2008: The Year of the Comedy

Over the course of the next few months, I will probably be writing several movie-themed blogs. These blogs may or may not be movie reviews, I haven't decided yet. But being the film connoisseur that I am, there are a great deal of film related topics that I would like to touch .. the year is out. This will all culminate in my best movies of the year blog, which will probably come in January of 2009.

Having said all that, the first of those blogs is being unleashed upon your eyeballs right now. (On a side note, forgive me if this blog is poorly written. It's very late, but I want to write this before I forget to do it altogether.) Let me start by saying that I never have been, and never will be, a fan of the comedy genre. Like the horror genre, it rarely succeeds in doing what it sets out to do. Horrors rarely scare me, and comedies rarely make me laugh. So, the fact that I'm even writing this blog says a great deal about the caliber of comedies that have come out this year.

Basically, in any given year, if I see one comedy I like, it's been a good year. If I see two, it's been a great year. This year, off the top of my head, I think I saw 6 comedies I liked, 2 of which I LOVED, and there's another potential one to be added to the list that comes out at the end of the month. This fact makes 2008, hands down, the winner of the best year for comedies in my entire life.

First off, I'll talk about the movie I liked the least, Strange Wilderness. It probably wouldn't get a thumbs up from me at all if it were not for two scenes. These two scenes made me laugh harder than I've laughed at anything I've ever seen in a movie. I'm talking about stomach hurting and crying levels of laughter. I NEVER reach that level watching a movie. I only laugh that hard at something that happened or was said in real life. One of those scenes was in the commercial for the movie, and to this day I still remember when I first saw that commercial and how hard I laughed. I've NEVER laughed that hard watching a trailer. So I figured the movie would have all kinds of greatness in store for me. I guess since I set the bar so high, I was destined to be disappointed, but whatever. While I didn't laugh too much watching the movie, I was blessed with another scene that elicited almost as much laughter as the trailer scene. The fact that this movie made my list because of two scenes says a lot about those scenes. So would I recommend checking out Strange Wilderness? Well, yes and no. No, because my opinion of the movie overall isn't that high (it isn't that low either). Yes, because, well, even though my opinion isn't high, I set my bar high. It didn't quite meet my expectations, but it may meet yours. Then of course, you owe it to yourself to see these two scenes. Then again, you may not find them as funny as I did. I have a sick sense of humor. lol

While nowhere near as good as its predecesor, Harold and Kumar: Escape From Guantanomo Bay was still funny as hell. If you liked the first one, you'll like this one too. It didn't come with as many laughs as White Castle, but a funny movie is a funny movie, and this one deserves to make the list.

A movie that surprised me this year, although it probably shouldn't have, was Get Smart. Now don't get me wrong, it's not legendary status or anything. But it was funny. A more important thing, though, that I'd like to focus on is the emergence of Steve Carrell. I typically find him funny in any movie I see him in, although to be honest, he does seem to play the same character all the time. Off the top of my mind, I liked him in The 40 Yr Old Virgin (obviously, who wouldn't?), Little Miss Sunshine, Evan Almighty, and now Get Smart. I can't officially say that I've seen his TV show, The Office, but I've seen bits and pieces and I thought that was funny as well. I should probably check it out. Anyway, the point is that Steve Carrell is funny, and so are his movies.

Now it's time to talk about someone else who has essentially come from nowhere to officially OWN the comedy scene right now, Judd Apatow. Thank Science that Mr. Apatow seems to have reached a point where he can crank out at least one, maybe two, movies a year. He has given me faith in comedy. His movies are some of the funniest movies I've EVER seen. It's amazing that the next movie I'm going to talk about, while still wildly funny, is probably the LEAST of his movies that I've seen. Pineapple Express, starring Seth Rogen (who I am going to probably have to devote an entire blog to in Nov) and James Franco, is yet another comedy that received two thumbs up from me this year. The surprisingly violent ending provided few laughs, and like all of Apatow's comedies, it ran a little long. But the complaints are far fewer than the number of laughs. Unfortunately, Pineapple Express didn't hit the "I LOVE this movie" level of greatness, but fortunately for me, another Apatow comedy that came out this year did.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall was THE SHIT, point blank period. Anyone who doesn't find this movie hilarious should immediately have their head examined. The only famous Apatow flick that DOESN'T feature Seth Rogen, didn't need him. As a matter of fact, Rogen's greatness was replaced by the greatness of "newcomer," Russell Brand. Brand is apparently a big deal in the UK, and I will begin a mission shortly to find other movies of his. Brand's character of Aldous Snow wasn't just the shit, but will probably go down as one of the all-time great comedic characters. I still don't know where I would rank this movie among the Apatow comedies, but I love them all so much that it doesn't feel fair to rank one as "better" than another. However, Knocked Up is still my favorite. :) I said "It's a girl, buy some pink shit" for the next few weeks after seeing that. lol That was funny AND cold-blooded.

The final of my six awesome comedies is another one that I was surprised I liked it as much as I did. I did just like it, I LOVED Tropic Thunder. As a comedy overall, it was top-notch. As a satirical look at Hollywood, it was legendary and genius and by far the best film Ben Stiller has ever directed (though that doesn't say much). I guess if you're not as into Hollywood and movies as I am, you may may not see all the humor or find the movie as genius as I did, but this was a truly outstanding film and was funny as hell.

On October 31st, what will undoubtedly be the 7th great comedy is going to be released, Zack and Miri Make a Porno. This flick has all the ingredients necessary to make a hilarious movie. It has the best of both worlds: Kevin Smith writing and directing, and an Apatow cast. Kevin Smith wrote and directed two of my all-time favorite comedies, "Clerks" and "Dogma," and has made several other films that I enjoyed. His script and direction, with Seth Rogen and other Apatow actors in the cast, makes sure that this will be the 7th great comedy of the year. 1 week later, there's a potential 8th flick in Role Models. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, look it up. It looks like good shit and stars Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott.