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September 9, 2008
TROPIC THUD
According to this article on the Wikipedia, there are fifteen genres (or classifications) of comedy. In my mind, a good comedy should integrate these evenly, and not be too much of one and not enough of the other. Too much blackness (as in SIX FEET UNDER) is not a comedy, while too much bawdiness (like this stand-up comic I saw in Manhattan) only draws attention to the shock of its lewdness. THE BIG LEBOWSKI, perhaps the best comedy ever made, balances at least nine of these. Here's the breakdown:
Black/dark comedy: The plot involves the kidnapping of the trophy-wife of a "gold-bricking" millionaire. Dysfunctional family drama ensues. At one point, her excised toe drives the story.
Blue comedy: "You're not interested in sex?" "You mean coitus?" Also, either of the Jackie Treehorn productions.
Character comedy: I would argue that this is the movie's comedic strength, as the detective story events are handled by the last possible person in the world who should be handling it.
Observational comedy: The movie is a brilliant satire on Bush's foreign policy, as embodied by Walter Sobchak, on former sixties radicals/current burnouts (The Dude and Smokey), on the nouveau art scene (Maude Lebowski), all while lovingly poking fun at the disparate group of weirdos who inhabit Los Angeles and the bowling scene in particular.
Surrealism: The dream sequences, in particular.
Satire: The narrator who loses his place and comments about the parts he didn't like at the end. Also it works as a sendup of Raymond Chandler's Marlowe stories in particular and the L.A. detective movie in general, without depending on the genre its sending up for its humor (see any of these _______ MOVIE / AIRPLANE wannabes). If anything, LEBOWSKI deepens the genre by exploring its conventions.
Physical Comedy: Too many to mention, but my favorite is when the Malibu Police Chief throws a coffee cup at the Dude's head.
Deadpan Comedy: Much of the brilliance of Steve Buscemi's performance is in his ability to play a complete imbecile who has no idea that he's imbecile.
Wit/Word Play: The Dude is constantly misunderstanding the lingo that other characters throw his way. My favorite is when a classic movie detective-type tells him he's a "brother Shamus," to which the Dude responds, "Like an Irish Monk?"
This is why THE BIG LEBOWSKI is not just a stoner movie, but a brilliant comedy - all its pieces come together, they're all funny, and the movie is endlessly watchable and quotable for this. I think you can also apply this to RAISING ARIZONA.
I mention this because last night I saw a really terrible comedy, TROPIC THUNDER, that is getting some really excellent reviews. I can't really tell what's funny about it; mostly the critics are chuckling about the concept of Hollywood movie stars stuck in a real war that they think is being filmed. This is also apparently what the filmmakers find funny because they have few other jokes than this. When they do, it's about something called "Booty Sweat," Jack Black's character's heroin problem, and Robert Downey Jr. playing an actor who is black, and Tom Cruise's turn as a foul-mouthed, power-hungry studio, dancing studio head. Rather than writing jokes, the filmmakers just march out these ideas and we're supposed to chuckle at their ingenuity.
The film is straight up slapstick, intertwined with some ridiculous stereotypes and physical humor. The observational humor, so brilliant and actually subtle in LEBOWSKI, is here limited to the trenchant new insight that Hollywood people are shallow, moneyed, addiction-fueled, glory seekers. I tend to agree with those who say the film is offensive to African Americans, Asians, and the Mentally Challenged; which might be interesting if it were funny (as SOUTH PARK often is), but here its shock value stands alone without much of a viewpoint or a sense of humor. Ben Stiller's character imitates a retard, badly. That's the joke.
There is not actor whose schtick gets more tiring than Stiller. In MEET THE PARENTS and THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, he played bewildered straight men with such amazing timing that he suggested a young Jack Lemmon. Lemmon, however, never went outside of this. Lemmon never did DODGEBALL, for instance, or ZOOLANDER - two movies that get old after the trailer. Stiller's decision to play a dim-witted action star only shows how much he misapprehends his own gifts. As a director, he's equally week - and this is coming from someone who likes his often derided THE CABLE GUY - Jack Black's humor comes largely because of his corpulence, despite Black's improvisational gift for investing oddball outsiders with at once a sense of familiarity and distinctiveness. But Stiller thinks it's funnier to have him talking about farting.
I once had a concept for a Kierkegaard-esque statement about the nature of performance: it's called "The Funniest Man In The World." The scene starts with an audience laughing in anticipation. Why wouldn't they - it's the funniest man in the world? Then the man comes out and, before he even says anything, they laugh harder. When he finally does say one word, he brings the house down in uproarious laughter and walks off the stage to thunderous applause. In other words, the concept of something funny is often more pertinent than the humor itself. This is what the makers of TROPIC THUNDER were banking on, and this is why it's such a terrible experience.
Sorry, gang: the movie comedy is dying, no matter how much you love Judd Apatow. TV is much better showcase for those who have great comic gifts. Tina Fey, Will Arnott, Tracy Morgan, Rainn Wilson, and Steve Carell are wonderful in a little box, mediocre on a big screen. Bob Oedenkirk creates genius sketch comedy, directs terrible movies. Tenacious D is brilliant in twenty minute increments, terrible in an hour and a half long movie. Ricky Gervais, soon to headline a movie, will probably have the same fate.
And that's not funny.
| By Andytown | 5:29 PM
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Comments
I just recently watched "The River's Edge," and I think it's a comedy but no one else ever thinks it's funny. In fact, they think I'm a monster for laughing. Same with "My New Gun..." or the groaner comedy "The Squid and the Whale."
Posted by: Ben at September 10, 2008 3:31 PM