Ask A Genius 958: A Rosner List on Television and Movies
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/06/19
Rick Rosner: Okay, so you asked me what my favourite comedy of all time is, and I said I’d have to consult a list. So, I’m looking at Rotten Tomatoes’ list of 150 essential movie comedies. However, a disclaimer is necessary: comedies don’t age well. Most movies don’t age well, especially now that everyone has seen nearly everything. For instance, Caddyshackis often considered a favourite among people my age. However, if you try to watch it now, you might find it somewhat funny, but not as much as it once was. It’s not the movie’s fault; it was made long ago. Anyway, I will review the list and discuss the ones I think are still funny.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin still holds up. It’s funny and features Stormy Daniels, who has appeared in a couple of Judd Apatow movies when they needed someone willing to show her breasts. Airplane! is ancient, from 1980, and it’s essentially a series of gags. The focus is more on having a ton of gags rather than everything making sense, so it’s still okay. Some of it is funny because they do things that are too offensive by today’s standards, which can be another way to be funny. Anchorman is still funny. Annie Hall by Woody Allen is only a little funny now but interesting. It’s a well-made movie, but considering Woody Allen’s reputation, tarnished by accusations of molesting his adopted daughter, I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch it.
I haven’t seen Austin Powers in a while, but many consider it their favourite movie. It’s from 1997, so it’s 27 years old now. I assume that quite a bit of it still holds up, but it might also feel slow. Beetlejuice is a movie I’ve always enjoyed, although it’s now 36 years old. I think they’re redoing it. It probably holds up as something to watch. It was never uproariously funny, but it was always a fun movie. Best in Show is an improv movie about people competing in a dog show, and it still holds up. The Big Lebowski is a favourite for many. It’s a good movie to have on in the background and just let it roll over you.
Blazing Saddles is now 50 years old. It’s still good to watch, with many jokes that still work. However, it includes the N-word, spoken unapologetically by white people, which makes it both fun and exciting to watch to see what you could get away with back then. Borat is 18 years old and still watchable. Bridesmaids is 13 years old and holds up well. Broadcast News is not uproarious, but it has a very involving story about people in the news business trying to balance their personal lives with their professional obligations and journalistic ethics. The movie’s ethical issues are interesting because they have become entirely obsolete; these people worry about things nobody worries about now.
Have you ever seen Galaxy Quest? I’m just seeing it on TV now. Is that the one with Tim Allen? Yes. It was a perfect movie and highly underrated, even today, in my opinion. I agree. Another highly underrated movie is The Long Kiss Goodnight with Samuel Jackson, starring Geena Davis. I love that movie, although it’s not a comedy.
I like the movie In Bruges because of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. I don’t know if I’ve seen everything from start to finish, but they are good company for a couple of hours. Clueless is now 29 years old. Again, it’s not uproarious but an excellent movie to hang out with. Coming to America is another one that’s more of a good hangout movie. Eddie Murphy plays multiple characters, mostly his main character, with incidental characters that you slowly realize are also Eddie Murphy in heavy makeup. Elf is hilarious. Have you seen it?
Jacobsen: Yes.
Rosner: So there you go. I like Fast Times at Ridgemont High for its anthropological aspect. Cameron Crowe sent himself back to high school as an adult and then wrote a movie about it. He was undercover, 24 years old, having missed high school because he was on the road as a rock journalist starting at 15 or 16, which he recounts in Almost Famous. So, 42 years ago, he went back to high school to see what it was like from a 24-year-old’s perspective and wrote this exciting movie. There aren’t a few uproarious movies on the list. Galaxy Quest is one of them. Game Night and Date Night are a couple of movies about suburban couples who lead monotonous lives but get sucked into a night of excitement and danger. They are enjoyable to watch.
Jacobsen: Do you have any other movies?
Rosner: I’m sorry. I’m just going through and trying to find films that might be truly uproarious. Billy Madison is another movie about a man who returns to school as an adult. It stars Adam Sandler, and I haven’t seen it in 20 years, but I thought it was pretty good for a Sandler movie. You know, he makes some good movies and some absolute flops. I liked that one. I also liked Happy Gilmore, where he’s a rather violent professional golfer. There’s a lot of humour in Happy Gilmore, and I think it holds up. It’s 28 years old.
Harold and Kumar likely still holds up as funny, especially with Neil Patrick Harris playing himself as a total piece of trash, which might be the most amusing part, seeing how despicable he is. Hot Fuzz — any of the Simon Pegg movies — is pretty funny. They manage to pack a lot into a Simon Pegg movie. Hot Fuzz and whatever his zombie movie was, I think those films hold up well. Idiocracy is indispensable for understanding life now because it tends to be coming true. It’s 18 years old and about a future where everyone is a complete idiot. It’s not aiming to be accurate now, but it echoes so many frustrating aspects of the present.
A League of Their Own is a good film, especially if you’re interested in gender equality. It features many good actors and showcases women’s baseball during World War II when male professional baseball shut down because of the war. Legally Blonde holds up pretty well. Again, it’s not uproarious, but it’s a decent movie. I have no idea if Life of Brian holds up. I would guess it does. It’s 45 years old. I would guess Mean Girls holds up. It’s 20 years old and has become a big part of our culture. I like Napoleon Dynamite. If you’re nerdy, you’ll like it because you feel sympathy for everybody in it, as everyone is either a nerd or an idiot. Have you ever seen it?
Jacobsen: I liked Napoleon Dynamite. I saw it once or twice a long time ago. It had a unique sense of humour.
Rosner: Have you ever seen Animal House?
Jacobsen: No.
Rosner: It’s decent and exciting. It might not be as fresh since everyone is used to Saturday Night Live-type comedy. That kind of comedy was not part of the culture until National Lampoon in the early 70s. Now, it’s like The Catcher in the Rye. You can read The Catcher in the Rye now, and it doesn’t seem groundbreaking because every young adult novel since then has elements of it. So, even if you’ve never read it, it feels familiar. You might get that feeling from Animal House. It’s pretty funny but doesn’t feel as revolutionary because we are now saturated with that type of comedy. Have you seen Office Space?
Jacobsen: No.
Rosner: That’s good. It’s another film by Mike Judge, who did Idiocracy. It’s about how miserable it is to work in an office, and it’s perfect. I’d say it’s hilarious. It might be in my top five comedies.
Jacobsen: Who’s your favourite comedian?
Rosner: At one time it was Amy Schumer a few years ago because she had one special where everything hit perfectly with great callbacks. She was great. Who else? I like, what’s her name? Ali Wong. She’s always good and super filthy. John Mulaney is also excellent. There’s another series to watch, which doesn’t take much time. Mulaney is part of it. Fred Armisen is part of it. It’s called Documentary Now on Netflix. It’s a series of half-hour fake documentaries, each parodying a real documentary. You only need a half-hour, and it’s both funny and surprisingly accurate in replicating the documentary in its mocking.
I don’t know if The Princess Bride holds up. Raising Arizona, maybe. It’s another early Coen Brothers movie in which, again, everyone is a complete idiot. It might hold up. It stars Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter. School of Rock holds up, not for being uproarious but for being a good movie. Shaun of the Dead is the Simon Pegg zombie movie. That’s what we’re moving to. Spy is a good movie with Melissa McCarthy. It’s pretty funny, and everyone in it is enjoyable to watch. Any of the Will Ferrell films, like Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. I think that’s the subtitle. It’s a racing and perfect movie — another film where everyone is a complete idiot.
I am almost done. Trading Places. I don’t know if it holds up. It’s 41 years old, but I liked it. It might still hold up. What We Do in the Shadows. I’ve never seen it, but I like the TV series. It’s another Taika Waititi movie. The one where the kid’s imaginary friend is Hitler, Jojo Rabbit, is pretty interesting. Even though it’s 50 years old, Young Frankenstein is a perfect movie. It stars Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder.
Marty Feldman and Cloris Leachman are in it too. It holds up. I assume you’ve seen Zoolander, and it probably holds up. And that’s the end of the list. What’s that? It’s a reasonably good film. Zoolander is still a reasonably good film. So there you go — the end of the list. I’m sure there are some films the list missed that I love.
Jacobsen: Are there any final statements?
Rosner: I’m just going through the list. It turns out that what makes a good comedy isn’t usually having a ton of jokes that hit. It’s about being a good movie with characters you want to watch. For instance, Long Shot is funny in some places, but its exciting characters help it. So, the number of jokes is not determining whether a comedy is an all-time great. Yes, that’s the takeaway.
License
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
Copyright
© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.
In-Sight Publishing 