The movie Elf is on C.B.S. at the moment, and I took a glance at it. Will Ferrell is no different in this movie--in short, he isn't funny. I confess to being a fan of older movies in general, and by "older movies" I speak of the decades when actors such as James Cagney, James Stewart, and Cary Grant were in their hey-day, and movies such as Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street, It's a Wonderful Life, and Johnny Come Lately were either just out or still in the public's recent memories. Heck, Johnny Come Lately vies to be my favorite movie of all time.
I'm a devout fan of the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges, but modern so-called comedy tends to make me yawn. This is because the best comedy is the sort that doesn't realize it's funny. For example, the comedy team of George Burns and Gracie Allen. They were hilarious, because Gracie's character never tried to be funny. Whenever George asked her a question, whatever nonsense came out was truly believed, which is why the fact that it was nonsense was so hysterical. On top of that, the comedy of yester-year was more intelligent; by that I mean that if the Three Stooges were slapping each other about, there was a reason for it beyond "it's funny". Larry, Curly, Curly Joe, and/or Shemp did something and did it so incredibly wrong that Moe was utterly incensed--and that intelligent reason combined with a "straight" reaction made their antics so hilarious.
I think that a lot of modern comedy is actually insulting; with everything done to tell you that this-or-that is funny, about the only thing they don't do is show neon signs, blinking "LAUGH". Consider the "surprise" of a character stumbling, say, on the stereotypical marbles. There's no reason for it, there's no set-up for it, the character just happens across marbles that doesn't affect anything but the moment when he stumbles about and finally ends up on his keister. I can sit through a dozen of those things without cracking so much as a smile. Or consider the over-acting many modern comedy actors force upon the audience. Something isn't simply distasteful, oh no--it's so horribly, utterly bad that they scream and rant and rave and flail their arms and run around in circles before falling on the ground and shaking like they're having an epileptic fit. How is that funny, again?
I can appreciate that other people's senses of humor finds such things funny. I just wonder why so few people realize what an insult these forms of "comedy" are at the same time. The makers of these movies aren't trusting that the audience accepts that something is funny, instead over-hyping it to make it Funny to the Extreme; or they decide that a custard pie to the face, just that act, is funny so have a random custard pie hitting someone in the face without rhyme or reason because, by gosh, custard pies are funny and you're watching a comedy movie. A lack of subtlety and lightness of application in today's comedy shows that the film-makers don't think the audience would "get" such things, and I for one find that somewhat distressing--what will comedy movies be like in the future? Will there be even a semblance of reason, or will there be simply random shots of "funny" things happening to people?
I can appreciate that different people have different senses of humor, but I find it irksome that there isn't more of an appeal made to those of us who like the style of comedy that came before. Without copying the "greats", I think that there should be more of an attempt at subtle humor, intelligent humor--and I'd bet that if such an attempt was made, more people would watch those movies. Media's history has proven that the audience is rarely as dumb as the studios and film-makers think, so while there would always be a desire for such comedies the likes of which Wil Ferrell stars in, I think there would also be a desire for hints of Cary Grant. If only one or two of the "big name" film-makers would make such a movie. I'll be first in line at the theater.
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