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Tthis was the highlight of this week’s episode of The Rewatchables, a very popular film review podcast that I reach for when I’ve had my fill of history/football/modern day glum. The episode was a retelling of the 90s comedy There’s Something About Mary, a film that in some ways is hilarious, and among others aged and bottled semi-skimmed on a summer day in Death Valley. As part of the episode, the podcast team went through their favorite movies of the decade and were spoiled for choice – until, that is, they got to the 2020s, when they seemed to be writing nothing. “This drama is so funny…” it offered enthusiastically. Finally, host Bill Simmons interrupted, ahhing and silence to get to the heart of the matter: “Do we have any jokes?
Yes, what he said comedies happen? Kapena,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, kodi “masiku onse” amasewera aku America amtundu wa “There’s Something About Mary” adakhazikitsa bwanji nyumba yamakanema m’nyumba zamakanema? You know what I mean: the world’s most famous – young people trying to lose their virginity, father arguing with his friend’s fathera the honorable servant is suffering make chicken do, crippled youths refusing to fly the nest – and he stretched them out to things that are worthless and abominable. It’s a lineage that goes back nearly half a century, to the days of Animal House (the rowdy college students piss off the warden by throwing huge tantrums).
There are many names for this (usually very masculine): gross out, frat pack, simple many? The website of the company Box Office Mojo runs with the word “gameplay”, and if you visit their list super cheap comics you might notice something: not one of the 100 or so entries was released after 2019. It seems that these movies stopped being a lot of entertainment in the 2020s. The last thing I remember was making any kind of noise The bottomthe funniest movie that no one has ever seen in theaters. Except: crickets.
The ending of this play is not a new story by any means. I wrote about it we’re just shy of ten years ago, when the last knock-off of the Farrelly Brothers-Judd Apatow-Will Ferrell-SNL-y era was just making its way to theaters. Back then, their ending together was a bit of a relief: we were satisfied with shirtless men running and shouting, kicking in the groin and so on. But I have to admit, now that they are gone, I miss those movies. At its best, it was a lot of fun, a whirlwind of great ensemble pieces that leave you gasping for laughter. And even if it didn’t reach the point of air-conditioning, there was something refreshing about the delivery of rat jokes – funny jokes placed before boring ideas, not necessary as a coherent plot.
The surprising thing is that the “comedy” still exists at the box office: it’s just that these comedies often use something else, tied to a certain genre or adding beauty to the “main IP”. Deadpool and Barbie, for example, are both undoubtedly funny, but they also build on the original universe. Comedy movies about events and horror movies are everywhere, from Anaconda to the chucklefest Mark Wahlberg has a title this week – but with the last coming of this type of movies, the jokes will miraculously end, instead of a long, straight-faced episode (malaise that even last year caused the humor of Gucumben Naked). Watching these movies, you feel like a joke to put on the screen, to be thrown away after it has served its purpose. The same can be said of another genre, the romcom, which in its own right a gooey, flowy textureseems to be more interested in rom than com.
Something close to pure comedy is still happening in indie, A24-mill shaped ends, but even then the lines are red. Take it Dramaan unexpected and fascinating film that deals with the setting of the real events of the everyday events of the daily drama: The wedding preparations of the couple are interrupted by the mysterious revelation of the bride. But this shocking revelation (and no, we’re not spoiling it yet!) pushes the scene into murky and serious territory. You could say the same about (for my money) last year’s most entertaining film, Tim Robinson’s Friendship (lonely man falls in love with his neighbor, things go awry), which, for all its funny elements, goes to a very strange and dark place. Both of these films seem to have more in mind than simple comedy with comedies that don’t exist today.
And not just cinemas. While it’s understandable that the show might be squeezed at the box office, where family movies and action thrillers tend to take up viewership, one of the most puzzling aspects of this comedy drought is the reluctance of showrunners to pick up on it. Amazon has made an effort with last year You are cordially invited (Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon go to war over a wedding spot), but mostly focused on hybrid dramas and romcoms, while Netflix seems to have no interest in the genre, instead sinking most of its money into games. They have their most expensive partnership with Adam Sandler, which in its early years brought the worst jokes. In recent years, even Sandler has moved away from this genre: apart from Happy Gilmore 2, his last two Netflix movies were dramas, like Spaceman and Jay Kelly.
Sandler is not alone. It’s surprising that so many of the great beasts of American sports left it recently: Adam McKay went into the political ways of filmmaking; Apatow is focused on producing and has not written or directed a film in four years; Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg have gotten a lot of mileage out of TV and The Studio; and the same can be said for Tina Fey, whose comedy series, The Four Seasons, is back for a second season later this month.
So is that so? With studios and viewers apathetic, and its leading developers trying other things, should the daily gaming genre die? Will it soon feel like the past – like the screwball comedies of the 1930s, 40s and 50s? I still have hope. Next year, Apatow will return to direct with the country and western star’s comedy freefall, starring Glen Powell, who recently debuted his comedy with the Chad Powers series. His name: The Comeback King. Here’s hoping…
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