Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Hail the Conquering Hero is a beloved, WWII era Preston Sturges comedy. It's about a dude who is discharged from the Marines for his hayfever, and is too embarrassed to tell his mom back home. So he lies to her and tells her he's overseas, until he runs into a group of real Marines, who decide (against his wishes) to stage a fake homecoming for him where they pretend he's a war hero. The town's outpouring of affection towards him reaches such a fever pitch that they eventually nominate him for mayor.
This is a good idea for a comedy/satire, and I think I enjoyed it, but it suffers the same problem for me that a lot of old comedies do... it didn't make me laugh enough. There is some kind of cultural-generational gap with comedies where it just doesn't tickle us young people's funny bones like it did to the old timers.
Yeah, there are some movies or filmmakers that are just timelessly funny, but this is the second Preston Sturges film I've seen, and I don't think he quite transcends generations. I think you know the feeling... there are a lot of jokes that you recognize as being funny or clever, but you don't actually find yourself laughing at them. You appreciate it, maybe, but you don't respond enough.
It's enjoyable though, and damn sure is charming. And it might play better if I watched it with others instrad of by myself. Still, it might be best limit the number of pre-late 1960s comedies I watch during my K2K.
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