Raise your hand if you're tired of Will Ferrell
I just saw "Semi-Pro" a couple days ago, and I have to admit that I'm a little tired of Will Ferrell's antics. Maybe it was the fact that he's the least funny thing about the movie (which isn't all that good on the whole), or that he hasn't really done anything new in four years, or maybe that before "Semi-Pro" even started, I was subjected to a trailer for yet another of his movies, "Step Brothers," co-starring relentlessly unfunny non-comedian, John C. Reilly. Seriously, John C. Reilly makes me envy the blind and the deaf (but not the deaf AND blind - that would really suck).
How many times can people laugh at a scene featuring Will Ferrell running around naked? "I clearly don't have a good body! Get it? That's why it's funny! It's irony!" I got it, Will. I just wonder if you're hiding behind the fact that people will laugh as soon as they see you on screen - before you've even said anything.
Painful though it may be, I'm afraid I'm to have to quote Orny Adams here: "You're funny until people tell you you're funny. Then you're not funny." It sounded stupid at the time (and it was), but in the context of Will Ferrell's career, I think it applies.
Ferrell seems to rely fairly heavily on what I've called "the comedy of explanation," which is characterized by the punchline to a joke being nothing more than a simple explanation of what the audience has already seen. Examples: "You pointed to your boobies." "Hey everyone! Come and see how good I look!" "I love Scotch. Scotchey Scotch Scotch. Here it goes down - down into my belly..." "It's so hot out here. Milk was a bad choice." "Brick, are you just pointing to things and saying you love them?" "We are laughing." "I have many leather-bound books, and my apartment smells of rich mahogany." And those are all from just one movie. Granted, Anchorman is still one of the best comedies of the last ten years, but he hasn't changed his formula since that movie.
What if P.T. Anderson had simply remade "Boogie Nights" four times? What if Jerry Seinfeld hadn't retired his old routine, but he still insisted on touring the country and charging $95 a pop for tickets? What if Ben and Jerry hadn't asked the question, "What else is there besides vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry"? What if The Beatles, instead of "Abbey Road" or "The White Album," just released a "best of" compilation album? That's what Will Ferrell is doing. He's banking on his former success, hoping people will forget how painfully bad "Bewitched" and "Kicking and Screaming" were.
How many times can people laugh at a scene featuring Will Ferrell running around naked? "I clearly don't have a good body! Get it? That's why it's funny! It's irony!" I got it, Will. I just wonder if you're hiding behind the fact that people will laugh as soon as they see you on screen - before you've even said anything.
Painful though it may be, I'm afraid I'm to have to quote Orny Adams here: "You're funny until people tell you you're funny. Then you're not funny." It sounded stupid at the time (and it was), but in the context of Will Ferrell's career, I think it applies.
Ferrell seems to rely fairly heavily on what I've called "the comedy of explanation," which is characterized by the punchline to a joke being nothing more than a simple explanation of what the audience has already seen. Examples: "You pointed to your boobies." "Hey everyone! Come and see how good I look!" "I love Scotch. Scotchey Scotch Scotch. Here it goes down - down into my belly..." "It's so hot out here. Milk was a bad choice." "Brick, are you just pointing to things and saying you love them?" "We are laughing." "I have many leather-bound books, and my apartment smells of rich mahogany." And those are all from just one movie. Granted, Anchorman is still one of the best comedies of the last ten years, but he hasn't changed his formula since that movie.
What if P.T. Anderson had simply remade "Boogie Nights" four times? What if Jerry Seinfeld hadn't retired his old routine, but he still insisted on touring the country and charging $95 a pop for tickets? What if Ben and Jerry hadn't asked the question, "What else is there besides vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry"? What if The Beatles, instead of "Abbey Road" or "The White Album," just released a "best of" compilation album? That's what Will Ferrell is doing. He's banking on his former success, hoping people will forget how painfully bad "Bewitched" and "Kicking and Screaming" were.
posted by Vaughan at
1:04 PM
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