Musical Mondays Week 42 Blues Brothers

[Cameron H. 23786]

Comedy, like Cameron said, is such a tight tight rope to walk. I don't think a bad joke will ruin a good movie, but it's all in the structure.

 

Just to clarify, I don’t mean a poorly written joke. I mean like a racist or misogynistic joke. I’ve watched movies that I was enjoying that made a joke not to my taste and it turned me off on the whole thing. While I don’t feel like anything should be off limits, I believe there are certain subjects that you need to be very careful about.

 

Also, regarding Wonder Woman, I hated all the Steve Trevor stuff. I hated that he essentially became the hero in *her* movie. We finally get a good superhero movie staring a female character and it somehow became about him. You would never see that shit in a superhero movie staring a male character. It would be like swapping Peggy and Cap at the end of the first Captain America.

 

It also doesn’t help that we come to find out that she’s been moping about him for 100 years and basically turned her back on everything.

 

It’s been awhile so I don’t remember the character’s name, but I really wanted the other woman in it to be more significant. Like, I hoped she would get inspired by WW to stand up for herself. There was a moment when Ares was trying to get the sword from her, and I really thought she was going to fight him, but no.

 

Don’t get me wrong, the beginning of WW is amazing, but overall, I think she deserved better. I hope the sequel will fix my issues. Then again, fucking Steve Trevor will be back, so who knows?

[EvRobert 1684]

OH you are totally spot on about a *BAD* joke in terms of racism, misogyny, et al will ruin a complete show or movie

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

More comedy theorizing: I think EvRobert and grudlian are Smart Cookies and have a lot of interesting things to say, and Cameron H. is correct in that one bad gag can ruin a comedy. There is so much about tone that makes a viewer comfortable enough to even laugh at anything, so if you ruin that, if you break the mood, it takes quite an effort to walk that back.

 

As far as improv from the UCB, Wain/Showalter, and Apatow crews in film, or any studio comedy, it can be a double-edge sword. A lot of these films are very plot driven (Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin, the previously-mentioned Blockers). So the looseness in those films is very different from the looseness in something like Blues Brothers or Ghostbusters. The characters are much less defined because of the improv, as the jokes become more paramount to the characters and because the plot is so important, the characters are somewhat subsumed as well. Wayne's World is almost 100% its characters because, while it does have a plot of sorts, it literally throws its own ending away and comes up with fake ones because it's funny to watch those characters riff on cliche endings. But that kind of "riffing" is the opposite of improv riffing because that type of gag had to be planned out in the screenwriting stage.

 

I'm not going to say that one approach is better than the other, but my favorite comedies of all time would probably be those with the most memorable characters (Young Frankenstein, Ghostbusters, Wayne's World, anything Muppets). Hell, my favorite recent run of comedies have been films like Goon, Superbad, Pineapple Express, or 40 Year Old Virgin because they were more about character relationships and how those characters interacted. Seth Rogen has such a persona, and more power to him because he is funny and smart and likable, so his roles become another Seth Rogen role rather than a character. I mean, is he playing Seth Rogen any differently in This is the End than his role in Knocked Up? But since something like Pineapple Express has such distinct characters (and is an action comedy), it is just more memorable to me. I know This is the End is just as fantastical and high-concept as anything, and while I do like it, I would still put it below the other films I mentioned. On the other hand, a high-concept comedy like Ghostbusters is, in my opinion, about as perfect as a movie can get because the alchemy of character, crazy-vision, and direction all sync beautifully. It also helps that I am a horror fan, so a comedy with ghosts is always going to tickle me.

 

AND SPEAKING OF SUPERNATURAL COMEDIES, What We Do in the Shadows is also perfect and is almost entirely improv and has such distinct characters and is throwing MY WHOLE THING out of whack. Damn you New Zealand! The Big Sick is another unique case because so much of it is the characters waiting for one of the protagonists to not be in a coma, those characters better damn well be strong and memorable, even if Kumail is essentially playing himself. I love that film too.

[EvRobert 1684]

Funny you mention the State/Stella/Wain-Showalter-Black crew because I think Wet Hot American Summer is damn near perfect. I'm not sure how much of that was improv and how much was scripted but it goes back to that same theory, it is all about the characters. Same with the afore mentioned 40-Year Old Virgin or even something like Bridesmaids (that didn't work for me as well in the 2016 Ghostbusters, outside of Kate McKinnon.) or Anchorman or Talledega Nights. Not just the leads, but the supporting characters. The world feels complete and fleshed out.

 

I wonder if the reason Blues Brothers or Waynes World worked was because the leads had worked on and devolped and matured those characters on SNL prior to writing the script that some of the more modern improv comedies don't have the luxury of doing.

 

But then again, the string of modern comedies I liked, didn't have that luxury. Maybe it's because they came from a place of...familiarity and then heightened for comedic purposes.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Funny you mention the State/Stella/Wain-Showalter-Black crew because I think Wet Hot American Summer is damn near perfect. I'm not sure how much of that was improv and how much was scripted but it goes back to that same theory, it is all about the characters. Same with the afore mentioned 40-Year Old Virgin or even something like Bridesmaids (that didn't work for me as well in the 2016 Ghostbusters, outside of Kate McKinnon.) or Anchorman or Talledega Nights. Not just the leads, but the supporting characters. The world feels complete and fleshed out.

 

I totally agree with you on Wet Hot American Summer, and I think that is another very unique case because it is such a huge ensemble cast, necessitating a very bare-bones plot (one parodying movies like Meatballs), and is in general so absurdist. I get the impression that there was a lot of improv on the set, but there was also some very distinct, well-defined characters (even if those characters were modeled after recognizable archetypes), combined with some very prominent brilliant bits of writing. It's a very unique combination, and while I wasn't a fan of the Netflix reboot, I do think it's also a pretty perfect comedy.

 

I wonder if the reason Blues Brothers or Waynes World worked was because the leads had worked on and devolped and matured those characters on SNL prior to writing the script that some of the more modern improv comedies don't have the luxury of doing.

 

But then again, the string of modern comedies I liked, didn't have that luxury. Maybe it's because they came from a place of...familiarity and then heightened for comedic purposes.

I was wondering that as well, but at the same time, so many other sketch comedy-derived movies just don't work. I wonder what it is about Blues Brothers and Wayne's World that make them hit with audiences so spectacualarly, but movies from Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy to Night at the Roxbury to MacGruber don't hit. I know all those films have their audiences, but nowhere near the size of Blues Brothers or Wayne's World. All those films have astonishing levels of talent, both in front of the camera and behind, so it befuddles me why some of them work while most do not, as much as I might want them to. Maybe they use those pre-existing characters as a crutch rather than a framework to build something larger out of?

[SaraK 1980]

I was traveling all week but I wanted to throw in my two cents for this movie. I don’t know if I had too high of expectations or if watching after a lot of travel was a weird headspace, but I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. I enjoyed the music and sight gags. I’m normally into the absurd but I had a hard time paying attention to all the tangents.

 

I will say Elwood’s apartment reminded me of a friend’s studio that was slightly bigger but just as close to the El tracks. Man that place was loud.

[Cam Bert 8145]

I apologize for being busy last week and not getting really to participate in the discussion. I like Blues Brothers a lot but for me it's always been more of a mood movie than a comedy. Sure there are funny bits that make me laugh like the reveal of the band in the sauna but I for one was never a fan of John Belushi so when he's doing his schtick I'm not interested. To me what I enjoy about the movie is it's overall mode and tone. I have fun when I watch it. It has some great music and the car chases are fun. It is a good thing to have on in the background when working or doing something type movie.

[Cameron H. 23786]

Thanks, Quasar for picking this. I really did like it a lot, I just didn’t have much to say about. I’m glad I finally got the chance to watch it from beginning to end, though.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Thanks for watching this with me, everyone! However, I am sorry you all didn't love it as much as CakeBug and I do.

[SaraK 1980]

Thanks for watching this with me, everyone! However, I am sorry you all didn't love it as much as CakeBug and I do.

 

I think I would like it more on a second viewing tbh. I feel like I was constantly confused, but now that I know the whole plot, I can focus on the jokes and the music instead of trying to figure out why Carrie Fisher is trying to kill them.

 

This makes me real nervous for Blues Brother 2k whenever that comes up though.

[grudlian. 4725]

This makes me real nervous for Blues Brother 2k whenever that comes up though.

The good news is it has pretty much the exact same plot. The bad news is there are no jokes to really focus on.

[EvRobert 1684]

Thanks for watching this with me, everyone! However, I am sorry you all didn't love it as much as CakeBug and I do. :(/>

 

And Me!

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Of course! And EvRobert! Cheers to you and your suburb cinematic taste!