What classic comedies have lost their humor to you?

[Larry Larry]

I watched the original "Beverly Hills Cop" this weekend. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor because I couldn't believe how truly "unfunny" this movie was.

I remember liking this movie the first time, and I really like Eddie Murphy, so this isn't a slam against him.

Was this film not funny to begin with, or have our tastes in what we expect in comedy changed so much in 20 years that this film is no longer any good?

Granted, there were a few funny scenes, but they were spaced 10 minutes apart. Some of the "jokes" really weren't even jokes. (Axel puts banannas in a cars tailpipe)

The Pink Panther films, the 3 Stooges, Airplane, Fish Called Wanda, Stripes and other comedies are still great. But some really don't age well.

What other comedies seem lame to you 20 years later?

[SharpShooter5]

well, i'm not sure about 20 years but:

i don't find the first austin powers as funny now as i did 7 years ago when i first saw it

also i seemed to laugh a little less when i watch National Lampoons christmas Vacation this christmas (although i was wrapping my presents during it, so it may just have been because i was distracted)

[larphillips]

Spaceballs lost a LOT to me. I guess even poo-poo humor and dick jokes can get old. Also, Bachelor Party wasn't nearly as funny as I once thought it was.

BTW, great thread.

[Notoriousaurus]

Originally Posted by SharpShooter5

i don't find the first austin powers as funny now as i did 7 years ago when i first saw it

Has it really been 7 years?

[aedavela]

Having picked up both Bill & Ted movies on DVD last year, they've really lost a lot of steam over the years.

[wahlers]

I second Spaceballs. Did not find anything funny in it anymore.

Both "48 Hours" films are also just not funny anymore to me...

[dork741974]

Dumb and Dumber .....it doesnt strike me as funny at all anymore...maybe because every time you turn on TBS its on ???!!

[dork741974]

Originally Posted by wahlers

I second Spaceballs. Did not find anything funny in it anymore.

Both "48 Hours" films are also just not funny anymore to me...

Sorry but the best bit from the first one makes me laugh to this day...

Reggie: Well im gonna go in the backseat and get some sleep .

(PAUSE)

Reggie : Jack, tell me a story...

Jack: Fuck you

Reggie : Oh that's my favorite !



Im sorry Murphy KILLED in the 80's !!!! I just wish the aliens who abducted him would take the clone they left us back and GIVE US THE REAL EDDIE MURPHY BACK !!!!

[Riedenschneider]

Excellent topic.

I wish I had the energie to go through my entire film list, and come up with the dozen or so comedies that lost their humor, after I rewatched them on DVD for the first time in years. But alas, I don't have the energie...

The one "classic" comedy I can think of now is Hollywood Shuffle. I couldn't get enough of it in the early 90's. Last years rewatching, for the first time in probably 7 years, was a sad experience. Not because the jokes or the film was dated (the film seemed always dated), but because the overall theme now somewhat bummed me out. 'Guess that's where I grew up. Sad.

[elwood731]

I think a LOT of films do this if the first time you saw them was when you were young. I guess you just mature and get different tastes.

[Daniel Shock]

I used to love "The Apple Dumpling Gang". I was all set to buy the new DVD when it came out - but before it did - our church had a movie night where we watched it on VHS. It was no where close to as funny as I remembered it.

So, I decided against the DVD.

[C Roberts]

Dogma - Thought it was hilarious first time I saw it. The jokes all got old though. Which leaves nothing to the movie except the God stuff and that's not really my cup of tea.

Most of the movies mentioned in this thread weren't that funny to begin with imho.

[DrDetroit]

Originally Posted by C Roberts

Most of the movies mentioned in this thread weren't that funny to begin with imho.

My thoughts exactly. I think the use of the term "classic comedy" in reference to Austin Powers and Spaceballs is pushing it a little.

[DVD addict]

Animal House is not that funny anymore.

[Anti-Hero]

What?! Animal House is hilarious. I cant say any comedies I own have lost their touch considering I dont own many comedies besides the ones I love..

[PALMERLIME]

Now that you mention it, The 3 Stooges have lost their edge to me over the years. As a kid... loved 'em. I'd sit in front of the screen and squeal with excitement, proclaiming, "This one has SHEMP! I love Shemp!!!"

Now, I only stop flipping when I see Emil Sitka on the screen.

[Larry Larry]

I would argue that the 3 Stooges, Animal House and even Dumb and Dumber are well constructed comedies, even if you are not a fan of them.

Sometimes jokes wear out, especially when you've seen them over and over and know the punch lines. I've seen Caddyshack so many times in my life, that I'm not amused anymore. But I would still say its a funny movie. If I gave to someone who had never seen it, chances are good they would laugh.

I find it odd that "Beverly Hills Cop" was such a big hit when it was released. People thought it was hilarious. But there is really very little about it thats any good. Even the action segments are rather bland and pedestrian.

So this gets back to where I started this thread, "was a film really funny to begin with?" I don't think BHC was.

Do I think the Stooges, Animal House, Dumb and Dumber and some of the others mentioned here are good films? Definetly yes.

Do I think people can get tired of any comedy? Also, yes.

BTW, thanks larsphillips for saying "great thread". I've been participating here for a couple months. Finally someone recognized me! Now all I need is to get to 100 posts so I can get my avatar.

[Meloosh]

If you thought Beverly Hills Cop with Eddie Murphy was unfunny, imagine how bad it would have been with Sly Stallone. The actual script is devoid of jokes or humorous monologues, as it was originally a Stallone vehicle. Murphy improvised all of the funny bits in the film.
For me, Austin Powers was ruined by the two painfully inferior sequels, which recycled many of the first film's jokes. I also remember Kentucky Fried Movie as being a laugh-riot at grade school sleepovers, but most of the gags fell painfully flat when I watched it recently.

[incubus0]

Again, good topic, Larry Larry.

I'll agree with Beverly Hills Cop, it doesn't make me laugh at all anymore.

Modern Problems - The Chevy Chase vehicle. On the first viewing this was brilliant, but after seeing it again a month or so ago it just doesn't have any punch anymore.

P.S. Check out the Tagline for Airplane. That may be changing.

[georgep]

Frankly, I never found any of the Beverly Hills Cop, Police Academy or 48 Hours films that funny to begin with. In fact, I would say John Landis is the most overrated director in Hollywood. He's made ONE funny film: The Blues Brothers. Everyone, it seems, has become an apologist for the idiotic humor of Animal House, and considering Landis' responsibilities on Twilight Zone: The Movie--well, to quote one DVD reviewer, "he's lucky he's not in prison right now."

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1965): I'll always be loyal to this comedy classic (was there any living Hollywood actor at the time who was NOT in this film?), but seeing it now disappoints me as to how dated parts of it really are. In fact, the whole Dorothy Provine-Ethel Merman-Milton Berle family dynamic inhabits its own mid-Victorian world, and nearly any joke regarding the relationships between the wife, the mother-in-law and the cuckolded husband clank worse than a safe on concrete now.

[Newbomb Turk]

The wife and I just about shit ourselves laughing when we went and saw Blazing Saddles the first time. So much so that we went and saw it again about 2 weeks later. Sat there straight-faced the whole time, both of us. The rest of the audience must have thought we were nuts.

For us, it seems, some are funny only once.

For me though, Dr. Strangelove is hysterical every time I see it.

[martini]

I was amazed at how lame I thought "Stripes" was on a recent rewatching of it. I love Bill Murray, but he and Harold Ramis basically smirked their way through that film. The only part that made me really laugh last time I saw it came courtesy of the late John Candy... "We were on our way to the bingo parlour, at the YMCA..."

[Bossplaya]

The police academy movies are sorry as hell, and I wonder why I even watched those before. I think only one joke holds up, and that's the Oyster Bar running joke...but the rest sucks. I'm still a fan of Beverly Hills Cop though. I guess that's a case of so many movies comming out since then that are just like it, many by Murphy himself, and people are just tired, but I don't knock the originals. Comedies are hit and miss anyways, and most of them aren't to my tastes. Though some, like Trading Places I can watch over and over.

[Jack The Tab]

Bachelor Party is definitely a yawner - Weird Al's "UHF" is atrocious now, ...hmm...."Amazon Women On The Moon" definitely lost a lot for me over the years. "Porky's" isn't too funny anymore, but I still like the movie.

[darthbenbo]

Can't Hardly Wait - the only reason I still own this film is because of how much my friends and I used to watch it. It's pretty stupid now.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back - this one wasn't really funny when it first came out, but it's like nails on a chalkboard to me now.

South Park - any of it

I need to think of a few more...

[Welles and Ford Fan]

Comedy (whether classic or no) is the least-represented area in my DVD collection. IMO, comedies lose their humor after repeat viewings, just like old jokes. When I was I high school, I thought the Marx Bros. could do no wrong. I doubt I will ever find the "Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas..." joke funny again.

I used to think Raising Arizona was funny as hell. Actually, it was, the first 2 or 3 times I saw it. Watched it recently, and it did nothing for me. I'm not saying these comedies are bad movies, just that the law of diminishing returns hits comedies harder than most movies. Sometimes, it is a question of audience participation, in which case the movie is more like a live stage play. I saw O, Brother Where Art Thou with an audience, and it seemed pretty funny (though not damned funny, IMO). I later saw it on DVD, and you could see how many of the lines were delivered with the expectation of an audience laugh. Without the audience, it was lead-balloon city....

The exceptions for me are the silent classics. They often involve spectacular stunts and gags that are worth seeing even after the initial humor has died.

[BubbleGumUK]

I think it's important to watch a comedy with an audience or friends to get the most out of it.

Quite often a film I've seen will get a new lease of life when I stick it in with people round to watch it, but recently we put on "The Big Bus", an Airplane! pre-emptor which kick started the spoof disaster flicks.

Originally very funny, then mildly amusing, I've since seen it and ejoyed it as I've grown up and understood more of the jokes. We put it on over Christmas and the room was flat as a pancake, and we only laught about once. The film seemed to drag and at one point no-one was left awake!

[erb2000]

I've always said that the first 45 minutes of Stripes are great. Once they get to the urban assault vehicle, it's all downhill, with the one exception of PJ Soles in the kitchen with Bill Murray.

[WAID]

Agreed that this is a good topic; I saw "Silver Streak" in the theater almost 30 years ago and thought it was great. Saw it several months ago on TV and it talked its way out of being part of my DVD collection. I still am tempted though because the DVD is cheap and there still are some laughs. Plus, I want to compare the biplane scene in "Silver Streak" (funny) with the biplane scene in "Capricorn One" (I already own the DVD). "Capricorn One" I still think is entertaining and has some laughs even though it's not a comedy.

For what it's worth I also saw "Blazing Saddles" in the theater when it was first released (and I was 10...could it be that my parents were actually pretty cool??). I didn't understand all of the jokes but thought it was funny of course. I recently saw it again on TV and thought it was still really funny.

I also saw BHC in the theater and thought it was good if not great and remember being disappointed that at the time it was the highest grossing comedy of all time. There are, and were, funnier movies out there but I guess that's part of the point of this debate.