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My favorite comedy movies [#10 to #6]

As promised, here's part two of three--more evidence of my complete lack of taste in movies follows the break!

  1. Happy Gilmore: [IMDB.com link] For some perverse reason, I like most of Adam Sandler's films--most, not all. Not all fall into the pure comedy category (many are romantic comedies), but of those that are, this one's my favorite. Happy Gilmore (Sandler) is a struggling hockey player whose mother is about to lose her home to pay an old tax bill. Through a series of coincidences, Happy discovers that he can hit a golf ball a mile, so he winds up entering a local qualifier for the pro golf tour. Happy's fans are definitely not your typical golf enthusiasts--he attracts a louder and ruder crowd, and the tour has trouble adjusting to these new fans. It's a typical loser-makes-good story, including the requisite love interest to be won over. Nothing mentally difficult to follow here, just funny writing and Sandler's comic skills. Oh yea, and there's this one hilarious scene with Bob Barker and a fistfight.

    As a golfer, I loved how this movie completely attacked all the boring, staid, and stuffy traditions of golf and the country club lifestyle. If you don't golf, you probably won't like this movie. (What am I saying? It's Adam Sandler; most of you probably won't like it for that reason alone!)

  2. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story: [IMDB.com link] Similar to There's Something About Mary, this movie is crude in spots; too crude for my taste. In spite of that, though, it also provides tons of laughs, some really witty one-liners, lots of insults flying back and forth, and a funny premise.

    And what is that premise? Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) owns a cheap, run-down gym, and he's in danger of being bought out by White Goodman (Ben Stiller), who runs a large, successful gym just down the street. La Fleur's clients are the misfits of society, while White's clientele is all clearly A-list material. La Fleur's clients all seem to have issues of one sort or another, including one guy who acts (and talks) like a pirate all the time. To save his gym, La Fleur's squad will have to defeat White's team at the dodgeball world championships. There is, of course, a love interest who must be wooed from the bad side to the good side. Along with the insults and one-liners, there are lots of physical gags, some of which are downright painful to watch (a training session involving metal tools, for instance). There are also tons of cameos--Chuck Norris, David Hasselhoff, William Shatner, and one Lance Armstrong, who has an exchange with La Fleur in an airport bar.

    Dodgeball is one of those movies where I'm almost (but not quite) too ashamed to admit I enjoyed it. But the truth is, despite the crudeness and stupidity at times, I laughed quite hard for nearly the duration of the movie (ESPN the Ocho!), even after having watched it a few times.

  3. Caddyshack: [IMDB.com link] OK, so now you know why I started my list in 1980--so I could include this movie. Yes, it's another golf movie. And yes, it's rude, crass, and downright gross in spots, but it's also funny as hell most of the time. The premise? Well, umm, it's a movie about the characters and goings on at a local country club. More specifically, it's the story of a hard-luck caddy and aspiring golfer, Danny Noonan (Michael O'Keefe) and his attempts to win a scholarship by winning the annual caddy golf tournament. But really, that's nothing more than an excuse for a bunch of talented comics to spend a couple hours practicing their craft. The list of comedy stars in Caddyshack is impressive, as it includes Rodney Dangerfield, Chevy Chase, Ted Knight, and of course, Bill Murray as the groundskeeper.

    The humor is low-brow, and at times downright crude. But there are also a ton of very funny one-liners, many uttered by Rodney Dangerfield, who plays a classless "new money" member of the club. Ted Knight is perfectly cast as the ultra-conservative "old money" Judge Smails, and Chevy Chase is Ty Webb, an excellent pro golfer with a serious motivation issue (perhaps Chevy's best role, though that's not saying much at all!). But Bill Murray steals the show as the groundskeeper headed into war with the gophers. His exchanges with Ty Webb are hilarious, and his 'golfing the flowers with a weed cutter' scene is a classic ("Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac... It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole! ").

    Yes, there are parts where I cringe at the stupidity or the crudeness, but at the end of the movie, my sides still hurt from laughing. Can't ask much more than that of a good comedy.

  4. Stripes: [IMDB.com link] If Caddyshack was crude in spots, Stripes is more crude in more spots. Despite that, however, this might be the best comedy Bill Murray ever made.

    The story follows two losers--Bill Murray as John Winger and Harold Remis as Russell Ziskey--who enlist in the Army because they're basically out of options. John's recently lost his job and his girlfriend, and figures the Army will give him a fresh start. Russell enlists because, well, he's John's friend. We then follow them through basic training, where John is constantly getting himself (and his unit) in trouble with his outlandish behavior. The late Warren Oates plays his sergeant, Sergeant Hulka, and he does a masterful job of including every possible military drill instructor stereotype in the role. The late John Candy puts in a very funny turn as one of John and Russell's squadmates, and John Larroquette is masterful as a not-always-there base commander.

    The pre-Army and basic training segments are the funniest parts of the movie; once the squad deploys for its mission, things degrade into a B-grade action/adventure movie, though still with moments of humor. Throughout, though, Bill Murray does an excellent job, and just thinking about some of his lines while writing this still brings a chuckle--"Army training, sir!"; "Chicks dig me, because I rarely wear underwear and when I do it's usually something unusual."; "Blown up, sir!" Skip the crude stuff, fast forward through the mission at the end, and enjoy the rest!

  5. The Princess Bride: [IMDB.com link] The first time I saw this movie, I hated it. The second time I saw it, I disliked it. The third time through, though, something clicked and my opinion changed. As with The Royal Tenenbaums, this is a non-traditional comedy. While there are times you'll laugh out loud, it's not a slapstick laugh-all-the-time film. Instead, it's just a two-hour ride of constant (if sometimes subtle) humor.

    The story is (sort of) a classic fairy tale: a princess and the love of her life cannot be together, and she's destined to marry the wrong guy if she's not rescued soon. But before that can happen, she's kidnapped by three bad guys, who are in turn being pursued by a mysterious man in black. The movie was directed by Rob Reiner, and there's a lot more going on than you'll find in the typical comedy. There are also tons of quote-worthy lines (caution, there are some spoilers in there if you haven't seen the movie), including the oft-quoted 'Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die.'

    I can't possibly do this movie justice in a few words here; if you haven't seen it, it really is amazingly well done and brilliantly funny. The IMDB.com link has a nice summary review if you want more information, but really, just go watch it.

So much for the middle of the best; tomorrow the top five go up. Without giving anything away, I can say that the top five are, with maybe only one exception, a different type of humor than the ten that have already been posted.

2 thoughts on “My favorite comedy movies [#10 to #6]”

  1. Dodgeball????

    All I can say is that the last 5 better be real winners. I'd say that if "Clerks" and "Gross Pointe Blank" don't make this list, then there's a short between the floor and your keyboard... ;)

    Oh yeah... "Waterboy" better be in there as well.

    Don't know if you've seen it yet, but "Waitress" might deserve a slot as well. I will die of old age still laughing about "Bad Baby Pie"!

  2. My favourite in your list is Dodgeball - I got it in the 3 pack which included 'Dudes wheres my Car'' and ''Harold and Kumar''. Other favourites of mine worth checking out is Cheech and Chong, Ali G and Alan Patridge.

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