I was watching Red Letter Media's review of the new Ghostbusters, and one of their complaints was something that bugged me forever.
https://youtu.be/w3ugHP-yZXw?t=88
This scene right here (at 1:28, if the time stamp didn't work) is an example of one of my most hated gimmicks in comedy. When two (usually two, but can also include more) characters attempt a back and forth with awkward, ad-libbed, overlapping dialogue.
Shit like that drives me crazy. It's not clever and it's not funny writing. In fact, you can't even really call it "writing". As they said in the RLM review, it's like Paul Feig just told the cast that he's gonna have the camera on them and so they should do say whatever pops into their heads.
To be clear, I'm not trying to single out Ghostbusters. It just happened to have an immediate example of this sort of thing. Lots of T.V. shows and movies (unfortunately) do the same thing.
https://youtu.be/w3ugHP-yZXw?t=88
This scene right here (at 1:28, if the time stamp didn't work) is an example of one of my most hated gimmicks in comedy. When two (usually two, but can also include more) characters attempt a back and forth with awkward, ad-libbed, overlapping dialogue.
Shit like that drives me crazy. It's not clever and it's not funny writing. In fact, you can't even really call it "writing". As they said in the RLM review, it's like Paul Feig just told the cast that he's gonna have the camera on them and so they should do say whatever pops into their heads.
To be clear, I'm not trying to single out Ghostbusters. It just happened to have an immediate example of this sort of thing. Lots of T.V. shows and movies (unfortunately) do the same thing.