Now as much as ever, Hollywood comedy is heavily preoccupied with pandering to the median. Something like Bruno is clearly designed to make the viewer feel good about their own brain power and education — each laugh is equivalent to an “I’m smart enough to behave better than that” statement, whether it’s “I’m smart enough to not hate gay people” or “I’m smart enough to not get suckered by Sacha Baron Cohen in the first place.” And nobody in the audience of a Judd Apatow film has to work very hard to get the jokes in it, although inevitably it’s suggested that most or all of the protagonists on screen weren’t gifted with the same innate intelligence. So the first thing that marks In The Loop as a break from the norm is its refusal to flatter the viewer’s intelligence; the second, is the way the film forces them to use it.
Seriously, with a title like Tropic Thunder, I wonder how many storm-related movie headlines will be out there. Stuff like “Tropic Thunder blows into town this weekend!” or “Tropic Thunder hopes for box office lightning!” Is there anywhere you can apply for a job putting really bad puns to work? If so, I want it. (Ed: Yes)
So I caught a screening of Tropic Thunder during Comic-Con, and I have mixed feelings about it. Sure, there were some pretty funny moments in it, and as expected, Robert Downey Jr. stole most of movie. Right now the guy could do a one-man show making fun of every ethnic group in the world and probably win a Tony for it. But is the over-hyped Tom Cruise role as funny as people has been saying? Find out after the jump.
Hamlet 2 is one of the funnier films you probably haven’t heard of unless you track the movie sales at Sundance. Earlier this year it almost broke the Little Miss Sunshine record of 10.5 million when it sold for 10 million to Focus Features. The New York Times says “”It made sure to take shots at Christians, gays, Latinos, Jews, the American Civil Liberties Union and Elisabeth Shue, one of its lead actresses.” In fact, the trailer says “And reintroducing Elizabeth Shue as… Elizabeth Shue.”
Since we attended their party last night, and drank copiously from their open bar, which was stocked with drinks like “Holy Water” and “Rock Me Sexy Jesus,” we thought we’d better man up on the tough “sunday morning wakeup and head to the Con through the remaining fog of Saturday night.” They showed us the trailer for the movie, and several clips, which all served to make me wish I’d seen this movie in Park City. The aforementioned drink name serves as one of the key musical numbers, and you’ll end up having “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” stuck in your head.
Director and co-writer Andrew Fleming, and writer Pam Brady joined star Steve Coogan onstage to discuss the film, which is exactly what you’d expect from Brady, who writes and produces South Park. But Fleming has directed films like Dick, Threesome, The Craft, and Nancy Drew, so he’s all over the map. According to Fleming, the original title for the film was “Mr. Holland’s Anus,” but according to Pam Brady, “That title was already being used by a Belgian porn, so there were copyright issues.”
They didn’t really have much time for a Q&A, being slotted for just 30 minutes, right before the Harold & Kumar panel. Someone asked Steve Coogan, “did you watch a lot of Jesus movies?” Steve replied, “Yes, particularly enlightening was Max Von Sydow in The Greatest Story Ever Told,” which might have actually inspired Coogan’s hair in the film. “The hair was very key,” according to Coogan.
Fleming also explained that, yes, they do make a lot of fun of Elisabeth Shue throughout the film, although most of that was her idea. For instance, when Coogan’s theater teacher character brings her to class, no one knows who she is. That was Shue’s idea. I’m actually wondering if that’s based on some of her real-life experiences. Do people still know who Elisabeth Shue is?
They showed several clips from the film, including an extended “sing along” scene of the main dance number, which you can watch in the video above. As they closed things out, Fleming thanked everyone at Comic-Con for coming to the panel, “Jesus is the original superhero, so… yeah!”
Hamlet 2 comes out in limited release on August 22nd, and goes wide on August 29th.
Several of ourfavoriteblogs have noted the passing of British music impresario Tony Wilson. Manchester tastemaker Wilson (who was played by Steve Coogan in Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People) founded Factory Records, and is generally considered at least partially responsible for launching the careers of The Fall, OMD and Joy Division (and later New Order).
Wilson is portrayed by Craig Parkinson in Anton Corbijn’s upcoming Joy Division film Control, which will screen at the Toronto Film Festival before opening in the States in October. This gives me the excuse I’ve been waiting for to make the Control trailer our Clip of the Day. It’s embedded above.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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