Kevin's Watch

I really don't know what to title this thread and I really don't know how to classify these type of comedies. But I'll try to illustrate them and, hopefully you'll convince me that I'm wrong. I may not be wrong-I guess it's just my taste-take TV for example: I like Two and a Half Men (or I did, it's gone to hell in a handbaskett in the last two seasons) but I can't watch one second of Sienfield. Do I just assume these movies are "stupid" humor (like Tyler Perry stuff and Barbershop) and write them off before I give them a chance?

When I say SNL "like" movies I'm not talking about Murray, Belushi and Akroyd movies-I mean Animal House was meant to be stupid and that's it's great charm. Some Eddie Murphy comedies are great but many of his recent ones really are stupid. I'll talking more of the Adam Chandler, Chris Farley and Will Ferrell kind of movies and I'll throw in folks like Ben Stiller and Shasa Cohen. They look so damm stupid I just can't bring myself to watch them. Oh and I tried to watch The Wedding Crashers and while Vince Vaughn was mildly funny Owen Wilson doesn't do a thing for me at all.

I liked Sandler in The Wedding Singer, but couldn't stand, or attempt to stand him in anything else. I almost really liked There's Something About Mary but Stiller made me so nervous I couldn't stand it-same thing with Meet The Parents. In another thread I wrote:

I've always been tempted to watch Mystery Men but I simply can't watch any movie will Stiller in it-the second I see him it's like fingernails on a blackboard.

Please either tell me I'm wrong or explain to me the value of such movies, or simply discuss them. Right now I really don't feel like ever watching Old School, Dodgeball or some brand new thing about an Israeli superagent who wants to cut hair and screw every middle aged woman in America.

I would rather pound screw-shank decking nails into my testicles than watch Ben Stiller do anything other than get tossed into a chipper/shredder.

That said, I totally enjoyed Old School and all non-Owen Wilson parts of Wedding Crashers.

Comedy's a funny thing, and what makes me laugh may not make you laugh.

The Big Lebowski's almost gained cult status but I always have to give it up after the first 20 minutes. And even though I actually liked Liar, Liar and Bruce Almighty every other Carey comedy didn't do a damm thing for me (although the credits to Me, Myself and Irene made me pee my pants). I guess I'll just have to skip Harold and Kumar do White Castle and Escape from Guantanamo Bay...

I'm with Cail. Everyone has a different sense of humor, and not everybody gets everyone's sense of humor. Take me toward Martin Lawrence. I just don't get what is funny about him, and I have no desire to watch his movies. I did see some movie with him and Tim Robbins, and it was foul. I've seen Tim Robbins be funny, so I suspect the other half.

With that said, it seems more like you don't like comedy vehicles. I think that's the term, where it is a "vehicle" geared toward the humor of one comedian, or possibly a pair (in the case of the Chris Farley, David Spade movies). I see your point, and I can understand not liking the comedian, but find it odd when it is a comedian you might actually like. I does seem like most you have mentioned do seem to have a particular goofy side to them. Should we throw in Jack Black too? I've heard a lot of people poo on him.

The thing is, I could name something most of these people have been in that have been great films, in my opinion, and were not vehicles. For instance, one of the best films I saw, I think, last year was a movie called Reign Over Me with Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle. Adam Sandler did a bit of his usual stuff, but everything worked so well in this movie. I would not call it a comedy, but it definitely has comic elements throughout it. Will Farrell had what I found to be a pretty good flick, which was called Stranger Than Fiction. Not a fantastic flick, but I really enjoyed it, and it seemed to fit into the Charlie Kaufman camp of flicks. And as for Stiller, Zero Effect was mentioned, though I've not seen it so I'm not sure, but Royal Tenenbaums would be something I'd cite for him. Those are just a few.

So many of these vehicles are there to see whether or not people want these folks to stick around. Take Robin Williams for instance. He started in Popeye, which supposedly was a bit of a vehicle for him, as was The Survivors (if I remember correctly the title), but then moved on to The World According to Garp. Back to the vehicle of Good Morning Vietnam, but on to a host of other things. Of course, not all of them good.

Umm...I'm not sure where I'm going with this, so I'm wrapping up my paper before I miss the deadline for film class submissions. Or something.

I, actually, got a kick out of Nothing to Lose-but I can't stand Martin Lawrence in anything else-I rented one of his comedy routines and all he did was curse, now Chris Rock, Murphy and Pryor can get away with it, because the curse words are well placed. David Spade stinks too...he's taken his amusing character from Just Shoot Me and beaten it to death. Jack Black I'll forgive as I loved him in Hi-Infidelity and sorta liked School of Rock. I know you guys may like him but Wayne/Austin Meyers has never done anything for me.

I think this phenomenon sort of started with John Candy-When he acts with other good comedians, such as Akroyd and Steve Martin he makes dang funny films like The Great Outdoors i.e., but the movies he made (take Beachhouse) by himself I don't find funny at all, it's the same with Farley-it's just a red faced fat-guy I'm hoping won't have a heart attack on me. For some reason Coming to America did it to me with Eddie Murphy, I could never watch a movie of his after that. Strange, I couldn't stand The Jerk but I love The Man With Two Brains...and InnerSpace with Quaid and Short cracks me up everytime-yet I have no real love for The Three Amigos and most of Chase's stuff-Caddyshack being the big exception.

I usually always like Murray's stuff even Lost in Translation and The Life Aquatic (once I let myself go with them) but, for some reason, I simply don't get and can't stand Rushmore...

Yeah, I don't get it, I love old Cusack campy comedies, but none of these others-maybe it's his deadpan charm...

Oh and speaking of Candy his Second City TV bud Eugene Levy used to disgust me in everything he did (except for the Polka Brothers routines) but I loved him in the American Pie movies--I don't get it...

Danlo, you gotta watch Grandma's Boy. I guarantee that you're either going to hate it and turn it off after 10 minutes, or you're going to watch it over and over again.

You know what-I just watched the trailer to that and it does look pretty dang funny. The Grandma-sex jokes are a little hard to take, but I may give it a try one of these days. (BTW-why aren't you joining us for Denver-Sea fest?)

danlo wrote:You know what-I just watched the trailer to that and it does look pretty dang funny. The Grandma-sex jokes are a little hard to take, but I may give it a try one of these days. (BTW-why aren't you joining us for Denver-Sea fest?)

Hey, the Silver Fox is one hot grand-mama. There's nuthin' wrong with hittin' that!

I don't even know anything about Denver-Sea Fest, but if I were to go, I'd have to do it surreptitiously. My wife would hang me by the giblets otherwise.

Farm Ur-Ted wrote:

danlo wrote:(BTW-why aren't you joining us for Denver-Sea fest?)

I don't even know anything about Denver-Sea Fest, but if I were to go, I'd have to do it surreptitiously. My wife would hang me by the giblets otherwise.

This was my first thought, that you may not have gone into the Thelma and Louise thread, so may not know anything about it.

That's all I'll say, so dAN and Cail don't flag me for being off topic again...

Hey, Thelma and Louse was a flick...

Well, I'm going to be in the Smokey Mountains from the 14-19th, so I might be able to sneak by on the 21st, or something like that.

Gotta check out the other thread first, though.

Menolly wrote:Thelma and Louse

so was that movie about Thelma going on a road trip with that crappy husband? Not that I'm "nit"-picking.

oh g-ds...

The queen of the typos strikes again...

Farm Ur-Ted wrote:Well, I'm going to be in the Smokey Mountains from the 14-19th, so I might be able to sneak by on the 21st, or something like that.

Gotta check out the other thread first, though.

The Smokies? Hell, that's my turf!

Yup, headed to NC for a family reunion-type thing.

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

one of the few film comedies i can watch more than once.

I can't stand Ben Stiller, and Will Ferrell stopped being funny when he left SNL. Adam Sandler was funniest in Waterboy but what's he done after that?

I think my head might explode if someone links Sacha Cohen with all of those crappy SNL comedies. Cohen is a comic genius. He and John C. Riley stole Talladega Nights from Will Ferrel. Borat is one of the greatest comedies of the decade. (And Da Ali G Show is a riot) He was also great in Sweeney Todd.

Ali G was funny for about 3 minutes (the movie is terrible). Don't even get me started on how bad Borat was.

The Waterboy and Happy Gilmore are both hysterical, the rest of Sandler's work is "meh".

You couldn't pay me enough to ever watch Borat, sorry.

Cail wrote: The Waterboy and Happy Gilmore are both hysterical, the rest of Sandler's work is "meh".

Don't forget Billy Madison

It's nudie magazine day!