What ever happened to the comedy?
Decades ago there was Ghostbusters, Clue, Without a Clue, Oscar, and a boatload of other hilarious shows. These shows focused on clever wordplay and comedic timing. They were funny and smart and quotable. Now there isn't a comedy out there that appeals to me. Every movie that comes out is crass, rude, crude, and embarrassing. I don't laugh through them, I squirm. I don't enjoy them anymore, and I definitely don't want to quote them. And no Mormon comedies don't fill this void either. They also make me uncomfortable, because they make light of doctrine, or create worldly situations that are supposed to be funny.
So what is the answer? I don't know. Somewhere out there must be someone with an actual sense of humor. Wit can't have disappeared completely, I see evidence of it occasionally in shows, but too much do they rely on sexual humor, or gas jokes. It makes me sad. So my appeal is suggestions for humorous shows. I have Lark Rise to Candleford, funny and clever, and Big Bang Theory, which tickles the geek in me, but is still to dirty. But this is about all. Any suggestions for good shows or movies would make me happy.
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I think you're right in one way and wrong in another. Yes, movies are getting more crude and many writers are getting lazy and going for the cheap laugh (and we reward them by paying them).
ReplyDeleteHowever, it's easy to pick out a handful of movies that spanned 20 years that are pretty good. Yes, from 1980-2000 we got Ghostbusters, Clue, Ferris Beuller's Day Off, What About Bob, Groundhog Day, Galaxy Quest, and so on. But we also got a ton of stupid/dirty Chevy Chase and Leslie Nielsen movies. In fact I'd guess that if you looked at movie releases by year during those decades, the ratio of stupid-to-good movies coming out hasn't changed as much as you're thinking.
Some pretty good comedies since 2000:
-Elf
-Iron Man (not strictly a comedy, but I laughed a lot)
-Several Pixar movies
-Kung Fu Panda (and from what I hear, How To Train Your Dragon is just as good)
-Rush Hour 2 (the best of the series)
-Shanghai Noon
-Enchanted
-Ocean's 11 (Not strictly a comedy, but neither is Ghostbusters)
-Spy Kids
-Wallace and Gromit: TCOTWR
I may have missed a few, but while not a long list, it's not too terrible either.
That said, Hollywood definitely is changing, and I think they're now split between pandering to the lowest-common-denominator and doing post-modern, artsy comedies that only the Hollywood "elites" like (Wes Anderson movies, anyone?). Because of that I can't recommend many recent movies.
Oh, and as for quotability: part of why you liked to quote those movies might be because you were young and impressionable. Even when I see movies now that have really good lines here and there, I don't often quote them later, because they don't stick in my head in the same way they used to (maybe I've just got more to worry about. I bet there are plenty of people in the rising generation who are quoting from Bring it On, Shrek, or Napolean Dynamite (another to add to the list above). It's partially a generational thing too---most people don't quote from Mom and Dad's favorite comedies just because our culture has changed so much. I hate to think that I'm already in the out-of-touch adult generation, but that's what happens when you grow up.
ReplyDeleteProbably someday, today's youth will be looking back at the great comedies of the 2000's and wondering why nothing is funny anymore.
Weird, my second comment is only showing up intermittently.
ReplyDeleteI have to make a comment too. I like a lot of the ones on Sam's list, and I would definately recommend "How to train your dragon." One of my definate favorite comedies since 2000 was "Enchanted."
ReplyDeleteBut I totally agree with everything you said. The other thing that I hate about today's comedy is the "Stupid" humor. If they make a character brainless enough, it is appealing? I don't get it. Like Strongbad and, well, pretty much all the newer comedies usually have one charater that fits in this category. Michael tends to like this humor, but I really don't get it. As the lines get more and more stupid, the higher my eyebrow is raised.
Howdy all! Hope you don't mind me jumping in. We were just having a discussion about this too. I find it frustrating that a good deal of the "family" movies show parents as either stupid and clueless, self involved carrier types or mean. Then kids are shown as overly disrespectful, but cool or so screwed up you wonder if anyone in Hollywood has a clue what a normal kid is. It's pretty
ReplyDeletety bad when, as I'm getting disgusted, my kids are too. I think, The Emperors New Groove" is one of the most quoted in our family. Love your comments and I agree with you Sam.