Cary Grant in Monkey Business is an example of how our sense f humor changes. I never giggled and roared at Cary Grant's movies before'but must be of an age where I appreciate his snide, sarcastic tongue. And in Monkey Business, he is almost slapstick funny'accidentally regressing on his own youth potion (to about the age of ten), coming upon his wife (who has also taken the formula by accident) talking on the phone to the boy down the street, Grant (also covered in paint from an earlier paint fight) clenches his fists, curls a pouty lip, and stamps both feet while gritting his teeth and tantruming. G'damned hysterical.
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is not, one thinks, in the funny videos aisle. But it is considered black comedy, as is one of the best in funny videos for 2005. Especially, the subscript or subtext for the baby, Sunny Baudelaire, is some of the wryest 'dialogue' this decade. Sunny's grunts, representative utterances, or one-word invectives translate logically at times, with her 'Hewenkewer [Helen Keller]' denoting she wants to see, but more laughable, her gibberish speaking for all: She tosses out a baby sound at Count Olaf, and the subtitle reads, 'What a schmuck!' When the baby with the signature biting fixation is told to bite the head off a bobble-head doll in the car, she utters a gurgled syllable and the baby subtext reads, 'Love to!'Sunny, baby-talking in between bites of Count Olaf is translated as 'Back off, parrot-face!' and 'I'll bite higher!'And my favorites are her baby burbles translated to 'Look it up, bookworm,' and'in response to a loony toons Aunt Josephine about to take in the displaced siblings, who are confronted with her paranoia, obsessive and neurotic fictional tales: Sunny goos and gas and is translated as saying first, in a pejorative uh-oh way, 'Someone's been to crazy town,' and'when continues''She's the mayor of crazy town!'
Chris Farley, in The Best of Chris Farley. Though if you watch it knowing it hurt him to play the token fat characters, his hysterical Chippendale wannabe, his Earl 'in a van by the river,' and his fat high school girl stuffing her face sets will break your heart at the same time as they have you rewinding to ace with laughs all over again.
If you can get one skit on video, it's the Goat Boy, created by Jim Breuer on SNL. I was lucky enough to video tape it one night, and no matter who I play it for, we laugh over and over and over. Uncanny.
If you can get them on video or DVD, the stand-up performances of Ellen Degeneres, Paula Poundstone, and Margaret Smith will have you assigning signature bits to your own life, as will the video performances of Louie Anderson. Unforgettable.
As sick as it might be to assert, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction is also a flick that will have you laughing inappropriately and often.
-
 Newsday | 'American Idol': Quentin Tarantino will be guest mentor for movie ... Entertainment Weekly Director Quentin Tarantino will mentor the seven remaining American Idol finalists for next week's "Idols at the Movies" performance night. Tarantino was famously a guest judge on the third season of Idol. Next week's results show will feature Oscar ... "American Idol": Quentin Tarantino will mentor on movie music ... |
Triumph Entertainment releasing 'The Crypt' first of three films Bizjournals.com, NC Triumphant Entertainment, a Scottsdale distribution and production company, will release a horror film in May at Chandler Cinemas, Pollack Tempe Cinemas and some Southern California movie theaters. It also has two other films pending spring or summer ... |
Criticism is not music to his ears Los Angeles Times, CA Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne considers the mounting sentiment that the Masters has lost some of its mojo to people making derogatory comments at a piano recital. By Teddy Greenstein Reporting from Augusta, Ga. ... |
