Worst comedies you've ever seen?

[Principal_Skin-trade]

Speaking of... does anybody honestly think Jack Black is really that funny?

NONONONONONONO   

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! 

[MontyServo]

    Adam Sandler is another of the love-him-or-hate-him types, but the new king of pain might be Dane Cook.

I actually like Adam Sandler movies.  Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore and The Waterboy are all favs of mine.  I know that some people don't care for them, but I've always gotten a chuckle from them.

Dane Cook, I don't get his popularity.  I gave his HBO special a shot since he seems to be the hot young comic, but I can't say I laughed once.  Give me Jim Gaffigan any day over Dane Cook.  (hot pockets!)

As far as unfunny movies go, the worst comedy I've seen in recent years is My Super Ex Girlfriend.  Which is really sad since it wastes some funny comic talents.

I used to think that The King Of Comedy was a bad comedy, but after seeing it again years later as an adult, I enjoyed it much much more.

Senseless (with Marlon Wayans and David Spade) is the only comedy I've ever walked out of at the movies.  I don't know what made me go see that in the theaters, but then again I also saw Bio-Dome in the theaters.   

Dracula Dead And Loving It by Mel Brooks was also painful to watch.    I'm sure I could think of more eventually.

[Hebs]

Give me Jim Gaffigan any day over Dane Cook.  (hot pockets!)

Dracula Dead And Loving It by Mel Brooks was also painful to watch.    I'm sure I could think of more eventually.

Yes!  the Gaff is great, I like his comedy a lot.  Has anyone seen "Love Stinks" by Brooks?  That was a real bomb in my book - it was so unfunny I couldn't finish it.

[eclipt1c]

White Chicks andUndercover Brother.  The trailers are painful enough that I almost positive you would die if you watched the whole thing.

[Chaos]

I'm sure I could think of more eventually.

Yes, another and another until you come to your senses.

Seriously though, you're right, that movie was awful. But I always loved that line. It was one of our group's go-to random, pointless phrases for awhile (we probably had hundreds of them at one time or another).

[Johnny Unusual]

I used to think that The King Of Comedy was a bad comedy, but after seeing it again years later as an adult, I enjoyed it much much more.

I actually don't see the King of Comedy as a comedy, but rather as a dark satire.  It doesn't make me laugh, but at times it does make me smile a wicked smile.  I feel that it is one of Martin Scorsese's more underrated films (though I must admit, I've only seen a few of his works) and one of DeNiro's more underrated performances.

[Junkyard]

Here's an odd one: "I'm Not Rappaport."
I saw it in the video store some years back under the "comedy" heading, but it was in fact the most depressing film I've ever seen. It was pretty well done as a movie, but it was not a comedy. It was an anti-comedy.

[Johnny Unusual]

Yeah, I'm not very happy when movies and books are mislabeled in terms of genre.  The Dead Zone is not a horror book.  It's a drama and a thriller but not horror.

[Junkyard]

And it's a GOOD THRILLER! But it's a CRAPPY HORROR.

[Raven]

I agree with Napolean Dynamite.  But to me the far worse comedy is "Dude, Where's My Car?"

[Principal_Skin-trade]

I agree with Napolean Dynamite.  But to me the far worse comedy is "Dude, Where's My Car?"

I can't believe nobody has mentioned any of the countless hundreds of Police Academy sequels! 

[Nunyerbiz]

I actually liked "Dude, Where's my Car?"... it's not a great movie by any means, but when you go out of your way to make a stupid comedy and then get ridiculed for being, well, stupid... I think alot of people missed the point. Granted, it's almost too aware of it's own stupidity at times... but for the most part, I enjoyed it for what it was.... and I think Kelso and Stifler have a knack for playing, well, Kelso and Stifler.

As far as Napoleon Dynamite.... I think it's a great movie, if a bit overrated. It's definitely not a laugh out loud type of comedy... but it has a certain sneaky charm that takes a few viewings to appreciate. I wasn't all that impressed by it on my first viewing, but I think it was just a victim of it's own hype. If you go into after hearing "OMG! This is sooo funny" from everyone, it's bound to underwhelm.

My least favorite comedy... Saving Silverman. The only legit lauhgs in the entire thing were shown in the two minute trailer. It also features Jack Black, who seems to not be very well liked around here. I don't think he's the reason why this movie sucks... but Black (along with an embarrassed Steve Zahn) turns in one of the worst pratfalling routines in modern cinema. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a good old fashioned pratfall routine... this just isn't it. Strikingly unfunny movie.

[BBQ Platypus]

I have a feeling that some people might disagree with me here, but Car Wash is easily the worst "comedy" I've ever seen.

I (or, more accurately, my family) rented this movie shortly after watching Silver Streak, under the false assumption that, since Richard Pryor was in it, it had to be funny.  To our great horror, we found out as the movie unfolded that, not only was Richard Pryor barely in it at all, it WASN'T FUNNY IN THE SLIGHTEST.  (And the attempts at social commentary didn't work too well, either.  After I watched it, I felt bad for Pryor and, to an even greater extent, George Carlin (who is used in a weak attempt at a running gag that gets even weaker with each repetition).

How did this movie suck?  Let me count the ways:

1.  The two most talented comedians on the planet receive barely any screen time.  This isn't my main beef with the film by any means, and I'm not sure if it would've helped to see more of them, but the fact that they're on-screen for a combined total of about six of this movie's 97 excruciating minutes certainly doesn't help.

2.  Four words: written by Joel Schumacher.  Schumacher's other screenwriting credits include such ripened turds as D.C. Cab and The Wiz (although I've been told that there are some people who actually like the latter).  And, lest we forget, this is the same Joel Schumacher who directed The Incredible Shrinking Woman and Batman and Robin.  It's pretty clear that Schumacher's sense of "humor" is about as sharp as a worn-out plastic spork.  He uses his utter lack of talent to devastating effect here, churning out a pointless, unfunny, meandering script, complete with a weak attempt to tie it all together at the end.

3.  Speaking of repeat offenders, let's take a look at the director, Michael Schultz, whose other "achievements" include Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Jerk, Too.  Of course, I don't blame him too much for this movie's many problems - as an African-American, he does offer at least some semblance of a black perspective to this movie.  However, the lightweight, rudimentary Schumacher script absolutely screamed for a whole buttload of improvisation.  Given the canned nature of most of the dialogue, he either allowed too much of it or not enough.  Although I was ale to detect a few indicators that suggested a small degree of improvisation was present, I'd still bet on the latter, since the majority of the "jokes" directly relate to the underlying social messages.  The end result is an utter loss of a real African-American perspective, causing the movie to reveal itself for what it truly is: a movie about black people written by a no-talent honky.

4.  "Have any of you seen a tall, blonde black chick?"  This is the recurring "joke" I mentioned earlier involving George Carlin's character.  He's a taxi driver oblivious to the fact that his last passenger, who left the cab without paying, was actually a hooker wearing a blonde wig.  It's kinda funny the first time you hear it - rating about the level of a quiet chuckle or two.  As the movie progresses, however, they decide to repeat this gag ad nauseum WITH ABSOLUTELY NO VARIATION, to the point where I started to consider clawing out each and every one of my sensory organs (including my nose and skin) just so I wouldn't have to see, hear, touch, or smell that bit again.  All steady, reliable notions of how the world works are shattered as, for the first time in history, George Carlin actually seems annoying rather than funny.

5.  The Car Wash three-step formula for total hilarity:
  Step 1:  Point out a weighty social issue that somehow relates to black people and/or the working class in the most obvious way possible.
  Step 2:  Have the characters talk about it in a straight-faced, academic way.
  Step 3:  Follow up with an obvious punchline that any moron can see coming from a mile away.

Just in case you think I'm exaggerating, here's the quintessential example, a supposedly heated exchange between a black Muslim and a transvestite:

[Duane has just thrown Irwin's book into a bucket of water]
Lindy: I'm so tired of you running off at your mouth it's getting me down honey. Why don't you just leave? And be an assassin? Or is the only thing you're good at shooting off is your big mouth?
Duane: Will you please get out of my face you sorry looking faggot.
Lindy: Who you calling sorry looking?
[Everybody laughs]
Duane: Can't ya'll see she aint funny?
[Laughter stops]
Duane: She's just another poor example of how the system is destroying our men.
Lindy: Honey, I'm more man than you'll ever be and more woman than you'll ever get.
(Note: The emphasis is mine.  Duh.)

Oh, yeah!  Way to respond to a vague, awkwardly-crafted revelation of hidden bigotry with a stereotypical sassy comeback!  You go, um...girl! 

Honestly, I don't even think this is even provocative by 1976 standards, especially when you consider the fact that Rocky Horror came out in 1975.  Even if it were, it's decidedly dated now, which is most certainly not the case for the innumerable other, better comedies of the period.

Schumacher and Schultz elect to take the same "bland, inoffensive sitcom" approach to humor and storytelling for literally the entire movie, as if they were afraid the message would float over the audience's heads if it weren't repeatedly drilled into them.  They even tie the film together with a schmaltzy, reconciliatory scene at the end, a la "A Very Special Blossom" (or perhaps "G.I. Joe").

And oh, how deep and endearing these messages are!  For example, did you know that a small but sizable number Muslims (including black ones) exhibit radical, and sometimes violent behavior?  And have you considered that a full-out race war initiated with the intent to install blacks as the master race while whites serve as their de facto slaves might be a little misguided?  And this is but a mere fraction of the insight that this movie provides!  Hilariously, it appears that interactions between white people and black people are often awkward and uncomfortable, the kind of car a person drives is a good indicator of his class status (but not his character), some Communists are upper-class intellectuals with no real idea of the plight of the working class, and - most shockingly of all - some religious leaders may have strong financial motivations (and this is bad).  Also, when a nerdy kid creates his own superhero, names it "The Fly," and pretends to be this superhero by raising two fingers to the side of his head and saying "Bzzz!" a lot, it is hysterically funny, and not at all stupid or irritating.

This combination of shocking, provocative commentary builds up to provide us with the most obvious and overt message contained in this waste of celluloid:  that Joel Schumacher believes the average moviegoer to have an IQ of about 50.  In a close second is the viewpoint of the undoubtedly white producers and distributors:  "Gee, this movie sure does suck!  No need to worry, though - our target audience consists mainly of black people, and black people are stupid!  Why, all we have to do is insert a funky, upbeat soundtrack and all the happy, nappy negroes will see this movie and sing and dance!  Hurray for dancing Negroes!"

6.  I've just realized that my rabid, overlong, ranting review of this film is funnier than the movie itself.


In conclusion, I blame whitey for this movie, and every stupid movie like it.  In fact, this movie completely justifies the notion that we should "kill whitey."  Indeed, I will gladly volunteer my pasty-ass carcass if it means that movies like Car Wash will no longer be made.

[jedi2187]

Two really horrendous flicks come to mind:

Fatal Instincts

-&-

Totally Awesome

[Nunyerbiz]

Totally Awesome was pretty horrendous... but it avoids "Worst ever" status due to a pretty hilarious turn from Tracy Morgan. I've never been a big fan of his work from SNL... but he dropped a number of genuinely funny lines in a movie that was otherwise a trainwreck even by "made for basic cable" standards.

"Have you ever broken a Puerto Rican's arm for sweatpants money?"

That's comedy gold right there....