In real life I laugh way more than I cry. Getting a tear out of me is very difficult. But there is always a giggle or a chuckle bubbling under the surface ready to pop out at any time. At movies, however, I cry at the drop of a hat but you can very seldom get me to laugh.
Sacha Baron Cohen leaves me cold as do Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Mr Bean, bathroom humour, sex humour, slapstick, black comedy, standup comedy (except Jamie Foxx). I dislike romantic comedies, Seinfeld, 2 and a half Men – in fact things that are the most popular, comedy-wise, appeal to me the least.
Which is really strange because my two favourite comedy movies are both Ben Stiller movies.
My second most favourite one is Blades of Glory. I am not sure why I find it so funny but I can watch it endless times and still be entertained. It is the story of two arch-enemy men’s figure skaters who are stripped of their titles and banned for life after they brawl on the medals podium. The only way back into skating is for them to skate as a pair. Jon Heder and Will Ferrell are perfectly cast and the extra scenes on the dvd are well-worth the purchase price.
My absolute favourite comedy is Tropic Thunder. Despite its bordeline offensive lack of political correctness (which lampoons the whole craft of acting perfectly, in my opinion) and it being an out-and-out comedy, Robert Downey Jr was nominated for an Oscar. Oh he should have got it, I think! The plotline is as follows – a big budget Vietnam war movie is almost scuppered by the prima donna cast (a method actor, a drug addicted comedian who specialises in playing entire fat families in films about farts, a Rambo-type action star, a hip-hop star who sees everything as a franchise opportunity and a serious acting student), the pyromaniac special effects man and the fantastic Nick Nolte as the veteran who wrote the book. The megalomaniac producer (played by Tom Cruise who is unrecognisable and uncredited) does his nut so they are dropped in the jungle until they get their acts together but they end up in a real life situation. I really like this movie. The DVD commentary has been rated the best ever. I take my hat off to Ben Stiller on this one – he starred, produced and directed a film within a film within a flm. And he did it brilliantly.
Other movies this hard-to-get-to-laugh cookie has found funny are
- Ruthless people (Bette Midler and Danny de Vito)
- Without a Clue (Michael Caine playing Sherlock Holmes as a drunken actor)
- The Birdcage with Nathan Lane (Nathan Lane always makes me laugh)
- The Producers with Gene Wilder
- The Last Remake of Beau Geste with Marty Feldman
- very surprisingly – Zoolander
- The Trip with Steve Coogan
- anything with Hank Azaria
Just a note about this post – I wrote a beautiful one, saved drafts and the new formatting of the ‘post’ feature caused me to lose it. So I quickly wrote it from memory in Pages and then cut and pasted it before I dashed off to work. It’s a bit rushed and unclear. The lost one was way better!
