samkydd

Just a thought, having watched a US film last night why don't the town and city councils of America move their fire hydrants to half way down the street instead of locating them on street corners? Then cars wouldn't crash into them when cutting corners during car chases and send huge geysers of water into the air soaking everything within close range!

The other thing I've noticed with American films is that their idea of comedy isn't necessarily funny, it's just that the actors speak in funny voices or make facial expressions to denote humour. The worst examples are college kid movies and also that Police Academy series of films. The remake of The Ladykillers also falls into this category of being totally unfunny. Just my own view, but there you go!

Call me Mr Picky but there was a line that everyone raved about in Forrest Gump "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get!" which isn't funny at all because in a box of chocolates you get a chart which tells you what each chocolate is. Had he said "Life is like a bag of Revels......" that would have been more logical. But 25 years before, Billy Connolly said "Life is like an ashtray, full of little dowts!" which is funny!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

Fellwanderer

But it wouldn't be half as much fun!

They usually [or is that always] need to telegraph the laughs.

I wonder what they make of some of the recent gentle UK/Irish comedies such as Waking Ned, The Full Monty, Calendar Girls and The Parole Officer? I'm sure they would be completely lost on them.

I suspect I'll be giving that a very wide berth - and would have done so without your comment.

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[quote name='samkydd' date='Nov 4 2005, 04:39 PM' post='24354']
Just a thought, having watched a US film last night why don't the town and city councils of America move their fire hydrants to half way down the street instead of locating them on street corners? Then cars wouldn't crash into them when cutting corners during car chases and send huge geysers of water into the air soaking everything within close range!


They are not all on the corners. In fact, not very many of them are on corners. But, perhaps the film makers take the liberty to suit their story?



The other thing I've noticed with American films is that their idea of comedy isn't necessarily funny, it's just that the actors speak in funny voices or make facial expressions to denote humour. The worst examples are college kid movies and also that Police Academy series of films. The remake of The Ladykillers also falls into this category of being totally unfunny. Just my own view, but there you go!

I agree with you there! I dislike most comedies made here. They are not funny.

Call me Mr Picky but there was a line that everyone raved about in Forrest Gump "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get!" which isn't funny at all because in a box of chocolates you get a chart which tells you what each chocolate is. Had he said "Life is like a bag of Revels......" that would have been more logical. But 25 years before, Billy Connolly said "Life is like an ashtray, full of little dowts!" which is funny!

/quote]

arty-dave

Hmmm. the chances of picking an orange-centered revel must be pretty high (probably 60% of them are these type...)

samkydd

Alright, a family sized packet of Revels then! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img] We used to play Russian roulette with them at school with a kid who had a peanut allergy!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

AndrewLA

Not to defend any of those awful Hollywood comedies... and I know what you mean about those lovely gentle British comedies...but fair's fair. THE FULL MONTY was a huge hit in America (so much so that it has just been developed into a Broadway musical... same with BILLY ELLIOTT). WAKING NED DEVINE had a more modest box-office, but was shown just about everywhere in the U.S., and has done very well on DVD. The cinema was packed when we saw it in Santa Monica.

CALENDAR GIRLS is a nice movie, but I wouldn't say it deserved the success of THE FULL MONTY, which it didn't achieve even in the UK. Still, it was widely released over here, and does well on DVD.

(Not familiar with THE PAROLE OFFICER.)

lostintown

At the risk of introducing a little balance here, Surely we're not saying that every British comedy is worthy of high praise. (Sex Lives of the Potato Men, Carry on Columbus)

Unfortunately most of the American comedies that are worth their salt are independent efforts .. Sideways being a notable example.) [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ermm.gif[/img]

samkydd

I'd agree with you on the British comedies you mentioned. It seems to be "Here we have some quite zany chaps let's make a film for them!" rather than find a good screenplay first, and then cast proper actors to suit the roles. It's not a modern trend though, you only have to look back at some of the old films with Tommy Trinder, Morcambe and Wise, Jimmy Hanley etc. and Ealing's last comedy with Harry Secombe. These were people who were "flavour of the month" at the time but unfortunately the comedy was quite painful to watch.

I think actors tend to make better comedy characters than comedians as proved with Dad's Army and some of the Ealing comedies!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"