6 Reasons Why Comedy In Film is Dying

[Josh Kesnik]

6 Reasons Why Comedy In Film is Dying

Despite comedies seeing some of the highest attendance rates out of all film genres, there has been a considerable decrease in the quality of comedies coming out.

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[MCerberus]

Two things this article kind of missed. First, the international market. Because a lot of humor is tied into culture, there's limited appeal, or at least the thinking goes. So therefore talent is driven by the makers into safer genres and comedy that makes it into the film is of the "oh look the robot has testicles."

The second thing:

Spoiler

 

[cynicalsaint1]

You forgot China

 

[tzimize]

Well...I gotta say. I loved The Other Guys. That movie was hilarious from first to last. Also, I loved the Anchorman sequel. Bricks funeral is one of the funniest things I've seen in my life for some reason.

 

[CaitSeith]

"The dialogue is the funniest part of the films nowadays" Bingo! That's a big problem! They forgot the basic "show, don't tell" part of making a film.

 

[vallorn]

Personally I think it's because most of the attempts at comedy nowadays just don't have the intellectual cleverness behind them that informs some of the truly long lived comedies. A comedy doesn't need to be all highbrow humor and jokes about philosophy but it needs some level of intelligence to the jokes to make people laugh at the joke then smile at the cleverness.

This is best shown with some of Monty Python's sketches and movies, they put a lot of effort into their visual puns working with the dialogue (e.g. the coconuts for horses in Holy Grail or the beard wearing women in Life of Brian) but watching the movies, there's clever wordplays and subtle jokes (or not so subtle) about philosophy or politics which keeps the mind stimulated and prevents people's attention from wandering off.

Basically, the people who write comedies nowadays just aren't clever enough to write good dialogue that is funny on an intellectual level as well as being funny on a more basic, slapstick or absurdist humour level. This then compounds the issue with directors being extremely lazy and not using their visual medium to its fullest extent.

Now, I have to see a man in a shop about some cheese... Or lack thereof.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

Personally I think it's because most of the attempts at comedy nowadays just don't have the intellectual cleverness behind them that informs some of the truly long lived comedies. A comedy doesn't need to be all highbrow humor and jokes about philosophy but it needs some level of intelligence to the jokes to make people laugh at the joke then smile at the cleverness.

This is best shown with some of Monty Python's sketches and movies, they put a lot of effort into their visual puns working with the dialogue (e.g. the coconuts for horses in Holy Grail or the beard wearing women in Life of Brian) but watching the movies, there's clever wordplays and subtle jokes (or not so subtle) about philosophy or politics which keeps the mind stimulated and prevents people's attention from wandering off.

Basically, the people who write comedies nowadays just aren't clever enough to write good dialogue that is funny on an intellectual level as well as being funny on a more basic, slapstick or absurdist humour level. This then compounds the issue with directors being extremely lazy and not using their visual medium to its fullest extent.

Now, I have to see a man in a shop about some cheese... Or lack thereof.

Excellent post. Kind of tired of seeing a lot of "I said some swears and naughty words so please laugh" approach many writers seem to take these days.

 

[Dollabillyall]

I really like the cornetto trilogy and British comedy in general. I think the American comedy film scene is the one with the big difficulties coming up with good stuff, Deadpool being a bit of an exception and Bob's Burgers taking an honorable mention for TV shows.

One reason that I missed on the list was that the standup crowd and scene has exploded. If you want good comedy you are better off listening to a great story-telling standup show than watching a movie that has the same handful of tropey jokes "written" by people who are in many ways washed up. If you've seen family guy, american pie and mall rats you've basically already seen every joke in American comedy film #7592659 coming out this year. Like Corey Schaff above me has mentioned theres just an "in-crowd" of comedy actors/writers in Hollywood that keeps cranking out the same mediocre stuff year after year (and making very decent profits off of it despite the lack of quality) while the more talented or own-voice comedians have standup shows, podcasts, radio programs and stuff like that where they arent confined to the same frame as big-budget, mainstream comedy films are.

 

[CyanCat47_v1legacy]

thing is when you look at all the most beloved comedy a lot of it is also skits and short films. monty python, KLM (basically norwegian family friendly monty python), the dowager and the butler are all based around short and snappy skits. even holy grail feels more like a collection of skits with a connecting narrative than an actual three act film (i havent seen life of brian but considering all of their other work i would assume its kind of similar). length is only used as a running joke like that song about catholic attitudes towards contraception where it only gets longer and more ridiculous over time. still i would say there are still great comedies being made. most wes anderson films are still freakin hilarious. but youtube gets closer to the short and snappy sweet spot that constitutes the most popular comedy

 

[Skatalite]

''So the film industry does know how to make good comedies. The thing is, they are the minority. A very tiny minority.''

Yeah, so the same way it's always been then. This doesn't prove anything.
Neither does that Splitsider article. It's just one guy's opinion, and the majority of good comedies are obviously going to be from before 2000. You're comparing over 70 years of movies to 16.

 

[Saulkar]

"The dialogue is the funniest part of the films nowadays" Bingo! That's a big problem! They forgot the basic "show, don't tell" part of making a film.

This video sums it up nicely.


Hrmm, I do not know if the embedding is not working or it is just my browser so here is a direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FOzD4Sfgag&nohtml5=False

Anyhoo, too many studios and directors are playing it safe, too afraid to explore. Honestly, with the low barrier of entry for producing online content I fell that that is where most of the talent is going to these days. Lastly, those that start with quality online content and then bomb when given the chance to produce a movie or TV series were probably smothered by the current studio culture I mentioned (though there are plenty cases of people who simply did not have the stuff for working outside of an independent environment).

 

[CaitSeith]

"The dialogue is the funniest part of the films nowadays" Bingo! That's a big problem! They forgot the basic "show, don't tell" part of making a film.

This video sums it up nicely.

Spoiler

Hrmm, I do not know if the embedding is not working or it is just my browser so here is a direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FOzD4Sfgag&nohtml5=False

Anyhoo, too many studios and directors are playing it safe, too afraid to explore. Honestly, with the low barrier of entry for producing online content I fell that that is where most of the talent is going to these days. Lastly, those that start with quality online content and then bomb when given the chance to produce a movie or TV series were probably smothered by the current studio culture I mentioned (though there are plenty cases of people who simply did not have the stuff for working outside of an independent environment).

"So next time you go to the cinema to see a comedy, don't be satisfied with anything less inventive than Vine." That pretty much puts things in perspective.

 

[Squilookle]

"most fans of the film want to hear the same jokes over and over again because they believe if it was funny before, it will continue to be funny and will always be funny. "

Um, what? Pretty sure I've never heard anyone whatsoever say something as stupid as that. That's a view shared by Studio Execs and Execs alone.

"Films use their time wisely as well, but adding joke after joke (even if they're all funny) can become almost tedious and irrelevant."

Didn't you just mention Airplane! (Flying High!) as a example of good comedy? You don't hear many people saying that Hot Shots or The Naked Gun were tedious.. seems to me that rapid fire well written jokes in films have a pretty good track record..

Monty Python's sketches and movies, they put a lot of effort into their visual puns working with the dialogue (e.g. the coconuts for horses in Holy Grail or the beard wearing women in Life of Brian)

I love Monty Python as much as the next guy but credit where credit isn't due: the only reason they fell back on using coconuts was because their film budget couldn't cover the use of actual horses. It's an inspiring case of improvisation, sure, but it's hardly the planned-it-that-way-all-along effort you're making it out to be.

One thing can't be denied though- comedies ARE in a pretty bad way lately. It's a real shame.

 

[Jute88]

From what I've seen in recent comedy films, is that they're, well, mean spirited. Person A gets hurt or ridiculed and others laugh at his expense. I'm not saying it's anything new, but it's changed over the years. Also, jokes showing bodily fluids is not funny in my book.

And since we can't talk about bad comedy without good ones, here's my list:
Man and the Naked Gun trilogy
Hot Shots 2
Police Academy
Emperor's New Groove
Airplane! I and II
Some Monty Python movies
Blues Brothers
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

tv shows:
Seinfeld
Dharma & Greg
That 70s Show (only seasons 1 and 2)
3rd Rock From the Sun
Father Ted
Keeping Up Appearances
Black Adder

I'm sure there's more that I just don't remember.