Tag Archives: comedy

Uncle Buck 3.5/5

Uncle Buck

very solid John Hughes comedy, with an excellent turn by John Candy, and little Macaulay Culkin stealing scenes like there’s no tomorrow.

The only problem I had with the film was the casting of the parents. They seemed not great choices for these roles, and come across as entire blanks, just there for plot purposes only.

I really enjoyed the whole UB terrifying the pushy boyfriend, and the scene where he’s talking to the vice-principle and can’t focus on anything but the wart on her chin.

Very enjoyable watch though. And I like UB’s hat.

Stripes 3.5/5

Stripes

A film of three parts really, and the first part isn’t as funny as I remember it.

The first part is we get to see Bill Murray and Harold Ramis before they sign up. It’s a short segment, but I remember it being much more fun than it was, but this time watching, it felt a little forced and only intermittently funny.

The second part is the actual basic training – and things really shape up. This is the best section in the movie, and there’s lots of solid entertainment in this part. I particularly liked the passing-out ceremony with the drilling high jinx.

The third part is a rescue, and it’s decent enough, particularly the running joke with the border guards.

Overall enjoyable, Murry and Ramis are in great form, and the supporting cast is solid to great.

Evil Roy Slade 3.5/5

Evil Roy Slade

This is, I think, one of the best TV movies ever made, definitely the best TV-movie comedy. John Astin is in fine form, cackling and grinning his way through the goofy action, and also in fine form is Mickey Rooney, Henry Gibson, Dom DeLuise, Milton Berle, Dick Shawn and the cute-as-a-button Pamela Austin.

There’s even some good songs (‘stubby index finger’, and the terrific Evil Roy Slade theme song), and it seems to be riffing on the Western genre and a Marx-brothers-like goofiness that isn’t a million miles away from Blazing Saddles.

Despite this being over 40 years old, the comedy still works very nicely.

Best line: “I learned a valuable lesson today. Never trust a pretty girl, or a lonely midget.”

Transylvania 6-5000 1/5

Transylvania 6-5000

Pretty bad comedy that has the writing to blame. The talent is here: Jeff Goldblum, Ed Begley Jr, Carol Kane, John Byner, that guy from Seinfeld, but the actual jokes fall flat. As the film proceeds, you get a whiff of desperation as they start cranking up the ‘whacky’ and ‘energetic’, but unfortunately this leads to no funny jokes.

The only really funny parts to me are the husband/wife pair played by Carol Kane and John Byner. Kane in particular has that manic glee that transcends this terrible mess, and she’s funny as hell (it reminded me of her psychotic fairy from Scrooged).

Give it a miss.

Stalled 2.5/5

Stalled

While extremely low budget and with some technical issues, it does have a certain charm that reminded me of Peter Jackson’s early efforts, like Bad Taste and Dead Alive, and the central performance was solid. The issues were some of sound design was quite poor (the music sound design was good though), and some of the initial plotting was a bit juvenile. And character naming was from the Big Book of Carry On Movies.

Reasonably enjoyable but very lightweight zombie comedy.

Hooper 3/5

Hooper

Easy going, fun, undemanding stuntman comedy with Burt Reynolds, interestingly touching on a man getting to the end of his career, and damaged from it. It has a few laughs and exciting scenes, but my favourite parts are the bar fight and the final jump.

The Heat 3.5/5

The Heat

If you’re fine with a constant stream of profanities, which I am, then this is the movie for you.

I’ve always liked Bullock as a comedienne, and this pairing with McCarthy is pretty fun. It’s not great, but it’s pretty good and chugs along nicely with the odd overindulgent scene. The villains could be a bit stronger (I got some of them mixed up to be honest), but that’s offset with McCarthy’s great BAH-STAN family that cracks me up.

Enjoyable, lightweight profanity-bombing comedy.

World’s Greatest Dad 3/5

World's Greatest Dad

As I watched this, I thought I really didn’t like it. It seemed disjointed, and I found virtually all the characters unlikeable or positively annoying. I cannot fault the movie on the acting, sound design or cinematography though, the problem I have is with the dialogue/story mechanics.

However, by the end, I did find much of the imagery stuck with me, along with the mood. Bits of it still annoy me, such as some of the characters and character dynamics seeming pointless with respect to the movie (for example, the girlfriend Ginger – who obviously had maturity/daddy issues, but to what point?), but it seemed there were 3 characters I did like, and 1 performance I greatly respected. The 3 characters I liked were Robin Williams’ father, the friend of the repulsive son, and the elderly neighbour next door. They were essentially good, kind people, with their own weaknesses, who found some solace with each other.

The performance I admired was that of Daryl Sabara as the thoroughly unpleasant, unlikeable and frankly repellent son. It must be tough for a young actor to play such an irredeemably terrible person, a braggard, a foul-mouthed pervert whose aggressive, immature character holds zero charm. It was a terrific performance I think.

I’m not sure I can recommend it – Goldthwaite’s other movie, God Bless America – is a ferocious, fun-ride that worked a lot better – but it didn’t bore me. Annoyed me a little, but any film that has imagery and mood that sticks with you like this is one that’s worth a little time to check out.

Cabin in the Woods 3.5/5

Cabin in the Woods

This is a fun watch. I particularly like the Lovecraftian element that runs through it, and spotting which monsters are actually monsters we all know and love. I particularly enjoyed seeing the modified versions of Pinhead and Pennywise, but wished for a Freddy and Jason knock-off too.

I enjoyed the meta-nature of the story, but was surprised the whole underground surveillance and modification deal was shown so early – that could have come later, as a complete surprise – however, the guys in the bunker were a lot of fun to watch.

Rather enjoyable, lightweight, decently written, non-scary but otherwise very engaging horror tinged with ironic comedy.

God Bless America 4/5

God Bless America

This is the only liberal revenge fantasy movie I know of. It turns the usual vigilante/justified killer genre movie on its head by changing the target of the anger-fuelled killings from the usual right-wing demons like foreigners, lefties and the underclass into liberal hate-figures like reality show judges, those horrible right-wing commentators who are always loathsome to any decent person, and so on. And feels satisfying for it.

This was terrific. I thought the direction was clean and elegant without being showy, the story was smart, the dialogue was a little Tarantino-esque and Diablo Cody-esque (which I think Goldthwaite lampooned himself, by lifting dialogue from Jackie Brown and directly referencing Juno) but in a good, fun way, and the last act was quite ferocious. the opening scene bothered me a little, as it was just too ferocious for my taste.

Joel Murray in particular was terrific.

You have to see this, it is currently streaming on Netflix US.

An American Werewolf In London 4.5/5

An American Werewolf In London

This movie holds up, and remains one of the great comedy-horror movies, for several reasons. The transformation scene, done entirely using practical effects, still looks pretty great (apart from some of the elongated hands moments, but I stress ‘some’), the writing is done with wit and the acting of the minor characters feels pretty real, and overall the story zips along in an uncomplicated way. There’s very little of that most common fault of horror movies -people have to act stupid at some point to drive the story (inadvertently leaving the road to go on the moors is something we’ll ignore for the sake of the entire plot, rather than a contrivance to help drive the plot), and the central performance of Jenny Agutter, David Naughton and Griffin Dunne are wholly believable.

I feel a bad moon rising.
Link to my podcast about An American Werewolf In London

Groundhog Day 5/5

Groundhog Day

Beautifully constructed film that does three things nearly perfectly: entertains, enthrals, and enlightens.

The script is a million miles away from the A->Z scripts so often found in romantic comedies, and the turns taken keep you guessing, and you realise you’re seeing something akin to growing wisdom with more and more experience.

When forced to live the same day over and over and over, we get Murray (beautifully playing his part) as the cynical weather reporter caught in a never ending loop of time. During this time, he gets depressed, bored, angry in turns, being even more nasty to those around him, or using this unique circumstance to find out about the people he has to interact with, and try and exploit this knowledge (to seduce women, for example). In fact, sometimes it may appear he is actually in some sort of hell of his own making.

Gradually he learns to accept what his happening, and tries to help people – but sometimes even this proves impossible (he helps an old tramp, spends some time with him, but before the day’s out, the old fellow dies anyway).

He gradually stops doing superficial stuff, and starts to actually do something positive with all this time on his hands, and tries to use it in a less superficial or selfish way. He learns the piano for example after being charmed by a piano piece playing on the radio, and uses this new skill to entertain at a party. He takes time to help people, (stopping a kid hurting or even killing himself for example) knowing it’s pointless anyway as the next day it all starts again. (how long is all this? 10 years? 100 years? 10,000 years?). Through all this, he comes to understand himself better, and release and enjoy the nice side of himself, falling in love (not just lust) with the leading lady.

A great story, great script and perfect comedy acting all rolled up. It’s one of those films that transcends grouping – not just a comedy, not just a drama, not just a romance, and it works well on every level.

Another Groundhog Day Review

The Nutty Professor 1963 3/5

The Nutty Professor

Some rather fine comedy scenes, in particular the hangover scene, the first-person perspective of Buddy’s first appearance in public, the first jeckyll-and-hide-like transformation scene, Buddy sharp-talking the dean, and the parental family home flashback. Other bits didn’t work so well, such as the mawkish public transformation of Buddy from himself back to Julius – Jerry Lewis doing ‘feel sorry for me’ schtick is often cringey, and this is very cringey.

Those college kids looked way too old to be there.

I think Jerry was working out some Dean issues in this.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 3/5

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Reasonably charming comedy, with some laugh out loud moments (watch out for the mention of a ‘genital cuff’, and Caine testing the paralysis in Martin’s legs), and a ton of charm from Caine and Martin. Glenne Headly also does really well not to be swamped by these two.

Wayne’s World and top 5 videogames that would make good movies Episode 015

In this episode, Mark and Sam review Wayne’s World, and discuss the videogames we’d most like to see turned into movies. We also discuss a number of movies, TV shows and games, including Red State, Dante’s Inferno, and South Park

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Johnny English – Family-friendly Bond-spoof with solid laughs and sight gags 3.25/5

Johnny English (2003)

Likeable, old-fashioned (in a good way) pastiche of James Bond, starring the man with the most expressive face ever, Rowan Atkinson. It’s fun, there’s reasonable laughs all the way through, and there’s even some quite good stuntwork (a car chase with a lorry and a hearse).

A lot of the jokes involve English making a major gaff such as treating an innocent party of funeral mourners as criminals, accidentally knocking out a secretary with a pen-dart, and so on. He is the spy equivalent of Inspector Clouseau (the difference being he is aware of his own gaffs, and tries to hide them – Clouseau is not clever enough for that). There’s also a lot of sight gags, so younger children can enjoy.

Plus you have to love that the bad guy is French.

OVERALL: 6.5/10
Rewatchability: Every few years
Age Suitability: All members of family can watch and enjoy.

Movie: Arthur (1981) A good comedy with an excellent first and third act 3.5/5

ARTHUR (1981)

Arthur is a cool little romantic comedy about a playboy gagillionaire that is being shoved down a path of marrying a girl he really doesn’t love (Susan), and being forced to shape up into someone respectable to please his family and future in-laws.

The lead is played by Dudley Moore, in his best movie role. The role does seem to be written for a younger man, but Moore is charming and likeable, and makes it easy to overlook this (and the fact he’s English among a family of Americans). Rather than being a spoilt, obnoxious playboy, he’s a spoilt, likeable, but rather sad playboy.

The first section, where Moore plays a happy drunk, is fantastically funny, but it soon settles into a reasonable romantic comedy, where he starts to fall in love with an average working class girl, played very nicely by Liza Minelli. However, as usual, the course of true love doesn’t run smooth, and Arthur is given an ultimatum…marry the girl he should, or possibly lose access to all his money – an awful lot of money…

As I said, Moore is great here, as is Minelli and the guy playing her character’s father (who, when his daughter rejects Arthur, weeps like he’s the one with the broken heart). Even funnier is John Gielgud, playing Hobson, Arthur’s butler, best friend and, in effect, guardian. Hobson is a truly great comic creation. No one can do condescending and sarcastic like a posh Englishman.

The film cracks along at a good pace, and is definitely the funniest at the beginning and whenever Arthur has a good drink, and it’s a pretty cool ending. The theme song ‘Moon and New York City’, was a huge hit at the time, and is okay.

OVERALL: 7/10
Rewatchability: Very rewatchable, at least yearly.
Age suitability: Middle teens upwards.

Movie Review: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein – Top horror comedy, with monsters and comedians really delivering 7.5/10

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

This film marked the final film for several of the universal monster franchises, such as the Frankenstein, Wolf Man and Dracula series, and is touted by some critics (but by no means all) as some sort of low-point.

Junk! This film works a treat on horrific and comedy levels – the monsters are treated with some respect, and not turned into clowns or parodies of themselves (unlike, say, Freddy Kreuger). To me, it marks a going out with a bang, and I consider this probably the best Abbot + Costello film by far. The title itself is a joke – Frankenstein is not a character in this film, much less someone the guys meet!

It’s consistently funny, old-fashioned scary and good for young (probably 6-7 upwards) and old alike, and cracks along at a fair pace.

It’s nicely filmed, nicely plotted, gives the boys time to do their funny stuff, and there’s some crackerjack lines. Example:
“You don’t understand. I sometimes turn into a wolf!”
“You and 20 million other guys!”

Even those that don’t like Abbott and Costello, there’s plenty here to like.

Movie Review: Idiocracy – Broad-stroke satire about future America that’s like crossing Sleeper with Fox News 6/10

Idiocracy

An interesting but not entirely successful satire of the state of America, where a reasonably likeable Army slacker and a prostitute are used in a cryogenics experiment that goes wrong, and they wake up 5 hundred years in the future.

They wake up in an America that’s an extension of what was the Bush years, where the stupid have completely outbred the smart, so everyone is pretty much mentally deficient.  These people make Beavis and Butthead look like Carl Sagan.

Whilst it doesn’t have enough laughs to be a really good comedy, it’s got some spot-on observations (The Fox News inserts, with a topless, buff anchorman, and a anchorlady wearing a sexy basque are funny, as is a president who is an adult movie star/wrestler), and can be kind of depressing because it does hit the mark of how America sometimes seems to be going.

The two leads are quite likeable, there’s some meandering parts, but on the whole, I enjoyed watching it.