt’s superstitious buddy. All you need to know is (a) Rudy refuses to drive a red car, (b) Rudy is driving a red car, and (c) Rudy has to get the car to the lot ASAP. Oh, and (d) Kurt has explained to him that, because it has a coat of gray primer, it’s really a gray car. Got it? Okay…
There’s an even better stunt that precedes this one, with Rudy stumbling backwards across the highway and just narrowly avoiding getting hit by an oncoming car. I couldn’t find that one online, but if you rent the movie, keep an eye out for it. I think it was accomplished by (a) hiring a very good stunt driver and (b) not telling Graham just how close he was to the car.
August 12th, 2009
Via Hollywood Elsewhere, here’s a great clip of … well, I’ll just let you watch it for yourself. It’s funnier that way.
July 30th, 2009
Here, courtesy of Cinematical, is a very imaginative fake trailer for the (never made) version of GHOSTBUSTERS from 1954. It’s a very clever collection of well-chosen clips featuring Bob Hope (in the Bill Murray role), Dean Martin (ala Dan Aykroyd) and Fred MacMurray (ala Harold Ramis).
If they really had made a GHOSTBUSTERS way back then, it probably would’ve looked almost exactly like this…
July 23rd, 2009
Hollywood Elsewhere blogger Jeffrey Wells, who definitely is not the biggest Judd Apatow fan in the world, has some good things to say about his latest movie, FUNNY PEOPLE. Very good things…It really is the best Apatow movie so far. Not the warmest of friendliest or feel-goodiest, but unquestionably the frankest and ballsiest. A genuine, funny, corrosive, uncliched, agreeably smartass thing. Not perfect but close enough to what I wanted that I came out delighted. I believed each and every line and attitude and plot turn.
This is very close to the Apatow flick I’ve been waiting for, and which frankly I had begun to think might never be made by him. Hats off, smart salute, balls of steel, etc. This is a major leap forward.
He warns, however, in his wonderfully Wellsian way, that FUNNY PEOPLE might be too challenging for the average schmuck…
Most fans of (THE 40-YEAR-OLD) VIRGIN and KNOCKED UP, I suspect, are going to have qualms, but that’s what happens when you deepen and darken and expand the brand — people go “hey, this doesn’t taste like the others! Gimme my comfort food!”
Personally, I’m tired of my comfort food. I’m want FUNNY PEOPLE to be something more. I like Judd Apatow’s work quite a bit, but Wells is right — it’s time for him to stretch and grow. Adam Sandler proved he can really act in PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE, Seth Rogen has been consistently solid but first showed his dramatic chops way back on the TV show FREAKS AND GEEKS, and Leslie Mann (Apatow’s wife) was very good in KNOCKED UP. Here’s hoping they all bring their A game to this movie.
FUNNY PEOPLE opens next Friday.
July 23rd, 2009
At long last, the Onion AV Club’s New Cult Canon (under the guidance of writer Scott Tobias) turns its attention to one of the lost masterpieces of the 21st century. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…
… POOTIE TANG!
If you’ve never seen this no-budget, almost completely forgotten box office disaster, there’s no way I can describe it to you. All I can say is that it (a) it definitely has a cult following — just check out the ever-growing comments at the end of Tobias’ article — and (b) I personally think it’s hilarious. I can’t explain why it’s funny, or even defend its existence as a film, but I have seen it more than a few times (HBO used to run it constantly), and I always watched with a smile on my face.
Here’s 27 seconds of its oddball charm. Whether you decide to watch the whole thing is up to you.
July 20th, 2009
Here, just to add a little humor to your Monday morning, is a classic scene of Groucho dictating a letter to Zeppo from the 1930 Marx Brothers movie ANIMAL CRACKERS…
July 17th, 2009
With all the focus — justifiably so — on Monday’s 40th anniversary of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, it’s easy to forget other noteworthy anniversaries. For example, this noteworthy movie landmark from 96 years ago. From History.com…
JULY 17, 1913: Film audiences are introduced to the pie-in-the-face routine, recorded in the silent film A Noise from the Deep. Mabel Normand hit Fatty Arbuckle in the face with a pie.
Here’s a brief film about Normand, who was a huge star of silent comedy but is almost completely forgotten today. That groundbreaking pie is mentioned, but it’s not the one shown in this film.
July 15th, 2009
Courtesy of Mark Evanier’s blog, News from Me, here’s a video showing how they managed to the leopard-related scenes in the classic comedy, BRINGING UP BABY. There were a surprising number of special effects used — mainly because, according to Evanier, star Cary Grant was unneasy around the big cat.
July 10th, 2009
Normally, I’d be reluctant to post a teaser trailer for a movie that won’t even hit theaters until next year, especially when said trailer doesn’t feature a single image from the film itself. But because CEMETERY JUNCTION is the movie directorial debut of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, two of the funniest men on the planet (they’re the guys behind THE OFFICE and EXTRAS), I’ve got high hopes for this movie.
Plus, they have a great time making fun of Ralph Fienne’s non-Oscar win for SCHINDLER’S LIST.
June 12th, 2009
Interesting piece in today’s New York Times about Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming comedy, BRUNO, and how it walks a fine line between getting laughs by exposing homophobia and gets them by mocking gay culture (and stereotypes)…
 So it goes for BRUNO, a movie that, in mercilessly exploiting the discomfort created when straight men are ambushed by aggressive gayness, happens to (surprise!) expose homophobia. Gay groups are reacting with deeply mixed emotions, heightened by the recent triumphs (Iowa) and losses (California) in efforts to legalize gay marriage. Is the film then vulgar, inappropriate and harmful? Or bold, timely and necessary? All of the above?
It’s a safe bet that this movie will be even more controversial than Cohen’s last comedy, BORAT. The question is, will it be as funny?
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