I was looking through my dvds last night trying to find a movie to play and hit me how much more i like 80s comedies than the 90s. Which is odd because i would really say im a product of the 90s having only been 9 in 1990. I mean just look at some of my favs
uncle buck
Dirty rotten scoundrels
Trading places
coming to america
ghostbusters
groundhogs day
Thats just some of the ones i can think of off the top of my head. Whats everyone think? Agree disagree?
I grew up primarily in the 80s, ages 6 thru 16, so I'm probably slanted towards that decade as well. Lot's a great 80s comedies that have generally aged well.
Blues Brothers
Better Off Dead (hasn't aged as well as I would hope, but still lots of fun)
Princess Bride
Airplane!
Naked Gun
National Lampoons Vacation / Christmas Vacation (to a lesser degree, European Vacation too)
Caddyshack (altho arguably a 70s movie)
Fletch
Revenge of the Nerds (always thought this was underrated in the big picture)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
And now I'm spent with "off the top of my head" choices as well... Sure I missed some gems. Also, I'm fairly certain Groundhog's Day was a 90s movie... remember seeing it in the theater when I was in college in the early/mid 90s.
oh your right it was 93. Had a 80s vibe to me :)
Forgot about blues brothers and airplane.
Those are great.
It's tough for me to choose, very tough.
The 90s did have some great comedies though:
Bullets Over Broadway
Groundhog Day
The Hard Way
Big Lebowski
Toy Story
Clueless
Galaxy Quest
Clerks
The Wedding Singer
Maybe because we were all a little older in the 90s (excluding young pup, Starman) there's the added baggage of childhood nostalgia that comes with the 80s.
Quote from: mrbasehart on April 07, 2011, 06:16:49 PM
Maybe because we were all a little older in the 90s (excluding young pup, Starman) there's the added baggage of childhood nostalgia that comes with the 80s.
;D
I'm having a problem considering "Toy Story" as a comedy... but the rest of them are good 90s examples.. and now that I think about it....
American Pie
Ace Ventura
Dazed and Confused
What About Bob?
Happy Gilmore
Tommy Boy
Wayne's World
Office Space
Austin Powers
Maybe it's a wash?
Quote from: Nunyerbiz on April 07, 2011, 06:26:02 PM
I'm having a problem considering "Toy Story" as a comedy... but the rest of them are good 90s examples.. and now that I think about it....
How is Toy Story not a comedy?
When i look at the two lists i cant but help feel that on the whole 80s movies were smarter. So i guess i just prefer them.
Quote from: mrbasehart on April 07, 2011, 06:27:35 PM
Quote from: Nunyerbiz on April 07, 2011, 06:26:02 PM
I'm having a problem considering "Toy Story" as a comedy... but the rest of them are good 90s examples.. and now that I think about it....
How is Toy Story not a comedy?
Toy Story is no more a comedy then Lady and The Tramp is a comedy. There is some line between comedy and children's fare I would think.
Its a pretty fuzzy line i would assume.
Quote from: Nunyerbiz on April 07, 2011, 06:34:02 PM
Quote from: mrbasehart on April 07, 2011, 06:27:35 PM
Quote from: Nunyerbiz on April 07, 2011, 06:26:02 PM
I'm having a problem considering "Toy Story" as a comedy... but the rest of them are good 90s examples.. and now that I think about it....
How is Toy Story not a comedy?
Toy Story is no more a comedy then Lady and The Tramp is a comedy. There is some line between comedy and children's fare I would think.
The only thing that defines a comedy is that it sets out to make an audience laugh intentionally. Lady in the Tramp is a love story, while Toy Story is a buddy-comedy.
Quote from: mrbasehart on April 07, 2011, 06:38:57 PM
Quote from: Nunyerbiz on April 07, 2011, 06:34:02 PM
Quote from: mrbasehart on April 07, 2011, 06:27:35 PM
Quote from: Nunyerbiz on April 07, 2011, 06:26:02 PM
I'm having a problem considering "Toy Story" as a comedy... but the rest of them are good 90s examples.. and now that I think about it....
How is Toy Story not a comedy?
Toy Story is no more a comedy then Lady and The Tramp is a comedy. There is some line between comedy and children's fare I would think.
The only thing that defines a comedy is that it sets out to make an audience laugh intentionally. Lady in the Tramp is a love story, while Toy Story is a buddy-comedy.
Well, that is an awfully broad definition... but fair enough... Lady and the Tramp never set out to make anybody laugh intentionally.
Quoteeally? Revenge of the Nerds and Airplane were smarter than The Big Lebowski and Groundhog Day?
could comparison and what about trading places versus dumb and dumber? or Uncle buck versus american pie? dirty rotten scoundrels versus ace ventura?
That sort of thing is all preference and how put the comparison.
Quote from: sarcasm_made_Easy on April 07, 2011, 06:59:50 PM
Quoteeally? Revenge of the Nerds and Airplane were smarter than The Big Lebowski and Groundhog Day?
could comparison and what about trading places versus dumb and dumber? or Uncle buck versus american pie? dirty rotten scoundrels versus ace ventura?
That sort of thing is all preference and how put the comparison.
This is all because of that damn "Owner of a Lonely Heart" song again, isn't it?!
No more of a good and beautiful thing :)
Quote from: Imrahil on April 07, 2011, 06:38:35 PM
Quote from: sarcasm_made_Easy on April 07, 2011, 06:31:21 PM
When i look at the two lists i cant but help feel that on the whole 80s movies were smarter. So i guess i just prefer them.
Really? Revenge of the Nerds and Airplane were smarter than The Big Lebowski and Groundhog Day?
I mean, I like 80s comedies, but one thing they weren't was smart.
What? This Is Spinal Tap. A Fish Called Wanda. Monty Python's Meaning of Life. The Blues Brothers. Ruthless People. Time Bandits. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. National Lampoon's Vacation. Ferris Bueller. Yeah, you can point to smart comedies in the 90s, and you can point to dumb comedies but comparing Cheech and Chong's Next Movie to The Big Lebowski is just as invalid as comparing Brazil to 3 Ninjas Kick Back.
Quote from: Imrahil on April 07, 2011, 08:37:48 PM
Well, how smart is Vacation or Ferris Bueller? I think you're right on a lot of those, but...no on John Hughes. His movies can be really funny, but they're not particularly smart.
Out of curiousity, can you name a few "smart" comedies for reference?
I totally fail to see how trading spaces isnt smart.
QuoteThe Big Lebowski is smart because it references lots of events obliquely and the plot isn't that straightforward. It's also a re-telling of Chandler's "The Big Sleep." The jokes are often ironic and depend upon the audience getting things that aren't spelled out for them right there. A bunch of the ones you named are the same, I'd say--Spinal Tap, Time Bandits.
Im not saying you said so, but you dont need those things to be smart.
QuoteThe jokes are all obvious and don't require any deeper thought than what you see on the screen. The setup and payoff are all right there
i dont see how. Yeah a lot of the jokes would be what i would call "traditional" but they are not unfunny because of that. Further the plot isnt the only thing going on. Nature vs nuture is obvious (obviously) but despite that the movie is a dialog on that which is more than i could say for a lot of movies.
QuoteIf it requires the audience to fill in the missing pieces of the joke for it to be funny, then it's inherently a smarter piece.
I dunno about that. I think that really comes down to preference. For example dirty rotten scoundrels which you mention as being magnicent, totally fits your description of trading spaces IE;
Quotehe jokes are all obvious and don't require any deeper thought than what you see on the screen. The setup and payoff are all right there.
Fair enough.
I think that it's pretty easy to see that the 80s and 90s both had great comedies. Now what about the decade just gone? Does that hold up to the previous two?
My favorite comedy of the 2000s was stranger than fiction.
QuoteWow, we like the same thing. Weird. I like it a lot, but I like Anchorman better
We are posting on a rifftrax forum. Unless your here ironically, we are gonna like/agree about a lot of things.