MicShazam

Allright, I'll start out at least looking the ones I don't know up.

I have watched some of these. Didn't like O Brother Where Art Thou. I'm about 50/50 on Coen movies. That reminds me: Burn After Reading and Intolerable Cruelty were two very good comedies. A Serious Man sort of was too, except it's too bleak to really feel like a pure comedy. For me, Fargo has enough of a thriller in it that I don't think of it as just a comedy either.
Then there's Brazil. I generally dislike the movies of that director quite a bit, but Brazil was good. His best, really. I find the dystopian element of the movie strong enough that it becomes less funny and more absurd in a horrifying sort of manner. It hits too close to home to be a comedy for me.
Didn't like This is Spinal Tap, although it had its moments.
Office Space was pretty funny, but I'm not sure I exactly loved it. Would have to rewatch, since it's been a long time since I watched it (2009).

The rest: I'll have to look into them.

Frownland

They are still comedies, dude. Arbitrary boundaries like the ones you're putting up are unnecessary, they only lead you to saying ridiculous things like "I don't like comedy."

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MicShazam

The only reason I'm nitpicking that distinction is that my original beef was only about movies that make it their business to be only about comedy. That that's the kind of comedy movie that tends to not work well. It's nothing but a way of making an observation: That comedy films quite often lose me before the credits roll - "here's a thing they seem to have in common".

Frownland

I didn't get that impression but even then, isn't that kind of obvious? If it only focuses on comedy then that doesn't make room for interesting characters or a good plot.

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MicShazam

Well then, I guess we basically agree? Take movies like Hot Shots (but I do like Hot Shots, or at least I used to), for example. That kind of comedy almost never works for me. Johnny English, Naked Gun, Mel Brooks movies... I guess because I get bored with the specific type of humor before the movie is only. Zaniness and visual gags are good fun, but after a while... These movies usually feel downright tedious in the final stretch.

Then there's Adam Sandler type comedies. Usually a moment or two of melodrama, but they're about the jokes. Everything else is just a genre-skeleton to hang the jokes on. Lot's of comedies that aren't as bad as Adam Sandler movies still fall into this category.

Then you've got something like Annie Hall. Enough character development that it works dramatically, but it's still funny.

Coen movies are almost always funny to some extent, but they (mostly) also spend a lot of energy on working as a movie besides the jokes and quirky characters.

Given that the kind of all-out-"funny" comedy that I'm not too fond of is common and broadly liked, I don't think it's a given that they're usually not worth it to me.

Frownland

So you hate mainstream American comedy, as you rightly should. Mel Brooks is lame as ****, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I just don't think it's fair to define the comedy film genre by its lowest points.

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Trollheart

MicShaz, have you ever watched The Odd Couple? Sixties classic comedy, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, the opposite of a buddy movie. Written by Neil Simon. If you watch it and don't like it, then there's no hope for you.

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MicShazam

I didn't think about it like that, but yeah, I guess that kind of ends up being the end result of how I laid it out.

Can't say I have. Most comedies I've watched have been from the 70's or newer. I'll check it out. I like the premise, at least.

BloodFoxTK

watched this last night.

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debaserr

Short but sweet "film". ;D

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