As far as film criticism goes, it's not easy to review the comedy genre. Everyone has different tastes when it comes to comedy. Some prefer their comedy films to have actual characters, with the humor deriving from the bizarre situations they end up in. Some like films that have next to no character development and thrive off of gross out humor. When I think of some of the best comedy films of all time, films like "Animal House", "Ghostbusters", "Dr. Strangeglove", "Airplane", "The Blues Brothers", "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", and "Blazing Saddles" immediately spring to mind. While I wouldn't consider them comedy classics, I also get a kick out of some modern day comedy films, such as the "Austin Powers" trilogy, "The Hangover", "Tropic Thunder", "Zombieland", and "Anchorman". These films, to me, represent my own taste in comedy.
While I consider myself an analytical film reviewer with very specific tastes depending on the genre, I guess my only real prerequisite for a comedy film is if it makes me laugh. It doesn't have to make me laugh out loud, per se, but it should be funny enough to consistently make me laugh. A film with only a couple of good jokes doesn't entertain me as much as one that gets me laughing and smiling throughout its entire run time. Since comedy is always left to the viewer, I consider it inherently wrong to review a comedy film as if it's Oscar worthy material.
Now true, if a film's humor is entirely built around gross out jokes and celebrity gags (cough cough the Parody Movies cough cough) then that doesn't fly with me, but I can forgive a film if it succeeds in making me laugh without also making me feel stupid. And even then, I have my moments of weakness where I laugh knowing full well that what I'm seeing is idiotic. So, with all that said, I found myself over the last two months watching three distinct comedy films in theaters, one a couple of weeks ago and two very recently. With my own thoughts on what I view as a decent comedy film out of the way, how would I then classify "The Three Stooges", "The Dictator", and "Men in Black 3"?
I'm going to be frank when I say I never grew up watching the Three Stooges. Maybe I'm the victim of a very sheltered life, but I never got into them. Years later I saw old reruns on TV, and I did laugh at their wily shenanigans, but I can't rightly say that going into this movie I felt a sense of nostalgia, the way my friend did when he asked me to go see it with him. But, suffice to say, this cinematic adaptation of the classic shorts has a lot of love and respect for its source material. The three actors they got to portray the stooges do a wonderful job of channeling the performances of their predecessors. After adding their costumes, they are dead ringers for the stooges of old. The film is even set up in a three act structure the same way the old shorts were.
However, despite the multiple homages to the classic Stooges, the film ultimately plays more like a tribute that tries to be funny rather than actually being funny. The slapstick gags get old after a while, and only a few of them are ever truly inspired. While yes, it did make me laugh, I would consider this more of a love letter to fans of the Stooges than a solid comedy film that tries to attract new viewers. Somehow I don't think a modern day audience would perceive the Stooges' slapstick as funny, even though their routine was an inspiration to comedians everywhere back in the day. Overall, this was a great homage to the old Three Stooges that unfortunately is an average comedy flick with hit or miss jokes. Still, any Stooges fan should check it out if they did grow up watching the original shorts, if only for the nostalgia.
The next film, "The Dictator", is the latest film from Sacha Baren Cohen, the man behind "Borat" and "Bruno". Truth be told, I've never seen either of those films, but I am told that "Borat" is hilarious while "Bruno" falls flat. Maybe it's better that I haven't seen those movies, because it allows me to view "The Dictator" on its own without comparing it to Cohen's other characters. What I can say about this film is that, at least in my opinion, it's a pretty damn good comedy, even if a lot of the jokes are wildly offensive to women, various ethnic groups, Middle Eastern countries, and various governments.
A film like this could not have been made ten years ago, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Only now is it acceptable to make a film that completely parodies the life of a Middle Eastern dictator. For what it's worth, Cohen makes it work. His character, General Aladeen, comes off as your stereotypical madman with a sympathetic side, which is made more apparent when he's stripped of his power and becomes a commoner in America. Some of the jokes don't make much sense, but they are still funny, some even downright hilarious. I wouldn't go calling it a masterful comedy, as even the obvious socio-political commentary is handled pretty weakly, but it's still a fun watch, and definitely worth a rental.
Now comes the film I had my most recent outing at the theater with, one that I have been looking forward to for ten years without even realizing it. Unlike the last two films, I definitely have a history with this one. "Men in Black 3" was a sequel I thought would never happen. I was ten years old when I saw the first two "Men in Black" films, and at the time I found them both hilarious (even if the second one has soured in my mind with the years). Before I go anywhere else, yes, I realize that these films do cross over into the action/sci-fi genres, but at their heart, the Men in Black films are definitely comedies. People don't just go to see agents blowing up aliens; they go to see Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones blow up aliens, all the while riffing on each other. It's a comedy duo that works to perfection, and even at their lowest point in MIB II, Smith and Jones create a comedic chemistry that can't be ignored.
So, what of the new film? Long story short, MIB III is both hilarious and at the same time charming and emotional, a better follow up than MIB II that is a notch below the first but is still effective as both a sci-fi and as a comedy. I was at first weary when the film was announced as having a time travel plot, along with the revelation that Tommy Lee Jones was going to be replaced for the majority of the film with a younger version played by Josh Brolin. Luckily, Brolin's Jones impression is so utterly perfect that I honestly thought that the filmmakers just de-aged Jones with computer effects. That's how seamlessly Brolin fits into his role. When the Smith/Jones shtick started to get old in MIB II, this film made it come alive again. It has a great set-up with a scary new villain, Boris the Animal, escaping from prison to kill Agent K in the past so his actions won't prevent Boris's race from invading Earth. While this is happening, Smith's Agent J is lamenting how cold and indifferent his partner has become, which not only shows how important K is to J but also provides a great contrast once we meet the younger K of the '60s.
The time travel plot is handled a lot more intelligently than I previously believed. While there are several points where the characters' actions would open up a whole can of paradoxes, a lot of these threads are resolved by the introduction of Griffin, a hyper dimensional alien who can perceive multiple timelines at once. Through him, we learn of the different timelines that converge and are made possible through time travel, ones in which Agent K both lives and dies. Not only is this a clever way to introduce the confusing concept of time paradoxes, but Griffin himself is a hilarious character that heightens the comedic aspect of the film. He has a loving innocence to him, but talks extremely fast and is constantly worried over which possible futures will end up happening.
Will Smith, I have to say, is better than ever as Agent J. He fits back into the role he played ten years previously like a glove, and bounces off Brolin just as well as he does Jones. Seeing the two together provides some great comedy. Of special note is J's reaction to both the altered present and the '60s environment, as he begins freaking out about the situation in a way only Will Smith can do. Jemaine Clement's Boris character comes off as a convincing threat, with an awesome character design (his entire body is made of tiny claws that can open up and fire bony spikes at people). A scene where he interacts with his younger self is legitimately terrifying, but also hilarious in that they have a kind of rivalry going on (the younger Boris refuses to believe that he will make the same mistakes as his future self, and the older Boris reprimands him for it). But, what I really like about this film, as both a sci-fi and as a comedy, is the '60s setting.
This is where I'm legitimately glad the filmmakers went with the time travel plot, other than to see J interacting with young K. The entire MIB franchise is given a new sense of life through the '60s nostalgia. The MIB headquarters is vastly different; female agents sit at typewriters, neuralyzers and jet packs are giant hulking machines that take up vast amounts of power, and the aliens have wackier designs to reflect the retro '60s B-movie look. It's a very fun world to play around in, and seeing the filmmakers make jabs at '60s culture is a real treat. While I'm not sure if the Men in Black needed a third installment, especially one focused on time travel, I was pleasantly surprised at how good this turned out. While it does still suffer from plot holes due to paradoxes, this is something inherent in all time travel films. The ending has a surprise twist that adds a bit of emotion to the film, one which deepens the friendship between J and K and makes their characters better for it. Ultimately, I had a great time at the theater watching this film and laughed at the jokes throughout, so I would definitely say MIB 3's role as an effective comedy film has been fulfilled.
"Three Stooges", "The Dictator", and "Men in Black 3" all have their ups and downs as far as comedies go, but I still had a fun time watching all three of them, some more than others. Men in Black was by far my favorite out of these three, not so much because of the nostalgia factor but because it had a better understanding of when to balance its characters and story with jokes that were actually funny. Dictator's jokes were more gross out gags that tried to be relevant by adding a socio-political context, and Three Stooges was pure slapstick that was banking on the nostalgia factor of its source. While films like that do have their place, and I did enjoy both of them to varying degrees for what they were, MIB 3 worked better as a comedy for me for the reasons I stated above. Not only do I like comedy films that make me laugh throughout, I like it when they make an attempt to build a story and unique characters into the narrative, so the humor is more meaningful when I care about the characters and the situations they end up in. Seeing these three films in theaters has helped me reflect on that, and made it more apparent now that I have actually reviewed them.
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