Comedy, especially physical comedy, is totally subjective. It is fascinating that a movie can be really loved and really hated at the same time. I walked out of "There's Something About Mary" and "Ghostbusters," two very unfunny films, in my opinion.
For some reason, slapstick is a form of comedy that people think is old. Jerry Lewis can be excessive, but he is still a tremendously talented man whose best films are classics. The Mack Sennetts, Buster Keatons and Harold Lloyds of the world needed to hone their craft, learn about the camera, lighting, design, and all the niceties that make a film a professional product, especially timing. Somewhere along the line, physical comedians like Lewis, Tati and Bengnini found that their art was appreciated more in Europe than in the United States.
I first saw Yahoo Serious when he made "Young Einstein" and there was a massive promotional campaign for him and for his movie on MTV. "Young Einstein" was a real misfire for me and many others, and soon he disappeared as a presence in the U.S.
One day I wondered what became of him, and after doing a bit of searching, I found this movie. This man is a genuine talent, obviously an admirer of the great silent physical comics, yet has a style all his own. His world is a unique surreal existence with bright colors and bizarre surroundings. This is a film that was meant to be seen many times; there are so many gags and set pieces in this film that are still funny the second and third time, and he obviously subscribes to the comedy practice of throwing so much at you, if something doesn't work, the next gag will. I can imagine audiences laughing till it hurt, because physical comedy needs an audience desperately to really work. Watching the Marx Brothers on television is an entirely different experience than watching them in a theater; too much dead air, and with hundreds of people, laughter is contagious. How many of us laugh because out neighbor is laughing? Some gags in this film are beautifully constructed, to the point where I marveled at what he was doing. The opening is near perfect, the garbage on the stairway is a gem that should be seen in some special on classic comedy, it is that good (the tangent with the baby is the work of a master; it is really hard to pull something like that off with an infant). The restaurant scene has wonderful little moments that are just hysterical, from the dialogue between these two cute but incredibly strange people and the reactions from other patrons. The ending with the hubcap (I loved how he turned this into a dog food dish) is utterly unexpected and really does cap this movie off very well. While the last twenty minutes didn't work as well as the rest of the movie, the rest of it was worth the journey (I found the ending of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" very protracted and really ruined the movie for me).
For someone to have accomplished such a polished work with so few films behind him really shows how gifted he is. I barely remember this film being released, and I have a feeling that if more people saw it, it would be far more appreciated.
For some reason, slapstick is a form of comedy that people think is old. Jerry Lewis can be excessive, but he is still a tremendously talented man whose best films are classics. The Mack Sennetts, Buster Keatons and Harold Lloyds of the world needed to hone their craft, learn about the camera, lighting, design, and all the niceties that make a film a professional product, especially timing. Somewhere along the line, physical comedians like Lewis, Tati and Bengnini found that their art was appreciated more in Europe than in the United States.
I first saw Yahoo Serious when he made "Young Einstein" and there was a massive promotional campaign for him and for his movie on MTV. "Young Einstein" was a real misfire for me and many others, and soon he disappeared as a presence in the U.S.
One day I wondered what became of him, and after doing a bit of searching, I found this movie. This man is a genuine talent, obviously an admirer of the great silent physical comics, yet has a style all his own. His world is a unique surreal existence with bright colors and bizarre surroundings. This is a film that was meant to be seen many times; there are so many gags and set pieces in this film that are still funny the second and third time, and he obviously subscribes to the comedy practice of throwing so much at you, if something doesn't work, the next gag will. I can imagine audiences laughing till it hurt, because physical comedy needs an audience desperately to really work. Watching the Marx Brothers on television is an entirely different experience than watching them in a theater; too much dead air, and with hundreds of people, laughter is contagious. How many of us laugh because out neighbor is laughing? Some gags in this film are beautifully constructed, to the point where I marveled at what he was doing. The opening is near perfect, the garbage on the stairway is a gem that should be seen in some special on classic comedy, it is that good (the tangent with the baby is the work of a master; it is really hard to pull something like that off with an infant). The restaurant scene has wonderful little moments that are just hysterical, from the dialogue between these two cute but incredibly strange people and the reactions from other patrons. The ending with the hubcap (I loved how he turned this into a dog food dish) is utterly unexpected and really does cap this movie off very well. While the last twenty minutes didn't work as well as the rest of the movie, the rest of it was worth the journey (I found the ending of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" very protracted and really ruined the movie for me).
For someone to have accomplished such a polished work with so few films behind him really shows how gifted he is. I barely remember this film being released, and I have a feeling that if more people saw it, it would be far more appreciated.