Day 12: I'm Really Looking Forward to "Wanted"

When people ask me what my favorite movie is, I always have to say "Airplane." It is the funniest comedy of all time and it is the movie that made me fall in love with "comedy" as a genre when I was but a young boy. I loved (and still love) the parody and silliness in every frame of the movie. The gags in the movie are not all juvenile. Most of them were clever, intelligent, and required full audience attention. They were gags that you could say, "rewarded the audience" who was paying attention. Sometimes they were four/five gags in each scene. Growing up, I wanted to be the writer for this type of parody and had hope that I could be the one to bring back the genre.

Then much to my surprise, in 2000 "Scary Movie" from the Wayans Bros came out, revitalizing the parody genre. It was good. Clever, funny and fresh. It wasnt on the status of "Airplane" or any Zucker Bros. movie by any means, but it was funny. Scary Movie 2 was also ok. Then, everything went downhill. Scary Movie 3 (although directed by David Zucker) was simply not funny but made tons of money. Scary Movie 4 was also not funny at all but made shit loads of cash. And then, the worst of the worst came out. Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer (writers for all 4 Scary Movies) came out with Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans and now DISASTER Movie. Movies nowadays are ripe for parody. There are so many ways to make fun of these genres, but the only gags that Friedberg and Seltzer include in their movies are people getting hit in the face/smashed by something oversized/gender reversal/people getting hit in the crotch. Now, if done sparingly, a good hit in the crotch can be very funny. But when EVERYTHING is someone getting hit by something--wheres the funny? Whatever happened to subtle comedy?

In the new Disaster Movie trailer, there are 6 clips. The first--A guy dressed up in an Iron Man Halloween costume getting smashed by a cow. Second- Hannah Montana getting crushed by a meteor, Third- The Hulk's shorts getting ripped off. Fourth--The princess from Enchanted getting hit by a bus. Fifth- Hancock flying up from a park bench, hitting his head on a pole. Last- a cross dressed Sarah Jessica Parker getting kicked in the face by Juno ala Dont Mess With the Zohan.

What is funny about ANY of these gags? NOTHING. One rule in comedy, is you cant make fun of something that doesnt take itself seriously. You cant parody Airplane, because it is already a parody of other things. Hancock is a parody of other superheroes, so making fun of it is redundant. Enchanted makes fun of Disney princesses. She almost gets hit by a bus in that movie. Having her get hit by a bus in this movie is stupid. Another thing is that Airplane and all of those movies were funny because they have serious actors in it. Leslie Nielsen was a serious actor before he made Airplane. Peter Graves was a serious actor. When you cast straight up comedians/shitty actors in parts, they probably wont be as funny.

I guess I'm just frustrated at the lack of creativity with Friedberg and Seltzer. They have been given the keys to a Hollywood franchise where they can really be funny and cutting edge and instead all they can do is do people getting hit on the head by things. Fuck You Friedberg and Seltzer. You're not funny and you're shitting on great opportunities for comedy.

PS-Some of my favorite comedy parody movies (in no particular order)
1. Airplane
2. Naked Gun (1+2)
3. Top Secret
4. Wrongfully Accused
5. Kentucky Fried Movie

ANYWHOZELBEES--SEE OH ARE WHY (Cory) brought this up a long time ago, but doesnt Luigi's life suck? His whole job is to be a plumber and put himself in life threatening positions to save his brother's girlfriend. This guy's self esteem must be really really low.

Short post I know, but Until tomorrow--