List of Crap #110: Top 50 Comedy Films Countdown 2: The Legend of Curly's Gold

[Johnny Unusual]

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/7iNveNEnv3s" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/7iNveNEnv3s</a>
And here we are.  The lists are compiled, the tabulations are done and now we can look at what makes us laugh.  And it is a very varied list, as you might imagine from the unique tastes of our forum members.  I want to start off by saying thank you for participating and a big thank you to Retro Puppet Master for doing the math and saving me a lot of time.  It's a hard job, especially for someone like me who doesn't use Excel.

So up front, I know that some choices might put some other forum members off.  I don't mind mild criticisim but be nice.  Like "I don't care for  ____ because..." isn't too bad, but "Ugh, really, you guys picked THAT?" is unnecessarily jerky.  We are here more for the celebration of comedies rather than here to pick on people's choice.  There are going to be three choices a day, so there's a good chance you can focus on what you like than get irked about, say, a dumb silly comedy overcoming a pedigree classic.

But it is understandable.  More than any other genre, comedy you don't like can be frustrating or even angering to watch.  It's a medium directly tied to an emotion rather than a theme and these things can strike us strongly in different ways.  Plus, we also might have very different rubricks for these things.  There are a lot of comedies that I love but didn't make my list because... well, they don't make me laugh.  Sometimes I still love them because they are clever, fun, very well-written but the comedy aspect of said comedy is merely enjoyable.  Of course, I don't know how consistent I was in that regard.  I just followed my gut.  Not always a good idea in the world when you can actually think about things, but when talking about comedy, it's hard to deny what an important say it gets.

So sit back, relax and enjoy as we look at the top 50 (or 51 comedies) as voted by you!

[Pastor of Muppets]

I am unusually excited for this countdown despite the fact that I already know the entire list.

I don't really use the math functions in Excel.  I still actually score things with the Windows calculator.  I primarily use it for layout.  It is also very useful to be able to sort the columns by name, number of lists, and later by score.

There were a lot of repeats.  So as a result, an item had to be on at least 2 lists to make the cutoff.  Normally you can look forward to your #1 making the list, but this time that doesn't happen unless someone else also chose that.

[PsychoGoatee]

It has begun!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U_OkCsexjw

[Pak-Man]

There were a lot of repeats.  So as a result, an item had to be on at least 2 lists to make the cutoff.  Normally you can look forward to your #1 making the list, but this time that doesn't happen unless someone else also chose that.

Doesn't look good for Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2...

[Pastor of Muppets]

There were a lot of repeats.  So as a result, an item had to be on at least 2 lists to make the cutoff.  Normally you can look forward to your #1 making the list, but this time that doesn't happen unless someone else also chose that.

Doesn't look good for Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2...

Not to spoil anything, but that DID get 384 points.

[Johnny Unusual]

Looks like the cows have come home to roost.
#50
The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear



25 Points, 2 of 16 Lists, Top vote: #12 Linszoid

Lt. Frank Drebin finds himself investigating an explosion that his ex-girlfriend witnessed.  Soon, he discovered that the target might be Dr. Meinheimer, an energy specialist who intends to endorse renewable energy in an upcoming National Press Club dinner.  Sure enough, he's being targetted by the leaders of fossil fuel and nuclear power industries, who are afraid that his speech might damage their business.  Now Drebin must uncover the conspiracy with the help of Police Squad, while wrestling with his conflicting feelings with his old flame.

It's funny, I remember this film a lot more than I remember the first movie.  I think I watched it quite a few times, and it definitely made me laugh a lot.  I think this is sort of the end of the "Leslie Neilson" being in watchable films era.

Notable scene

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/4p8_pqlJxmk" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/4p8_pqlJxmk</a>

If you liked this, check out... 21 Jump Street

There are a lot of great cop comedies out there, but 21 Jump Street is particularly delightful.  While there have been many TV shows remade as comedy films, this one works thanks to strong lead characters and, of course, being very, very funny.  This is thanks in large part to writers/directors Lord and Miller, who are excellent humorists who know how to inject a lot of pathos into their very, very silly films.  Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum also prove their comedy chops.  I seriously now can only think of Tatum as a comedy actor.

Trivia The pictures displayed in the Loser's Bar include: the Hindenburg, the R.M.S. Lusitania sinking, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the Edsel, the DeLorean DMC-12, the Hubble Space Telescope (considered a failure at the time), Neville Chamberlain, and Michael Dukakis.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I loved the series Police Squad, but the movies fell kind of flat for me, I guess I prefer that type of comedy in half hour segments.

[Darth Geek]

It has begun!!!
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/2U_OkCsexjw" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/2U_OkCsexjw</a>

Fixed

[Russoguru]

Naked Gun 2 1/2 was pretty funny, but it didn't make my list. 

[Johnny Unusual]

American planes will always be superior as long as there are wonderful men like you in the cockpit. And German parts.
#49
Hot Shots!



25 Points, 4 of 16 Lists, Top vote: #18 Linszoid, Retro Muppet Pastor and Russoguru

Topper Harley is an ace pilot who has problems.  He has father issues and is also in competition with the man who's father was inadvertantly killed by his own father.  But he's one of the best and will be needed for Operation: Sleepy Weasel.  What he doesn't realize is the fact that he's a pawn in a scheme to replace current army planes with new, high-tech ones, a plan that can only succeed if Sleepy Weasel fails.  Now Topper needs to prove that he's a real... Hot Shot!  LIKE THE TITLE!

The late 80's and early 90's was the heyday for the ZAZ crew.  Seems like they were doing a lot of work at the time.  This one has a pretty good cast, too, with Lloyd Bridges doing great work and noted asshole Charlie Sheen bringing the right amount of straght-facedness to a very silly film.

Notable scene

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/zgYGbR8f1PA" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/zgYGbR8f1PA</a>

If you liked this, check out... Top Secret

An earlier ZAZ film, this one is a delightfully bizarre mix of World War II adventure and Elvis movies.  This one has some of the neatest visual gags of the ZAZ films, in my opinion.  Also by combining genres, it gives the parody genre a fresh, unique tone that works.

Trivia Valeria Golino claims the scene in which she catches an olive popped out of her bellybutton was accomplished without trick photography.

[RVR II]

Never seen Hot Shots before so I've added it to my Netflix DVD queue (as well as Part Deux)

[PsychoGoatee]

I dig Hot Shots, great movie. That joke where they cut to some random guy in a hat and coat if I recall flying one of the planes, that's great. Always funny to have some random unexplained character like that.

And Frank Drebin is a cool dude, the first movie holds up as well as Police Squad for me.

[Edward J Grug III]

My wife loves the Naked Gun/Hot Shots etc style of movie, but I just don't get into them like I used to. I do look forward to watching them with my kid when he's older though.

[Johnny Unusual]

Now, bear in mind, none of us has been in New York before. There are the Broadway shows - we'll have to find out how to get tickets. There's also a lot of street crime, but I believe we can watch that for free.
#48
Gremlins 2: The New Batch



26 Points, 2 of 16 Lists, Top vote: #5 Pak-Man

After his keeper and beloved stereotype dies, Gizmo the Mogwai finds himself kidnapped by scientists working for the Clamp Corporation, an ultra-modern building created by the super-rich Daniel Clamp.  Soon, Gizmo is discovered by his old keeper Billy Peltzer, who is now working for Clamp.  However, Gizmo gets wet and creates more mogwai and as you might expect, they turn into gremlins and now the Clamp building is full is gremlins.  Now the only chance New York City has is to destroy all the gremlins before sundown.

There are some sequels better than the original.  It's more common now, but it's particularly hard to achieve with comedies.  After all, humour often comes from the unexpected, but a lot of people just want to see more of the same (it's why the Austin Powers movies have such diminishing returns).  Joe Dante, however, after being hounded for another Gremlins movie decides to tone down the horror and up the comedy in a major way.  While the original was a monster movie, the sequel is a live action Looney Tunes with monsters.  It's no coincidence that the film starts off with a Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck short, because that is the tone of the movie.  And it completely works.  I actually watched this again a few years ago and was surprised how well it holds up.  I was expecting more dated humour and there is a bit, but mostly it's an excerise in silliness and being balls out crazy.

Notable scene

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/FgNp8th0huw" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/FgNp8th0huw</a>

If you liked this, check out... Evil Dead 2

Another great comedy that ups the comedy to madcap lunacy, Evil Dead 2 is a delight.  In fact, I just realized it might be the perfect double bill with Gremlins 2.  While far less kid friendly, it is a film that turns gore into slapstick props.  If Gremlins 2 is Looney Tunes, Evil Dead 2 is a disgustingly hilarious three Stooges with monsters, madness and a haunted house.

Trivia The uplifting end of the world video scene was included by the filmmakers when they found out that one of the news networks actually had such a video prepared to run in case of the end of the world. CNN has a video for this purpose in its archive, and its staff are instructed to "hold the video for release until the end of the world is confirmed."

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/qzhPzHhnFl0" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/qzhPzHhnFl0</a>

[Johnny Unusual]

Note to Retro: this is not an error.  On the list, you ranked three movies that were 26 points with two votes in the reverse order.  This means 48 and 46 switched places.  Meanwhile, #47 stays as is.