Featuring Andrea and Steve Martin. Comic geniuses. If the scene in which Steve Martin as Inspector Clousseau attempts to learn English pronunciation (bottom) bears more than a passing resemblance to the SCTV “English for Beginners” sketch with Andrea Martin as Pirini Scleroso (top), don’t look at it as a rip-off.  Consider it an homage.  You might even ... read more »

When asked about the John Hughes films in a recent NY Times interview, John Cusack played the highbrow card. Besides Sixteen Candles, in which he had a minor role, Cusack said that he “never saw the other [Hughes films]. I didn’t understand them. I kept hearing a really hip 40-year-old person talking in teenagers’ mouths.” ... read more »

I recently screened Judd Apatow’s Funny People (the latest in a long list of theatrical releases that the blogosphere has loved to “ehhh” about) with a group of friends, and quite notably after having had the beneficial pleasure of Joe Aisenberg’s Bromance piece for Bright Lights. I came out of the movie not entirely satisfied ... read more »

Post-modern sketch comedy is, by nature, repellent. This is by no means a new phenomenon: Monty Python had cops projectile-vomiting into their caps over crunchy frog when most of today’s comedians were in diapers (if that). Still, there was always the feeling that Python posed a challenge that was decidedly comedic: if you can laugh ... read more »

2008, the year of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, has also been the year of the comic actress in television and film. It’s not that comic actresses haven’t always been around, but I cannot think of another year in which so many comediennes were so prominently leading the comedy pack. Television has brought us Tina ... read more »

This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post re Anna Faris in Smiley Face and The House Bunny. Note that in the Lost in Translation clip Scarlett Johansson is playing Sofia Coppola, Giovanni Ribisi is playing Spike Jonze (Coppola’s ex), and Faris is playing Cameron Diaz whom Jonze directed in Being John Malkovich. In the Scary ... read more »

 Anna Faris in Smiley Face (above) and The House Bunny (below). I first noticed Anna Faris in the Scary Movie franchise in which she parodied, among other things, Neve Campbell’s role in Scream. Following that, Faris provided expert comic relief playing supporting roles in two of the most prestigious productions of the last decade, Sofia ... read more »

Sometimes it seems like the question frequently posed by the media, “Who is more electable, Hillary or Obama?” is simply code for asking, “Is America more sexist, or more racist?” This weekend we may have a chance to find out. Two comedies are opening – one, Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, starring two ... read more »