
The Hangover and the Age of Jokeless Comedy - tta
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/magazine/the-hangover-and-the-age-of-the-jokeless-comedy.html
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cmiles74
I had never thought about categorizing movies in this way, now that I am it
seems very clear. Some comedies revolve around the characters, their
interaction and their situation in a funny, yet vaguely realistic way ("The
Hangover"). Other comedies are blatantly absurd and ridiculous and are
propelled forward by the jokes themselves which are often slapstick, the
characters are tend to be flat and their situations simply a frame to hang the
jokes upon ("Airplane!" <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/>).

I agree with the OP, having a mix of these types of comedies is a good thing.
Too many of one or the other type wears on an audience. I haven't seen "The
Hangover II" but already I have concerns that it will be funny in parts yet
depressing overall ("Very Bad Things,"
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124198/>).

~~~
hapless
"Very Bad Things" was a much funnier take on the exact same plot as "The
Hangover." The latter is almost a bowdlerized version of the former. All the
edgy material has been removed for your protection.

Some bros go to Vegas. They cut a little too loose. Consequences and comedy
ensue.

In "Very Bad Things," the consequences constitute a hilarious tragedy. The
bros' wickedness comes back to bite them again and again, and we laugh as
their lives spiral into doom. The laughs aren't in Vegas, they're in the
plausible consequences of partying too hard.

In "The Hangover," the consequences are puerile gags featuring overgrown man-
children. There is nothing that could possibly depress you in the film. After
all the mayhem, _nothing happens._

After waking up to the evidence of multiple felonies and life-threatening
situations, the broheims just walk back to their old lives. Everything that
was funny about "Very Bad Things" is absent. "What happens in Vegas, stays in
Vegas."

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isleyaardvark
Buster Keaton noticed the opposite in his time. He mentioned in his
autobiography that there was a silent comedian whose movies got bigger laughs
than himself, Chaplin, or Lloyd. Lots of absurd cartoony stuff, like jumping
into an empty swimming pool, then coming out of the hole with a Chinese
family, or being shot out into space. Keaton noticed that guy's movies got
bigger laughs, but audiences didn't remember scenes from his movies like they
did for Chaplin and himself.

If people remember lines from Airplane! it's not necessarily due to the
absurdity. They could just be good lines. Try remembering a line from any of
the Scary Movies.

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terio
Excellent article, although a bit too long to make the point.

I enjoy the jokeless comedy a lot, but precisely because of its common
irrelevant stream-of-though kind of dynamic and its lack of punch lines or
gags in general, I can usually recall very few parts of these movies. I
thought I was having memory problems!

