High Anxiety

Friday, May 2, 2008

This is so obvious I feel like an idiot. I had complained before that too many of my explorations into comedy for my K2K ended in failure. And then I would blame social/cultural differences between now and then. You know like, if the movie was from the 1940's and it wasn't funny, I could point out that overseas at the time millions of Jews were being slaughtered, so almost anything would seem funny in comparison. Watching klassik komedies, which should be the most fun part of my K2K, was starting to feel like a chore. (Meanwhile, movies like Tokyo Story and Aguirre feel like a chore going in, and end up blowing my mind).

How the fuck did it never cross my mind until last week to throw a Mel Brooks movie on my queue? I already know he can make me laugh (The Producers is, like, one of the funniest movies ever), but I haven't seen much of his filmography. I don't know why I immediately equated klassik komedies with the 1940's, but there you go. I am retarded.

I selected this one at Shenan's recommendation. It's Brooks' take on Hitchcock, which sounds like a great idea, but the results are mixed. I laughed enough that I liked this one, but it's not one of his best. I think maybe my main complaint is that the movie isn't Hitchcockian enough... A lot of the specific Hitchcock parodies are really funny, but too many of the story elements and scenes and shots don't seem to recall Hitchcock much at all. And then there is what seems to be an extended reference to Blowup, which is an almost anti-Hitchcockian film.

Still funny, though, and I'm going to add Silent Movie to my queue.