I was wondering where those types of comedies fit in.
Though maybe those are considered dumb parodies, since they adhere to making fun of a genre or specific film.
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Why are 'dumb' comedies so hard to get right?
- Thread starter sn00zer
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I was wondering where those types of comedies fit in.
Though maybe those are considered dumb parodies, since they adhere to making fun of a genre or specific film.
Death Metalist
Member
I miss the era when we had over the top, stupid but smart comedies at the same time. What ever happened to making more films like these, Just to name a few...
triple jackpot, mate. In short, good dumb comedies are very smart movies written by very smart people
and where is Top Secret???
-MD-
Member
3 is solid. 4 is when it started to get bad.
I see nobody has mentioned Kung Pow yet, that movie is still hilarious (minus a few dumb scenes like the cow)
WarrenMax007
Member
I don't know if you can count them as "dumb".
But Tropic Thunder, The Hangover and Horrible Bosses are amazing.
But Tropic Thunder, The Hangover and Horrible Bosses are amazing.
Partial Gamification
Banned
I see it as a balance between an appeal to the lowest common denominator and not insulting the intelligence of the general audience. The difference between successfully suspending disbelief (or playing on that effectively) and needing to turn off one's brain.
edit: example - Galaxy Quest.
OverBlood 3
Banned
Hot Rod is great.
Death Metalist
Member
Oh man how could have forgotten that one. I wish they did a sequel, Although i have a feeling they never intended to do so? Much like at the end of History of the world part 1 they showed stuff about a so called sequel in the credits.
Diprosalic
Banned
this is a genre that i want more of without knowing it.
Need to see some of the ones mentioned.
Need to see some of the ones mentioned.
-MD-
Member
Yeah I don't think a sequel is ever gonna happen, I'd love it though.
kinoki
Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
Does this count?
The Big Lebowski is the anti-dumb comedy. It's a really smart movie constructed around a traditional noir crime movie borrowing heavily from The Last Goodbye (among others) and populating it with the most realistically stupid characters ever written. There's not a character in the entire movie that isn't an idiot and the way to go about their lives and how they interact is nothing short of genius.
So, no that wouldn't count.
My personal favorite is Dumb and Dumber. There's just so much wrong in that movie to make it so right.
Kung Pow, Dumb and Dumber, The Ace Ventura movies, the first 3 scary movies, H&K White Castle, (I enjoyed the sequels as well) Zoolander, the Austin Powers films, Hot Shots part Duex, and of course Monty Python and Holy Grail (which straddles the line between retarded and genius)
Do parodies count as 'dumb comedy' in the same vein as something like Dumb and Dumber or Hot Rod? Their intentions and aim are generally (or used to be) different.
One is showing the absurdity inherent in a certain genre/genre trope, the other is taking low brow humour/situations and using them intelligently for laughs without relying necessarily on a specific film or genre to build from.
SolidusDave
Member
I really liked this movie as a teenager... but I have the feeling it won't hold up well if I re-watch it today...
Parodies don't really belong in this thread, at least not the good ones.
Airplane is the opposite of dumb comedy. Yes there was slapstick in there, but it was a deconstruction of disaster movies and the cliches in them. Based on an old film - Zero Hour - which they got the rights to. Whole sections of the original script remained intact. The slapstick was there just to highlight how absurd the genre had become.
It was so well observed that it killed the whole genre of disaster movies single-handed.
Police Squad did the same for police shows, the first Austin Powers for Bond films, Black Dynamite revisited the blaxploitation genre. Galaxy Quest did Star Trek so well that it's better than most of the proper films.
The reason they work is because they love the genre they are parodying, and that makes them clever. To take what people like about the genre, and what works, but turn it on its head.
Airplane is the opposite of dumb comedy. Yes there was slapstick in there, but it was a deconstruction of disaster movies and the cliches in them. Based on an old film - Zero Hour - which they got the rights to. Whole sections of the original script remained intact. The slapstick was there just to highlight how absurd the genre had become.
It was so well observed that it killed the whole genre of disaster movies single-handed.
Police Squad did the same for police shows, the first Austin Powers for Bond films, Black Dynamite revisited the blaxploitation genre. Galaxy Quest did Star Trek so well that it's better than most of the proper films.
The reason they work is because they love the genre they are parodying, and that makes them clever. To take what people like about the genre, and what works, but turn it on its head.
Partial Gamification
Banned
I disagree. The parodies can easily be seen as a special type of dumb comedy.
How would you define dumb comedy? A bad movie with horrible jokes and a unique script?
Q
Queen of Hunting
Unconfirmed Member
theres a new naked gun being made so good luck with that.
Messypandas
Member
gets it right.
ratcliffja
Member
The king. Zoolander, Hot Rod, Step Brothers, and Tommy Boy all deserve mentions too. Also count me in for the crowd that hated Grandma's Boy. What an awful movie.
Messypandas
Member
Dumb and Dumber works because it is secretly a clever story, wrapped up in heart with 2 leads that have serious chemistry. Most dumb comedies these days have an over reliance on fart and dick jokes, drug and drink use as a tool to emphasise 'coolness' and improv to patchwork the shitty scripts.
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
Co-signed. This is movie is awful
GungHo
Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
I've always been convinced that you have to be really smart to execute really dumb in an entertaining fashion. Unfortunately, a lot of really dumb people try to pull off really dumb, and it doesn't work out so well because they're not smart enough to recognize when they've crossed from "really dumb" into "too dumb".
what? no...
ReturnOfTheRAT
Member
An endearing dumb comedy.
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
The hardest thing to get right in my experience is the what I felt "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace" nailed so perfectly.
Making something deliberately inept and terrible to satirize the worst aspects of a genre, whilst actually making a funny and entertaining movie/show requires real precision, whereas most attempts are just kind of sloppy.
Making something deliberately inept and terrible to satirize the worst aspects of a genre, whilst actually making a funny and entertaining movie/show requires real precision, whereas most attempts are just kind of sloppy.
GravityMan
Member
I sometimes think there is a correlation between good humor (both in recognizing it and dishing it out) and intelligence.
Anyway, the reason why I think 85-90% of all comedies (not just these 'dumb' comedies) fall flat is because they try too hard, and the comedic moments end up being awkward instead of funny. That goes for comedy movies, TV sitcoms, games, stand-up comedians, etc.
Movie sequels are especially bad at this because they tend to make the mistake of trying to "one-up" the previous film.
Anyway, the reason why I think 85-90% of all comedies (not just these 'dumb' comedies) fall flat is because they try too hard, and the comedic moments end up being awkward instead of funny. That goes for comedy movies, TV sitcoms, games, stand-up comedians, etc.
Movie sequels are especially bad at this because they tend to make the mistake of trying to "one-up" the previous film.
layzie1989
Member
Comedy is a very fragile thing. Timing can make or break a joke. I watched the Dumb & Dumber extended version with deleted scenes and alternate versions of scenes, and it really felt like an inferior movie. A lot of the jokes went on too long, and the extra scenes added nothing to the plot and just served to slow the movie down. It was particularly frustrating because my girlfriend was watching it for the first time. I had to keep exclaiming "Gah this is an extra scene" or "crap that joke was longer than it should have been!" Talk about ruining a classic.
POWERSPHERE
Member
MACGRUBER.. among the most underrated dumb comedies. There, I said it.
I was searching this thread and becoming very disappointed. Good work. MacGruber is incredible.
Yes! Now these are the cream of the crop of dumb comedies. I can't believe yall missed this one though.
GeordieMark
Member
Seriously? No Monty Python?
I fart in your general direction!
I fart in your general direction!
Arkos
Nose how to spell and rede to
Ahem
Capital M-a-c- Capital G-r-u-b-e-r
I made my buddy a shirt with a "MacGruber Classic" logo on the front breast and a Nevada KFBR 392 license plate on the back
So, same herespeculawyer
Member
Because as Nigel Tufnel said . . . "There's a fine line between stupid and clever." (Another example of an excellent 'dumb' comedy.)
It really isn't easy to make funny 'dumb' comedy because if you go too far or don't have sympathetic characters you fail to get the suspension of disbelief and end up with something like Joe Dirt. But if you get the balance just right you end up with something genius like dumb & dumber.
It really isn't easy to make funny 'dumb' comedy because if you go too far or don't have sympathetic characters you fail to get the suspension of disbelief and end up with something like Joe Dirt. But if you get the balance just right you end up with something genius like dumb & dumber.
'Dumb comedy' is a general term and a lot of time parodies fall under that category. It just means a movie that has absurd humor instead of pure slapstick or comedy based on jokes or funny situations.
ChubbyHuggs
Member
"Listen to your friend Billy Zane... He's a cool dude."
I'd define dumb comedy as revolving around characters who are intentionally dumb, or a dumb situation, or overly relying on low-brow humour. Dumb doesn't mean bad, the stupidity of what is going on is what is funny. Stupid things happening for stupid reasons. Most Adam Sandler films are dumb comedy, Happy Gilmore is still good though. Will Ferrell makes some great dumb comedies as well.
With a good parody though the stupidity serves a point, because it's deconstructing the genre. Highlighting the absurdity or familiarity of what we have come to expect. In Airplane when the guy is running along the runway saying goodbye to his fiancé and knocks over pylons that's not just slapstick it's because that scene used to be done all the time in movies along a train platform.
If something is well observed it's not dumb. Sadly parodies these days seem to think just referencing other films is in itself funny, and those are indeed dumb like Epic Movie, Meet The Spartans etc.
Bad parodies stand out so much because they have to be clever to work. It's not enough just to be silly or stupid, and in that sense I think calling something like Black Dynamite a dumb comedy does it a disservice.
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