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Author Topic: Bad Movies: Comedy - What makes a bad comedy movie?  (Read 7870 times)
Olivia Bauer
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« on: October 22, 2013, 03:15:09 PM »

I guess you could just say not being funny, but that's just too simple an answer. Some of the worst films ever made were comedies that fail to entertain and I'd like to know why.


Biodome
Jack and Jill
Freddy Got Fingered

The easiest thing to say is that these three movies are not funny, just stupid. But you have to define what makes things stupidly unfunny. Some say that it's the fact they're vulgar and lowbrow, however there are many movies and TV shows that pull it off anyway. Family Guy and South Park are well known for lowbrow, crude humor but at the end of each episode there's a moral to learn since most episodes are commentaries on the stupid things we do in society showing an exaggeration of mankind's worst flaws.

So where the hell do these bad comedies come from?
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LilCerberus
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« Reply #1 on: October 22, 2013, 03:32:29 PM »

Uh.... You're in it for the gratuitous T&A?
That's about the only reason I bothered with Married With Children. I actually had to force myself to quit watching it because it was so depressing, but they kept having the promos about what Christina Applegate's gonna be wearing this week, or for those who built up an immunity to Kelly Bundy, the promos about what former Penthouse model is going to be guest starring this week.
But I eventually did manage to beat my addiction to this depresso-fest.
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« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2013, 03:46:19 PM »

This is a tough one. The first movie that popped into my head, one that was undoubtedly the stupidest, and should have been one of the worst bad movies ever, was The Naked Gun (1988). It had everything that every bad movie has: bad acting, bad plot, bad movie score/soundtrack...heck, even the overall premise was bad, and worst of all - O.J. Simpson! But it ended up being outrageously funny and a comedy classic.

But then, turn around and look at its many copycats (forget the sequels): the Scary Movies, Don't Be A Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, Loaded Weapon 1, etc. These movies were either borderline amusing or just plain awful and not funny. The Naked Gun worked all around, and was much more blatant in its stupidity than most of those other ones.

Maybe Leslie Nielsen was just that damned good of an actor to pull off such a bad acting rip on himself? Maybe Ricardo Montalban was simply the ultimate Khan-esque movie villain, even in something as silly as that movie? Who would have thought that Elvis Presley's widow had a funny bone inside her? (sexual innuendo intended) Who knows?
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LilCerberus
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« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2013, 04:06:42 PM »

Perhaps it depends on the demographic.
I remember when I first moved from Virginia to El Paso. There was always something that the rest of the audience laughed at that I didn't, & vice versa....

Some people admire wit, while others just want a strait up joke, & still others crack up a the mention of a dirty word for no reason...
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El Misfit
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« Reply #4 on: October 22, 2013, 04:31:36 PM »

Jokes that think that try too hard to not be subtle, they become lame then.
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yeah no.
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« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2013, 07:09:45 PM »

This is a tough one. The first movie that popped into my head, one that was undoubtedly the stupidest, and should have been one of the worst bad movies ever, was The Naked Gun (1988). It had everything that every bad movie has: bad acting, bad plot, bad movie score/soundtrack...heck, even the overall premise was bad, and worst of all - O.J. Simpson! But it ended up being outrageously funny and a comedy classic.

But then, turn around and look at its many copycats (forget the sequels): the Scary Movies, Don't Be A Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, Loaded Weapon 1, etc. These movies were either borderline amusing or just plain awful and not funny. The Naked Gun worked all around, and was much more blatant in its stupidity than most of those other ones.

Maybe Leslie Nielsen was just that damned good of an actor to pull off such a bad acting rip on himself? Maybe Ricardo Montalban was simply the ultimate Khan-esque movie villain, even in something as silly as that movie? Who would have thought that Elvis Presley's widow had a funny bone inside her? (sexual innuendo intended) Who knows?
Yes good points. For all the dumb jokes and almost groan-worthy quickfire gags, there is a genuineness and almost 'innocence' about Naked Gun. It is a comedy that only wants to entertain its audience. One of my pet hates in comedy movies is when you can feel the director's/actors'/scriptwriters' egos combining to give the impression they are doing something way cleverer and funnier than they actually are, which just comes off as arrogant. Naked Gun is like the opposite of that.
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« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2013, 09:08:24 PM »

the one about the huge bus. It was like not very funny.
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LilCerberus
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« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2013, 09:27:57 PM »

I've never understood why, but I've always found Johny Dangerously to be predictable & unfunny.
Yet, for some reason, I've never found it unwatchable.

I met a redneck once who thought Harley Davidson & The Marlboro Man was a comedy.

I've always found Reuben, Reuben incredibly depressing, but my mom finds it hilarious.

 Question Question Question
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Ozzymandias
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« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2013, 09:44:47 PM »

Ozzymandias speaks: I think it depends on the star too. There is a movie from the 30s in a Mill Creek Comedy box that is dull and lifeless. It is supposed to be a screwball/romantic comedy, but it is just boring. The fault lies with the actor in it. He should have never been cast in this movie. He is just plain terrible and not funny. Now, this is the part that may get me killed or banned from the board. The lousy actor in this comedy is named JOHN WAYNE. He must have been forced to do this as part of his contract. Good thing somebody thought to put him in a Western, because he can't do comedy.

Ozzymandias has spoken!!!
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Gst0395
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« Reply #9 on: October 23, 2013, 05:24:39 AM »

Umm, I guess cringe-worthy jokes, toilet humour and such. I heard both Baby Geniuses films are terrible comedies.
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Flangepart
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« Reply #10 on: October 23, 2013, 08:14:02 AM »

To quote a Dennis Prager book title, humor is a serious business.

It's hard to be funny. Your audience brings something to the party. The old show biz line 'Know your audience' has a point. Any stand-up comic knows how hard it is to get some groups to see the absurdity they're pointing out, particularly if it's pointed at them.
Watch an audience. Any joke that strikes too close to home, and they can't deal with the absurdity they themselves have...they don't like it.
The bigger the ego, the less of a sense of humor.
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« Reply #11 on: October 23, 2013, 10:51:34 AM »

What you find funny is so dependent on your personal tastes.  I hate stuff like, well Jim Carrey's entire filmography.  I like stuff like Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Gods Must Be Crazy, A Fish Called Wanda, etc.  I guess the main thing is that it needs to be fresh.  Nothing less funny than a joke you've heard before.  And people acting loud obnoxious and moronic has been done a thousand times before. 
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« Reply #12 on: October 23, 2013, 06:06:07 PM »

Small | Large
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Olivia Bauer
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« Reply #13 on: October 24, 2013, 09:06:53 AM »

Ozzymandias speaks: I think it depends on the star too. There is a movie from the 30s in a Mill Creek Comedy box that is dull and lifeless. It is supposed to be a screwball/romantic comedy, but it is just boring. The fault lies with the actor in it. He should have never been cast in this movie. He is just plain terrible and not funny. Now, this is the part that may get me killed or banned from the board. The lousy actor in this comedy is named JOHN WAYNE GACY. He must have been forced to do this as part of his contract. Good thing somebody thought to put him in a Western, because he can't do comedy.

Ozzymandias has spoken!!!

He was an okay clown, I just didn't like the part where he chopped the kid into tiny pieces and threw him in a plastic barrel. That part was a little too dark for me.
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LilCerberus
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« Reply #14 on: October 24, 2013, 12:27:22 PM »

Ozzymandias speaks: I think it depends on the star too. There is a movie from the 30s in a Mill Creek Comedy box that is dull and lifeless. It is supposed to be a screwball/romantic comedy, but it is just boring. The fault lies with the actor in it. He should have never been cast in this movie. He is just plain terrible and not funny. Now, this is the part that may get me killed or banned from the board. The lousy actor in this comedy is named JOHN WAYNE GACY. He must have been forced to do this as part of his contract. Good thing somebody thought to put him in a Western, because he can't do comedy.

Ozzymandias has spoken!!!

He was an okay clown, I just didn't like the part where he chopped the kid into tiny pieces and threw him in a plastic barrel. That part was a little too dark for me.

I understand he was the first Singing Cowboy, even though he couldn't sing or play the guitar, & they had him in the girly make up & lipstick of the good guy. What little footage I've seen, He looks very embarrassed.
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"Science Fiction & Nostalgia have become the same thing!" - T Bone Burnett
The world runs off money, even for those with a warped sense of what the world is.
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