No Right Answer: Comedian Who Was Funny

[RedDeadFred]

Zoolander and Wedding Singer are really the only two Adam Sandler Movies that I liked.

Zoolander is not an Adam Sandler movie... It's a Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson movie with a bit of Will Ferrell sprinkled in.
And yes it is awesome.

Edit: It seems someone ninja'd me to telling you this.

OT: I don't think Adam Sandler was really ever funny so... I guess he didn't have anywhere to fall for me. I liked him in Funny People mainly because it showed how his comedy is becoming irrelevant while actually being a decent drama.

Jim Carey was at least funny at one point. Also, I think he's probably overall a much better actor in general. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ftw!

 

[shogunblade]

As far as comedy goes, Jim Carrey has always been the better actor. Watch Dumb and Dumber again, and there is a nuiance to his role as Lloyd Christmas that people don't give him credit for. The same goes for The Mask. The Mask is one of my favorite movies (as a superhero movie, not the best of the best, by my standards). He's always been a better actor, Ace Ventura was funny to me until about four years ago, and now I cannot laugh at it, but when Jim does do comedy, he's brilliant, though. He's been a better actor, all together.

He and Adam Sandler's spin in the 90s is like Stallone and Schwartzenegger's stuff in the 80s: It's kind of sad to see him go back to the well, now that everything has sort of changed (we seem to have matured somewhat to this silly schtick that the 90s was in abundance of).

Adam Sandler, though, has been the overall loser in this, which is sad to say. I know he tries to do quality motion pictures at times (Punch Drunk Love is in my top 5 favorite movies), his performance in 50 First Dates, though creepy to some degree, he gives it a lot more heart then most of his movies.

But then, he tries to go for movies that resemble quality, but aren't (I'm looking at you, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, a failed attempt at what could have been a better movie if only the writers could have been a little bit more mature with the subject matter), and it really disappoints me.

Jim Carrey is an actor I've liked more as I've got older for trying to venture into more uncharted territory (Eternal Sunshine, Number 23 (which I actually like), The Majestic, Truman Show, The Mask, about half of Cable Guy) then Adam Sandler has (Punch Drunk Love, 50 First Dates, Spanglish, Eight Crazy Nights (Which I actually like), about half of Big Daddy), and sadly, I've not seen Reign over Me yet, but it is on my list.

It's disappointing, but it's Adam, and I say that while saying that PDL is one of the best movies I've seen.

EDIT: I forgot Funny People, Click and Hotel Transylvania for Adam Sandler for his other "Not Too Bad" movies.
Forgot A Series of Unfortunate Events, A Christmas Carol, I Love You, Phillip Morris and Man on the Moon for Jim Carrey in his other "Not too Bad/Great" movies.

Thank IMDB for being so through, because I wasn't.

Answer still stands: Adam Sandler isn't quite as great as he should be.

 

[Trishbot]

Worst comedian is still Will Ferrell. God I hate him so much. Why does everyone find the idea of a brain-dead ego maniac funny (The only role Ferrell plays)?

Probably because he can pull it off so well? It's not just that; he often plays the characters as oblivious, blissfully stupid, and overly emotional. I loved him in Zoolander, Megamind, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Stepbrothers, Night at the Roxbury, El Casa de Mi Padre, and even Austin Powers.

 

[Kitsune Hunter]

No just no, I disagree, Sandler was much worst, he has never made me laugh, at his best he can make me crack a smile, but that's it. Now I do like some Sandler films, Happy Gilmore and Waterboy had it's moments, Anger Management(but that's mostly to do with Jack Nicholson), but if you compare that to his mountain of shit, Mr Deeds, Chuck and Larry, Click, Zohan, Bedtime Stories, Funny People, but special mention goes out to Jack and Jill, my God why does that film exist, I mean how is Adam Sandler better than Jim Carrey after that film which won every category at the 32nd Razzies, you know a film's bad if it manages to beat Twilight at the Razzies. I really don't know why he still makes films anymore, I don't know if it's for the money or that he's just gone insane.

Zoolander and Wedding Singer are really the only two Adam Sandler Movies that I liked.

Sandler wasn't in Zoolander, that was Ben Stiller

Holly Crap, I just realized those are two different people. They look almost exactly the same. Well I'm embarrassed.

Don't worry about it, we all make mistakes

 

[Starik20X6]

See, Jim Carrey is still funny. While he might not be as funny as he used to be, he can still lift a movie up by himself- he was the only part of the Series of Unfortunate Events movie that I enjoyed. On the other hand, I might have to agree that he's fallen further than Sandler, if only because Sandler didn't have anywhere to fall from to begin with. As you said Chris, he seems like a really nice guy, but his brand of comedy has just never gelled with me.

You know who I think has fallen so much further than either of those two though? Mike Myers. Austin Powers, Shrek, Wayne's World? Awesome. Austin Powers 3, Shrek 11 or whatever they're up to now, and The Love Guru? What the hell happened there... I mean, Austin Powers was fantastic- It managed to satirise the sillier parts of 007 and similar movies while still being a great spy movie in its own right. By the time the third one rolls around the series has become a parody of itself. It became so self-referential and self-aware that it imploded in on itself.

Jerry Seinfeld

Yeah, but Seinfeld has kind of earned a break after 9 seasons of genre-redefining comedy. Besides, he can definitely still be hilarious, he's always golden when he shows up on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

 

[Shia-Neko-Chan]

So I guess everybody forgot about Mike Myers.

It's cool, I guess that means he's the secret winner here.

 

[RandV80]

Pauly Shore is another one that nobody remembers. Kind of the early 90's version of Rob Schneider.

 

[American Fox]

@Ferisar it's almost as if they applied no thought to this whatsoever and just slapped together some crap they did in a single take and uploaded it because it was the day they need to upload something.

I say this about every episode.

And they are both wrong. The answer is Eddie Murphy.

Zoolander and Wedding Singer are really the only two Adam Sandler Movies that I liked.

Do you know the difference between Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller?

 

[Zombie Sodomy]

Zoolander and Wedding Singer are really the only two Adam Sandler Movies that I liked.

Do you know the difference between Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller?

Not by sight.

 

[gamegod25]

My vote is still for Adam Sandler as worse, because when he is trying to be funny he is so repetitive and unfunny, and when he tries to be serious or dramatic its just painful to watch. At least Carrey has some range to his acting abilities. Maybe not much but still more than Sandler does.

I always felt that Sandler was always one of those comedians that could be really funny with the right script and if the planets happened to be in alignment at that moment. The rest of the time I felt he was aggressively unfunny, that kind that keeps going on and pounding you over the head demanding you laugh or else he will never stop.

 

[Scars Unseen]

You know, I've come to believe that Jim Carrey is better off as being the slightly dickish lead in drama than he ever was as a comedy actor. 23 was great; Eternal Sunshine was amazing. Seriously, Jim, stay in drama.

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

Eddie Murphy seems like the more right answer for this subject. He had incredible movies in the 80s and his stand-up was solid as anything and as the years have passed his career has gotten progressively more sad.

Also I'm with a lot of the other people in wondering how you can't talk Carrey's less comedic works and not talk Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It is an amazing film. It is very possibly my favorite movie of the 00s.

 

[Your Gaffer]

Jim Carrey at least is a decent actor and was in good movies like The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Whereas Punch Drunk Love was on the whole not a great movie and Sandler was a big part of the problem with that movie. I have enjoyed both of these performers but I think Jim Carrey is definitely the more talented of the two.

 

[zerabp]

I'd like to direct all the would be critics of this series to the freaking name of the series "No Right Answer". There is no right answer to any of the topics they discuss ever. You see the things like "Which formerly funny comedian fell the farthest." are what we call SUBJECTIVE http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Subjective?s=t You see arguments like this have absolutely no basis in fact as you will find people who love and hate both actors and their work. Your opinion is no more or less valid than theirs, mine, or even The Acadamie's. I will say however they used poor examples as their choices as both of them have work that is hit and miss. Neither one of them needs to stop and both are capable of being funny or serious and both have recent successes.

 

[DSK-]

I don't think I have ever laughed in any of Sandlers movies :/

 

[Nouw]

Is Colonel Stars and Stripes a funny character in the Kick Ass comic-books? If so, we may get more of Jim's comedy.

 

[Rad Party God]

You guys left out Anger Management! That's IMO Sandler's BEST movie BECAUSE he's not doing the usual "loud, obnoxious, goofy-voiced idiot" bit, but "normal guy caught up in wacky circumstances". I dare say it's his smartest movie!

YES, I couldn't be the only one who loved that particular movie!

OT: Well, at least Jim Carrey is still capable of performing decent acting in drama stuff, while Adam Sandler... well, I like him best when he's not Adam Sandler, wich of curse, gets kinda boring after a while.

 

[likalaruku]

I don't believe these is a single (American) comedian I grew up with that I think is still funny to this day.

I don't really blame them though; I blame the script writers firstly & the directors secondly.

 

[Remus]

Comedians have a schtick. The problem we have today is that the current batch of comedians don't translate all that well to the big screen, mainly sticking to shows on Comedy Central like The Burn, and the batch from the 90s on have faded into obscurity. I blame society. It's hard to find the funny with the laundrylist of horrors that comprise the current news cycle. Simple things like playing up stereotypes gets people in trouble with the PC police so it's hard to be funny without offending half your audience. That leaves us with comedians that either resort to sex jokes (Cummings, Lampanelli), sight gags (Inglecias, Ralphie May) or the sarcastic a-hole - points out flaws in society with a beer and a smile (pretty much everyone else on the circuit). While some of these may end up with sitcoms, they don't have the skillset to carry themselves to the big screen. There are a couple that have crossed over, but whose best performances in movies have been hidden behind cartoon characters so they don't exactly count.

I think Carrey truly fell from grace in much the same way that Hasselhoff did - by embarrasing himself on Youtube. There's "Number 23" creepy and then there's Youtube creepy. It's hard to recover once that line's been crossed.