Best Comedy Tournament: Round 1 - Group D

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Anyone else surprised at all the Beetlejuice love?

Nope. It's a great movie!!

[mae]

It is, but first place?

[T-Dogz_AK47]

It is, but first place?

In this group, most definitely!

[pathoftheturtle]

Not sure why you would be surprised. It's a Tim Burton original, a Michael Keaton tour de force, witty, quotable, eye-catching, layered...

[mae]

It's just that to me there are at least six better ones, including One, Two, Three, which seems to have been blown out in the first round, sadly.

[pathoftheturtle]

Some movies here are better in some ways, but I can honestly say that it might be the comedy in this group that is good in the most ways, if that makes sense. I understand your disappointment, but I don't feel as much antipathy over this particular success as I have for certain other overrated contemporary movies. If it was all up to me, Anchorman would be in second place, Naked Gun would be in seventh, Men in Tights would also be out and the three classics would be in. Not how these things work, though.

[mae]

Now, Naked Gun I have no problem with, clever comedy and well-made. But outright classics like Safety Last and One, Two, Three deserved better. But you're right, that's why we have these tournaments. It's all for fun.

[pathoftheturtle]

I agree Naked Gun is pretty good comedy. I said I "have a problem with" the poll's implication that it is better than Anchorman. It is cleverer, but it has no point except punchlines. You can be goofy, but goofiness only goes so far. Like a mouthful of cotton candy: refreshing, for 1.5 seconds. And it's not made more memorable to me like earlier spoofs by being earliest or by bringing in new elements like some later movies in the same line, such as Anchorman.

[skyofcrack]

The problem I have with The Naked Gun is that it's so vastly inferior to Police Squad!

[Still Servant]

Men In Tights is fucking brilliant.

"And why should the people listen to you?
Because, unlike other Robin Hoods... I can speak with an English accent."

This is why he is my brother from another madre.

[mae]

I agree Naked Gun is pretty good comedy. I said I "have a problem with" the poll's implication that it is better than Anchorman. It is cleverer, but it has no point except punchlines. You can be goofy, but goofiness only goes so far. Like a mouthful of cotton candy: refreshing, for 1.5 seconds. And it's not made more memorable to me like earlier spoofs by being earliest or by bringing in new elements like some later movies in the same line, such as Anchorman.

What those guys did better than anybody else, including Mel Brooks, were those awesome visual gags where they took figurative things literally. You know what I mean. And that was their only point, to take things to the absurd. Mel's Robin Hood has a few nice gags but overall isn't a very good outing. Even his last movie, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, was better.

[fernandito]

Men In Tights is fucking brilliant.

"And why should the people listen to you?
Because, unlike other Robin Hoods... I can speak with an English accent."

This is why he is my brother from another madre.

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

Anyone else surprised at all the Beetlejuice love?

Nope, one of only two I voted for.
Back to School was the other one.

I expect Beetlejuice to do quite well in this tourney actually.

[pathoftheturtle]

I agree Naked Gun is pretty good comedy. I said I "have a problem with" the poll's implication that it is better than Anchorman. It is cleverer, but it has no point except punchlines. You can be goofy, but goofiness only goes so far. Like a mouthful of cotton candy: refreshing, for 1.5 seconds. And it's not made more memorable to me like earlier spoofs by being earliest or by bringing in new elements like some later movies in the same line, such as Anchorman.

What those guys did better than anybody else, including Mel Brooks, were those awesome visual gags where they took figurative things literally. You know what I mean. And that was their only point, to take things to the absurd. Mel's Robin Hood has a few nice gags but overall isn't a very good outing. Even his last movie, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, was better.

Dead and Loving It better than Men In Tights? Uhm...no. Close, but I disagree. And how can you pick away that one movie from that director's other work right after binding the movie you're arguing for together with everything those guys did, anyway? Just compare apples to apples.

[Still Servant]

I agree Naked Gun is pretty good comedy. I said I "have a problem with" the poll's implication that it is better than Anchorman. It is cleverer, but it has no point except punchlines. You can be goofy, but goofiness only goes so far. Like a mouthful of cotton candy: refreshing, for 1.5 seconds. And it's not made more memorable to me like earlier spoofs by being earliest or by bringing in new elements like some later movies in the same line, such as Anchorman.

Mel's Robin Hood has a few nice gags but overall isn't a very good outing. Even his last movie, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, was better.

No way... no way. Men in Tights is way more memorable and quoteable than Dracula: Dead and Loving It.

[mae]

I agree Naked Gun is pretty good comedy. I said I "have a problem with" the poll's implication that it is better than Anchorman. It is cleverer, but it has no point except punchlines. You can be goofy, but goofiness only goes so far. Like a mouthful of cotton candy: refreshing, for 1.5 seconds. And it's not made more memorable to me like earlier spoofs by being earliest or by bringing in new elements like some later movies in the same line, such as Anchorman.

What those guys did better than anybody else, including Mel Brooks, were those awesome visual gags where they took figurative things literally. You know what I mean. And that was their only point, to take things to the absurd. Mel's Robin Hood has a few nice gags but overall isn't a very good outing. Even his last movie, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, was better.

Dead and Loving It better than Men In Tights? Uhm...no. Close, but I disagree. And how can you pick away that one movie from that director's other work right after binding the movie you're arguing for together with everything those guys did, anyway? Just compare apples to apples.

I was merely comparing the late Mel Brooks movies, namely Robin Hood and Dracula. To me, Dracula was the funnier one, but both were pretty bad overall.

[Still Servant]

True, Men in Tights and Dracula can't compare to some of the classics Brooks was turning out early in his career, but I just loved Men in Tights growing up. I was 13 when it came out and because of that it's always been held to a higher standard in my brain. It just hit on all the right notes that my 13-year-old brain was looking for.

[pathoftheturtle]

I was merely comparing the late Mel Brooks movies, namely Robin Hood and Dracula. To me, Dracula was the funnier one, but both were pretty bad overall.

Neither is his best work. I can see that point. And I had already said that I'd personally rank RH:MiT below NG. But I've also suggested repeatedly that it is not the main standout of the Zuckers, although it's certainly closer to their peak than MiT is to Brooks's, and I was merely arguing in turn that to focus on his later works without touching that point is uneven. Unless it was that one film only that you were talking about. In which case, for the sake of argument, we could look at how the sight gags in, say, High Anxiety stack up. But I would still put Beetlejuice and Anchorman highest here.

[mae]

The poll has closed. The following six titles are moving on to the next round:

1. Beetlejuice (1988) 81.25%
2. The Naked Gun (1988) 65.63%
3. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) 56.25%
4. Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) 43.75%
5. Being John Malkovich (1999) 40.63%
6. Back to School (1986) 34.38%

And the following four titles have been eliminated:

1. Safety Last! (1923) 15.63%
2. One, Two, Three (1961) 12.50%
3. The Palm Beach Story (1942) 9.38%
4. Punch-Drunk Love (2002) 6.25%

[fernandito]

I voted for 5 of the 6 that are moving on.

Me happy.

[mae]

I was at 50%, three moving on, three not.