Frodo Form 7-27, Star trek, Omegas, great comedies of all time and Wedding Crashers
Little brain blips and rehashes and then one big one.
The more I watch it, I am continuing to notch up my ranking of The Killer’s “Mr. Brightside” in the canon of all time great music videos. It’s not just the atmosphere and thin plot of it, or even that Eric Roberts is in it (Eric Roberts), it’s that there is barely a single cut of that video that is not absolutely compelling or thrilling.
Entourage may be the single finest representation on film of what real male life is actually like. From the running dialogue, to the constant goading and an inability of these characters to not act like idiots, to minimalist plots that require the episodes to be driven by interaction and not necessarily from atmosphere. This is a addendum to what character driven means. It’s a show about 3 guys who have a Hollywood star as a friend they mooch off, but it’s really about living in your twenties (and living in LA, more so, and why me and my flatmate like it) and going through life and business with your friends, often at the same time. Turtle may be the finest example of this. Every guy has a friend in their group who is the omega dog. Alpha dog is kind of blurry, because there are usually two or more who lead the gang, and there are betas which covers everyone else. But guys have whipping boys.
Side note:
The Omega guy of any group is a strange anomaly. Somehow, the ranking system is established very early on, often without any verbal communication. The guy is just there. He rarely is able to bring birds into the mix, and usually wind up costing other bed time, and they usually stammer, or can’t make great comebacks. Turtle is a great omega, because he brings nothing to the table with marketable skills that most women like. But Turtle brings weed, and is the driver (except when E drives the Maserati). We love these guys, because we see a little brother factor in them. We trust them, we love them, but if there is going to be a mishap that we all laugh at, it’s usually the Omega who does it. We will all bother the betas, and occasionally the alphas (only occasionally because they have a Reagan-like ability to bounce this off of them), but we constantly go after the Omegas and turtles. The truth is there is no malice is this. It’s only busting balls, and we always look after the Omega. In fact I have never met a group of guys without an Omega set, it’s just something that happens across the board. Some guy eventually makes it in to the group because of a small connection, and they wind up being someone who is always there. I have never met a group of women who kept an omega. Men just do not have that killer instinct like women do about their group of friends. (Which is perhaps why women never like their boy’s friends, for the simple fact that they are taught to eradicate what is not working in their view of themes)
I am still undecided on “Stella” on comedy central. But I know that the pilot episode is dynamite, simply for the argument on funk, funk rock, and funk rock. That and the line when a man wearing a skunk tail (to be dressed as a skunk person, not a skunk) to a board of 3 African Americans – “may I address, the board, all black.”
Is it strike anyone else odd that one of the tracks on Coldplay’s X and Y is called Low, like the David Bowie/ Brian Eno album, since they are clearly ripping off that style, you know, sound without silence
James Doohan passed, and it was a moment for all nerds/ fans of Star Trek. While many thought it was just a passing of a TV star, there was a bit of humanity (The nurds) who felt a bit of sadness. Say what you will about the geeks and dweebs who like Sci-fi, but what most of the mocking will never get or have is the profound love for what may eventually be, and a life that isn’t so myopic. When a culture of cool prevails over all art forms on one level or another, excluding and including journalism, Sci-fi remains as the eternally uncool. Maybe the reason that they are worthy of mocking is their ability to put their heads in the clouds and disattachment to most of reality, that they don’t care about what’s in the know or now. But the truth is that Sci-fi fans (well maybe born again Christians who are waiting for the second coming of Christ, which in all odds, is as likely as a alien landing, and I am degrading neither group or likelihood) are the greatest group of living optimists on Earth, because they keep waiting to believe that something is going to make everything better, holding on for an opening of opportunity. James Doohan, or Scotty, was not so much a loss for the betterment of society, but the absolvement of a link to a better place that so many people hitched their worldview on. Losing him wasn’t about losing hope, but merely missing a fragment of something that made them hope for the better when they were younger.
Speaking of escapist fantasies, I feel I should touch upon Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. But, seeing that the whole thing is about 2000 words, it’s now its own post.
http://ineverlovedyou.blogspot.com/2005/07/harry-potter-and-half-great-media.html
I finally saw Wedding Crashers. This film may have the worst third act of any good movie I can think of. But maybe it’s a symptom of the comedy genre in the era of the mass controlled studio age.
Greatest comedies since 1980:
1. Caddyshack. I told a group of guys I worked with that were all part of one minority group or another, if you want to succeed in the white business world, memorize this movie.
2. Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery. – When we as a culture are able to forget the sequels, this movie’s greatness will shine. It’s not only non stop with jokes, the jokes are varied in style. Sight gags (the cement roller room), lines (allow myself to introduce, myself), satire (why don’t you just take him outside and shoot him? No, I’ll put him in an easily escapable situation and hope that everything goes as planned), bad guys (Dr. Evil), idiot jokes (One million dollars!), failure jokes (I’m still alive, just very badly burned), a great climactic fight, and the absolutely random (Dr. Evil in group therapy may be the greatest comedy monologue of all time).
3. Top Secret! – Combine Elvis movies, spy films, and the Zucker-Abrahms at their prime, and you have a masterpiece. That no one knows of, or at least to a point where it should be known is a shame. Val Kilmer sings. Underwater bar fights. The greatest joke ever that involved a magnet.
4. The Naked Gun – It’s a gem of a movie on it’s own, and warranting of this place, but I rank it above # 5 because of the third act. As soon as this movie hits the baseball park, I can’t stop laughing. For 25 minutes, we are not going on plot, but on gags. From Drebin searching every player, to becoming the most home town umpire of all time, to the goofs video, and the butchering of the National Anthem, no scene in history makes me laugh as hard every passing year as this does.
5. Airplane! – It’s a shame to put this movie so low, but I’d still rather watch the four above it more. But not by much. It’s not that this movie is full of jokes; it’s overrunning with them.
6. Dumb and Dumber – In all it’s hilarity, it’s here because of one line above all.
Just When I think you couldn’t get any DUMBER, you go and do something like this.
(long pause)
And TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF!
7. This is Spinal Tap – It may seem like a crime to put this so low, but at the same time, this movie is not greatly funny the first time around. I mean, parts of the film on the first time are hysterical, but it’s the secondary viewings that make this great. Only this low because it drags in parts, the third act sucks, and it’s not as consistently funny as the rest above it.
8. Something About Mary – This seems about right. It relies so much on charm and sight gags that we forget the great one liners and nastiness the characters have. The retard line is a great example; in the movie, everyone but Stiller and Diaz go way over the line in their descriptions.
9. Trading Places – It’s really more watchable than it is funny. I mean, the whole thing with the gorillas is borderline preposterous, but this movie is so absolutely engaging from frame one, it makes up for the lack of jokes.
10. Super Troopers – It’s funny enough as is, but what does it is Farva. The jokes are consistently coming. The story is solid. The characters are so fully developed this should have been a TV show. But it’s Farva that brings me back. He’s not just a dumb guy, it’s a dumb guy you know, and one you work with, and it’s done perfectly. Every answer he gives is so terribly imperfect. Every delivery is done with such pure awkwardness and impropriety. The movie is great as is, Farva moves it up here.
Off the list.
All movies with a dramatic angle: Fast times, Breakfast Club, Rushmore, and Princess Bride.
Romantic movies: Better Off Dead (and this one hurt me to not include). To keep a list short, think of any movie where it was about a guy getting the girl outside of Mary and you have a start. Like Swingers.
Others off: Ghostbusters (too much of an action movie to be considered a comedy). Stripes (the second hour is dead weight). South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. (It’s a musical as much of a comedy, and that’s why we keep coming back) Tommy Boy and Black Sheep (too much a product of the time and place to be great). Old School (sucks for the bulk of the last 40 minutes). Bachelor Party (dies after 50 minutes)
And all of those which you think should be on here. If you can think of a legitimate one I missed, post a comment. I’ll do an addendum if I realize you were right.
Anyway. Wedding crashers is fantastic for 75 minutes or so. It’s worth buying the DVD for. But then it goes too far in Wilson’s plot line.
It was nice to see an R rated comedy be so heavily promoted. But at the same time, the movie stops being a true comedy of old and starts being a chick flick. Most comedies start with a familiar genre. But it makes you lament for a time when comedies were unrelenting.
Airplane is a disaster film.
Super Troopers and Naked Gun are cop films.
Caddyshack is a sports film.
Austin Powers is a spy film.
With all of those films, they built the comedy around the traditional plot formulas of the genre. They are almost identical to their serious counterparts with the exception that they make a joke whenever possible.
Caddyshack is a great example. It’s basically the story of Danny Noonan and his rise from caddy to triumphant golfer. As is, it’s a 40 minute film. If you were to beef up the girlfriend role, make Ty Webb a more serious mentor, and make the film more serious, it’d be a bad sports film.
The film uses a basic, and compelling (if formulaic) storyline as an engine to move the movie along. The greatness of the film, and why it’s so watchable, is because it relies on the added characters and actors. Make no doubt about it; Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Chevy Chase, and Bill Murray are all filler characters. But the film is built so these actors can outshine the main plot. They are all tied to the character and the location in one way or another, but we remember them instead of the plot. This is how comedies should be; getting the talent to outperform a basic role. Danny is a fantastic character and his arc is solid. But he’s only there for the others.
I suppose Wedding Crashers is a romantic movie (in the same way the comedies above represent their genres). Something About Mary is the only romantic comedy to be truly great because it keeps the sulking of the loves to the end.
Think about this for a second. How many great romance movies (where the couple we are rooting for) drag along the third act before coming to the inevitable?
And how many of these romance movies’ third act was genuinely compelling?
My answer? Almost none.
Of my favorite romantic movies:
Brief Encounter is about the good bye, not the reconciliation.
In Casablanca, they do not get together.
In Gone With the Wind, they don’t really get together.
The Philadelphia Story works because it comes out of nowhere. We kind of suspect it, but we aren’t prepared for it.
Jerry Maguire I still don’t believe they last after the “you complete me” scene.
The Notebook (for movies of the last 5 years) might enter the conversation if not for the awful modern day angle.
Maybe the only truly great example is It Happened One Night. The struggle to get the two love interests back together is done perfectly. There are plot roadblocks that work. The reconciliation happens at the best possible moment.
The only other romance that works in a way that isn’t terribly cheesy I can think of is Eurotrip, simply because the plot of the movie is so far fetched in the first place that all suspension of disbelief is long gone by the point when the loves match up.
And don’t get me started on Pretty Woman.
Needless to say, Wedding Crashers fails to be as compelling as “It happened one night” or even as stupidly charming as “Eurotrip.”
Even worse, it manages to make every mistake possible in elongating the final moment. In the struggle, there is one good joke, and it’s done on an answering machine.
All that said.
The opening montage is fantastic. It’s been a while since I saw an opening 10 minutes done this well.
I laughed for 3 minutes after the joke at the Vaughn line “It must be sprinkled.” I literally slapped my knee in joy. And I was one of four people in the theater who found it funny. My co-contributor was one of them, and I am sure he was laughing because I was dying as much as it was for the joke.
Can you recommend a movie that is as flawed as Wedding Crashers?
Yeah, because it’s a true joy for most of the experience. It’s going to kill on cable because we can watch the bits we like. Did he have to go to weddings alone? Did he have to be beat up again by the fiancée, did he even have to meet the Will Ferrell character? This movie could have been wrapped up 15 minutes earlier. Some of the plot points were just aggravatingly boring and needless. And it wasn’t just that they were merely pushing the plot, it was that they weren’t even funny.
It’s just a shame that something so great pulled up instead of going for the end mark. Because if the movie didn’t pull the punches after the second act, we would have movie (not just a comedy) for the canon.
The more I watch it, I am continuing to notch up my ranking of The Killer’s “Mr. Brightside” in the canon of all time great music videos. It’s not just the atmosphere and thin plot of it, or even that Eric Roberts is in it (Eric Roberts), it’s that there is barely a single cut of that video that is not absolutely compelling or thrilling.
Entourage may be the single finest representation on film of what real male life is actually like. From the running dialogue, to the constant goading and an inability of these characters to not act like idiots, to minimalist plots that require the episodes to be driven by interaction and not necessarily from atmosphere. This is a addendum to what character driven means. It’s a show about 3 guys who have a Hollywood star as a friend they mooch off, but it’s really about living in your twenties (and living in LA, more so, and why me and my flatmate like it) and going through life and business with your friends, often at the same time. Turtle may be the finest example of this. Every guy has a friend in their group who is the omega dog. Alpha dog is kind of blurry, because there are usually two or more who lead the gang, and there are betas which covers everyone else. But guys have whipping boys.
Side note:
The Omega guy of any group is a strange anomaly. Somehow, the ranking system is established very early on, often without any verbal communication. The guy is just there. He rarely is able to bring birds into the mix, and usually wind up costing other bed time, and they usually stammer, or can’t make great comebacks. Turtle is a great omega, because he brings nothing to the table with marketable skills that most women like. But Turtle brings weed, and is the driver (except when E drives the Maserati). We love these guys, because we see a little brother factor in them. We trust them, we love them, but if there is going to be a mishap that we all laugh at, it’s usually the Omega who does it. We will all bother the betas, and occasionally the alphas (only occasionally because they have a Reagan-like ability to bounce this off of them), but we constantly go after the Omegas and turtles. The truth is there is no malice is this. It’s only busting balls, and we always look after the Omega. In fact I have never met a group of guys without an Omega set, it’s just something that happens across the board. Some guy eventually makes it in to the group because of a small connection, and they wind up being someone who is always there. I have never met a group of women who kept an omega. Men just do not have that killer instinct like women do about their group of friends. (Which is perhaps why women never like their boy’s friends, for the simple fact that they are taught to eradicate what is not working in their view of themes)
I am still undecided on “Stella” on comedy central. But I know that the pilot episode is dynamite, simply for the argument on funk, funk rock, and funk rock. That and the line when a man wearing a skunk tail (to be dressed as a skunk person, not a skunk) to a board of 3 African Americans – “may I address, the board, all black.”
Is it strike anyone else odd that one of the tracks on Coldplay’s X and Y is called Low, like the David Bowie/ Brian Eno album, since they are clearly ripping off that style, you know, sound without silence
James Doohan passed, and it was a moment for all nerds/ fans of Star Trek. While many thought it was just a passing of a TV star, there was a bit of humanity (The nurds) who felt a bit of sadness. Say what you will about the geeks and dweebs who like Sci-fi, but what most of the mocking will never get or have is the profound love for what may eventually be, and a life that isn’t so myopic. When a culture of cool prevails over all art forms on one level or another, excluding and including journalism, Sci-fi remains as the eternally uncool. Maybe the reason that they are worthy of mocking is their ability to put their heads in the clouds and disattachment to most of reality, that they don’t care about what’s in the know or now. But the truth is that Sci-fi fans (well maybe born again Christians who are waiting for the second coming of Christ, which in all odds, is as likely as a alien landing, and I am degrading neither group or likelihood) are the greatest group of living optimists on Earth, because they keep waiting to believe that something is going to make everything better, holding on for an opening of opportunity. James Doohan, or Scotty, was not so much a loss for the betterment of society, but the absolvement of a link to a better place that so many people hitched their worldview on. Losing him wasn’t about losing hope, but merely missing a fragment of something that made them hope for the better when they were younger.
Speaking of escapist fantasies, I feel I should touch upon Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. But, seeing that the whole thing is about 2000 words, it’s now its own post.
http://ineverlovedyou.blogspot.com/2005/07/harry-potter-and-half-great-media.html
I finally saw Wedding Crashers. This film may have the worst third act of any good movie I can think of. But maybe it’s a symptom of the comedy genre in the era of the mass controlled studio age.
Greatest comedies since 1980:
1. Caddyshack. I told a group of guys I worked with that were all part of one minority group or another, if you want to succeed in the white business world, memorize this movie.
2. Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery. – When we as a culture are able to forget the sequels, this movie’s greatness will shine. It’s not only non stop with jokes, the jokes are varied in style. Sight gags (the cement roller room), lines (allow myself to introduce, myself), satire (why don’t you just take him outside and shoot him? No, I’ll put him in an easily escapable situation and hope that everything goes as planned), bad guys (Dr. Evil), idiot jokes (One million dollars!), failure jokes (I’m still alive, just very badly burned), a great climactic fight, and the absolutely random (Dr. Evil in group therapy may be the greatest comedy monologue of all time).
3. Top Secret! – Combine Elvis movies, spy films, and the Zucker-Abrahms at their prime, and you have a masterpiece. That no one knows of, or at least to a point where it should be known is a shame. Val Kilmer sings. Underwater bar fights. The greatest joke ever that involved a magnet.
4. The Naked Gun – It’s a gem of a movie on it’s own, and warranting of this place, but I rank it above # 5 because of the third act. As soon as this movie hits the baseball park, I can’t stop laughing. For 25 minutes, we are not going on plot, but on gags. From Drebin searching every player, to becoming the most home town umpire of all time, to the goofs video, and the butchering of the National Anthem, no scene in history makes me laugh as hard every passing year as this does.
5. Airplane! – It’s a shame to put this movie so low, but I’d still rather watch the four above it more. But not by much. It’s not that this movie is full of jokes; it’s overrunning with them.
6. Dumb and Dumber – In all it’s hilarity, it’s here because of one line above all.
Just When I think you couldn’t get any DUMBER, you go and do something like this.
(long pause)
And TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF!
7. This is Spinal Tap – It may seem like a crime to put this so low, but at the same time, this movie is not greatly funny the first time around. I mean, parts of the film on the first time are hysterical, but it’s the secondary viewings that make this great. Only this low because it drags in parts, the third act sucks, and it’s not as consistently funny as the rest above it.
8. Something About Mary – This seems about right. It relies so much on charm and sight gags that we forget the great one liners and nastiness the characters have. The retard line is a great example; in the movie, everyone but Stiller and Diaz go way over the line in their descriptions.
9. Trading Places – It’s really more watchable than it is funny. I mean, the whole thing with the gorillas is borderline preposterous, but this movie is so absolutely engaging from frame one, it makes up for the lack of jokes.
10. Super Troopers – It’s funny enough as is, but what does it is Farva. The jokes are consistently coming. The story is solid. The characters are so fully developed this should have been a TV show. But it’s Farva that brings me back. He’s not just a dumb guy, it’s a dumb guy you know, and one you work with, and it’s done perfectly. Every answer he gives is so terribly imperfect. Every delivery is done with such pure awkwardness and impropriety. The movie is great as is, Farva moves it up here.
Off the list.
All movies with a dramatic angle: Fast times, Breakfast Club, Rushmore, and Princess Bride.
Romantic movies: Better Off Dead (and this one hurt me to not include). To keep a list short, think of any movie where it was about a guy getting the girl outside of Mary and you have a start. Like Swingers.
Others off: Ghostbusters (too much of an action movie to be considered a comedy). Stripes (the second hour is dead weight). South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. (It’s a musical as much of a comedy, and that’s why we keep coming back) Tommy Boy and Black Sheep (too much a product of the time and place to be great). Old School (sucks for the bulk of the last 40 minutes). Bachelor Party (dies after 50 minutes)
And all of those which you think should be on here. If you can think of a legitimate one I missed, post a comment. I’ll do an addendum if I realize you were right.
Anyway. Wedding crashers is fantastic for 75 minutes or so. It’s worth buying the DVD for. But then it goes too far in Wilson’s plot line.
It was nice to see an R rated comedy be so heavily promoted. But at the same time, the movie stops being a true comedy of old and starts being a chick flick. Most comedies start with a familiar genre. But it makes you lament for a time when comedies were unrelenting.
Airplane is a disaster film.
Super Troopers and Naked Gun are cop films.
Caddyshack is a sports film.
Austin Powers is a spy film.
With all of those films, they built the comedy around the traditional plot formulas of the genre. They are almost identical to their serious counterparts with the exception that they make a joke whenever possible.
Caddyshack is a great example. It’s basically the story of Danny Noonan and his rise from caddy to triumphant golfer. As is, it’s a 40 minute film. If you were to beef up the girlfriend role, make Ty Webb a more serious mentor, and make the film more serious, it’d be a bad sports film.
The film uses a basic, and compelling (if formulaic) storyline as an engine to move the movie along. The greatness of the film, and why it’s so watchable, is because it relies on the added characters and actors. Make no doubt about it; Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Chevy Chase, and Bill Murray are all filler characters. But the film is built so these actors can outshine the main plot. They are all tied to the character and the location in one way or another, but we remember them instead of the plot. This is how comedies should be; getting the talent to outperform a basic role. Danny is a fantastic character and his arc is solid. But he’s only there for the others.
I suppose Wedding Crashers is a romantic movie (in the same way the comedies above represent their genres). Something About Mary is the only romantic comedy to be truly great because it keeps the sulking of the loves to the end.
Think about this for a second. How many great romance movies (where the couple we are rooting for) drag along the third act before coming to the inevitable?
And how many of these romance movies’ third act was genuinely compelling?
My answer? Almost none.
Of my favorite romantic movies:
Brief Encounter is about the good bye, not the reconciliation.
In Casablanca, they do not get together.
In Gone With the Wind, they don’t really get together.
The Philadelphia Story works because it comes out of nowhere. We kind of suspect it, but we aren’t prepared for it.
Jerry Maguire I still don’t believe they last after the “you complete me” scene.
The Notebook (for movies of the last 5 years) might enter the conversation if not for the awful modern day angle.
Maybe the only truly great example is It Happened One Night. The struggle to get the two love interests back together is done perfectly. There are plot roadblocks that work. The reconciliation happens at the best possible moment.
The only other romance that works in a way that isn’t terribly cheesy I can think of is Eurotrip, simply because the plot of the movie is so far fetched in the first place that all suspension of disbelief is long gone by the point when the loves match up.
And don’t get me started on Pretty Woman.
Needless to say, Wedding Crashers fails to be as compelling as “It happened one night” or even as stupidly charming as “Eurotrip.”
Even worse, it manages to make every mistake possible in elongating the final moment. In the struggle, there is one good joke, and it’s done on an answering machine.
All that said.
The opening montage is fantastic. It’s been a while since I saw an opening 10 minutes done this well.
I laughed for 3 minutes after the joke at the Vaughn line “It must be sprinkled.” I literally slapped my knee in joy. And I was one of four people in the theater who found it funny. My co-contributor was one of them, and I am sure he was laughing because I was dying as much as it was for the joke.
Can you recommend a movie that is as flawed as Wedding Crashers?
Yeah, because it’s a true joy for most of the experience. It’s going to kill on cable because we can watch the bits we like. Did he have to go to weddings alone? Did he have to be beat up again by the fiancée, did he even have to meet the Will Ferrell character? This movie could have been wrapped up 15 minutes earlier. Some of the plot points were just aggravatingly boring and needless. And it wasn’t just that they were merely pushing the plot, it was that they weren’t even funny.
It’s just a shame that something so great pulled up instead of going for the end mark. Because if the movie didn’t pull the punches after the second act, we would have movie (not just a comedy) for the canon.
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