A-List
Comedies That Don’t Hold Up On Repeat Viewings
By Josh Spiegel
July 8, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
I bring this up only because of this week's new comedy, Bruno. The star of Bruno is Sacha Baron Cohen, the chameleonic comedian who first became an internationally known figure with the 2006 raunch-fest known as Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazahkstan. For this column's purposes, let's just call it Borat. That film is incredibly funny, immensely offensive, crude, rude, lewd, and other adjectives that are frequently associated with the most R-rated of comedies. However, I dare you to watch the movie again and find it nearly as funny as you did the first time around. No, repeat viewings of Borat aren't as rewarding, simply because you know all too well that Borat's about to wrestle his best friend in the nude; the element of surprise is no longer there.
Other comedies in the last decade, partly because they're all about making you laugh, without any emotion or deep thought involved, are guilty of failing the second time around, even a certain comedy from the month of June, which is definitely showing up on this list. Either way, I'm chomping at the bit to see Bruno, a movie I expect to laugh at quite a lot, and probably never see again, if only to crystallize that initial viewing. Though this list encompasses the comedy genre, let's not forget that any genre of film can have its offenders.
Take, for instance, the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. Here's a series of movies that I—yes, this is true - really enjoy. I'm aware that the second and third films are, combined, an hour or so too long, the characters aren't as fascinating, and the plots are needlessly convoluted. I don't care; however, most people were disappointed with the second film, Dead Man's Chest, partly because the element of surprise was gone. When the first Pirates movie was released, no one expected it to be good, and no one expected Johnny Depp to become a bona fide movie star from being its outrageous lead. That surprise helped the first movie become so successful, but lead to bad word-of-mouth for the second.
Still, I find that comedies are the movies that most often weaken on repeat viewings. It's rare that a comedy, on TV or film, can work as well or better on repeat viewings (a special place is kept in my heart for the dearly departed Arrested Development, one of only a few TV series that improves even on the 100th viewing). Let's dust off the A-List and see which film comedies pale most on repeat viewings.
The Hangover
Let's get something out of the way right now. The Hangover is a very funny movie. It is not, by any means, the greatest thing since sliced bread, as some people are reacting. The facts are these: this movie is Old School in Las Vegas. Same director, same character molds, and same crazy wedding singer. Having seen the movie twice, the flaws were much more present. First of all, the opening 15 minutes of The Hangover are surprisingly boring, not because the actors aren't trying to be funny, but because there's nothing particularly funny about the build-up.
If you've seen any of the previews for this movie before walking into the theater, you know that Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper, and Zach Galifianakis are going to get so drunk in Vegas that they forget what happened to them the night before. You know they're going to lose the groom. You know Mike Tyson, a tiger, and a loose chicken all appear. Why, then, should I care that Phil (Cooper) is such a random jerk that he steals money from the kids he teaches and apparently hates being married (a sentiment that is roundly rejected in the only scene where Phil's wife shows up). Why even show us Doug, the bland groom, a guy who's so uninteresting that he's jettisoned from the plot without being given a personality? Don't get me wrong: The Hangover is funny, as I said above. It's just not a movie that works magic the second time around.
Napoleon Dynamite
Every so often, a movie comes along and creates a phenomenon. Maybe it's just that I was surrounded by lots of impressionable (read: stupid) 14-year-olds in the summer of 2004, when Napoleon Dynamite was released (being a summer camp counselor has far fewer perks than you might think), or maybe it's just that this movie is something that should only be seen the one time. Either way, I'll admit to laughing quite a lot the first time I saw this odd tale of the saddest, most pathetic dork ever born, someone who loves tater tots a bit too much. But the amount of fervor that people had for this movie (I still have nightmares where everyone wears the "Vote For Pedro" T-shirt) was too unbalanced against the actual quality. There are still a few good laughs in Napoleon Dynamite, but this is a one-time comedy like no other.
Spaceballs
I know what you're thinking. You're probably thinking that Spaceballs, the 1986 sci-fi spoof from Mel Brooks, just isn't that funny to begin with. Sure, some of the jokes are corny...OK, all of the jokes are corny (anyone want to comb the desert?), but if you see this movie when Mel Brooks would want you to - around 12-years-old is appropriate - the movie is pretty damn funny. If, however, you see it when you're a bit older, you're going to realize that Spaceballs is such a uniquely flat movie, a comedy that works only if you're really tired or just want to shut your brain off. Yes, I'll admit to still laughing at the response from the bad guy saddled with the smallest comb of all in the desert, but the good laughs are too far from each other and too few to mention without wondering where Brooks went wrong with the rest of the movie. I mean, Prince Valium? Really, Mel?
Old School
Todd Phillips makes funny movies, so I don't want to seem like I'm bashing him in this column for any reason. He knows what's funny. He just doesn't know how to make the funny last for more than one 90-minute session. His 2003 frat-boy romp Old School remains one of the most memorable movie-going experiences of my life, as I laughed harder at Old School than I have at most comedies in the past decade. Unlike those other few films that made me laugh so hard I'd cry, Old School just doesn't stand up when you go to see it a year later.
In some ways, this is a movie that must be seen with friends, so the general mood can be boosted. Some of the great comedies work no matter what the audience is, but this story, about three friends who have wacky misadventures with co-eds, Snoop Dogg, and a tightly wound Jeremy Piven, isn't as good if you know when Frank The Tank will start streaking around town by himself. I know that Phillips probably prides himself on being the anti-Judd Apatow, but you'll notice that this list features none of the latter producer's movies, partly because they work very well on multiple viewings.
There's Something About Mary
The epitome of the gross-out comedy, the movie that made Ben Stiller a star, the movie that made Hollywood think the Farrelly Brothers could make anything funny: yes, this 1998 film is historic for a few reasons. The first time I saw There's Something About Mary, I laughed a lot. I laughed very hard. The second time I saw the movie, I reveled in the few lines I remembered well ("What about Brett Fav-ruh?"), and wondered why the movie was two hours long, with lots of random meanderings. Again, I will remember some of the great lines from this movie ("Step into my office! Because you're f---ing fired!"), but for all of its iconic imagery, There's Something About Mary is a movie in need of an editor and just a touch of reality.