What movies make you laugh?
October 11, 2011
Have you got any favourite screen comedy moments? Having watched John Landis’s Edinburgh comedy BURKE & HARE last night, and failed to find much to laugh at, I am increasingly fixated on what are the ingredients that make comedy work. Those were decent performances by Andy Serkis and Simon Pegg. And John Landis has been responsible for some classic comedy moments (albeit quite a long time ago). But it just felt too contrived, and I got more involved with looking at the locations than with the characters.
It seems to me to be that comedy is a very tricky thing as it’s about trying to create a sense of surprise, discovery and absurdity in the viewer. When we laugh out loud at something in our own lives, it’s often something that was unexpected – we fall over, say, which is painful and humiliating – and at the same time we see ourselves in the eyes of others and recognise how ludicrous it looks. That simultaneous, instantaneous mix of emotions makes us burst out into laughter.
Which brings me to pain. Richard Pryor and maybe also W.C Fields said ‘All humor is rooted in pain’ and it’s true that some of the funniest scenes in movies are ones where people are cruel to others; one of my personal favourites being BOWFINGER’s Steve Martin persuading errand boy Eddie Murphy to run across a 6 lane LA highway for his low budget movie, by convincing him the cars are all driven by stunt drivers. We laugh at how outrageous Steve Martin’s manipulation is, how far he will exploit others to get his movie made; and we simultaneously sympathise with Eddie Murphy’s terrifying ordeal and how gullible and eager to please he is.
The film doesn’t throw away the gag – it spends time laying the foundations, convincing us of the reality of the situation. And if you haven’t seen this movie, (hugely underrated and overlooked – get it out on DVD now!) watching the clip won’t make you laugh as much as if you watch it from the beginning, start to identify with the characters, understand what’s at stake for them and so really believe that they would do what they do. That’s when you can be taken by surprise, because you are so immersed in them getting their goals.
And I reckon that’s what went wrong with BURKE & HARE – the film didn’t spend enough time grounding us in the reality of the time or the characters. It rushed that bit through with Bill Bailey’s quick intro, and though the set up of the mad old wench being publicly executed looked promising, from the moment the entire crowd synchronise turning their backs in boredom, we know this is panto, not reality and so we’re never going to really believe or invest.
What do you think? If there’s a funny movie or clip you think we should be watching, click on the comment button below and let’s start a discussion!
It might not be necessary to create a strong sense of reality or identification (in fact a little distance may be required for comedy) but certainly if you don’t have that, the job is harder for a feature film, because you’ve got to be funny every second, since you’re not providing anything else.