Friday, December 16, 2005
Make Me Laugh
Last night I made a mistake and I stuck with it to the very bitter, boring end, because I was too lazy to get up out of the recliner and do what needed to be done. I watched "Meet the Fockers." Several of my friends and acquaintances had told me it was hilarious. I really should have known better. I rarely agree with one of those friends about movies and when I do, I tend to wonder what is wrong with me.
What makes me laugh? That’s an easy question to answer. Wit–the clever manipulation of words by likeable people in every day life or put in awkward or even improbable situations. Ogden Nash comes to mind. He frequently created a need and filled it with a word that didn’t exist but should have. I love to witness the deflation of a Hindenburg ego by the prick of a finely sharpened riposte. And a good (yes, there is such a thing) pun. There was none of that in the film . I do not think watching a cat flushing a small dog down the toilet is funny (though I might laugh uproariously if the same situation were depicted in a Far Side comic–that’s another essay, isn’t it?). And by "likeable people" I certainly do not mean Goody Two Shoes . My upper lip curls and my mind goes on hiatus whenever I encounter that excessively saccharine breed. My friends range from those who view the world acerbically to optimists who live in it joyously, but with a strict eye on realism. And there’s a sparkle in that eye that tells me humor about themselves and others resides there.
Of the four parents in "Fockers" I could find not one with whom I could empathize by imagining them to be friends or even by imagining them to be myself. If I met any of them, I’d do a mental glaze-over and hope to make it through the rest of my life without ever having to meet them again. Boors and nincompoops do not amuse me, except by giving me fodder for my imaginary putdowns.
Lest anyone think I’m a full-time snob, I’m not immune to silliness. One of the most amusing movies I saw as a youngster was "You Never Can Tell" in which a dog and a horse are reincarnated as detective and secretary. I still laugh when I remember the scene in which the secretary is running to catch a bus and on the sound track you hear the clomping of a horse at high speed. Corny–idiotic even. But it pretended to be nothing else. And I found the characters to be very likeable. In the "Fockers" there was an undercurrent of distaste–something not quite mean, but not quite not either.
What makes me laugh? That’s an easy question to answer. Wit–the clever manipulation of words by likeable people in every day life or put in awkward or even improbable situations. Ogden Nash comes to mind. He frequently created a need and filled it with a word that didn’t exist but should have. I love to witness the deflation of a Hindenburg ego by the prick of a finely sharpened riposte. And a good (yes, there is such a thing) pun. There was none of that in the film . I do not think watching a cat flushing a small dog down the toilet is funny (though I might laugh uproariously if the same situation were depicted in a Far Side comic–that’s another essay, isn’t it?). And by "likeable people" I certainly do not mean Goody Two Shoes . My upper lip curls and my mind goes on hiatus whenever I encounter that excessively saccharine breed. My friends range from those who view the world acerbically to optimists who live in it joyously, but with a strict eye on realism. And there’s a sparkle in that eye that tells me humor about themselves and others resides there.
Of the four parents in "Fockers" I could find not one with whom I could empathize by imagining them to be friends or even by imagining them to be myself. If I met any of them, I’d do a mental glaze-over and hope to make it through the rest of my life without ever having to meet them again. Boors and nincompoops do not amuse me, except by giving me fodder for my imaginary putdowns.
Lest anyone think I’m a full-time snob, I’m not immune to silliness. One of the most amusing movies I saw as a youngster was "You Never Can Tell" in which a dog and a horse are reincarnated as detective and secretary. I still laugh when I remember the scene in which the secretary is running to catch a bus and on the sound track you hear the clomping of a horse at high speed. Corny–idiotic even. But it pretended to be nothing else. And I found the characters to be very likeable. In the "Fockers" there was an undercurrent of distaste–something not quite mean, but not quite not either.
# posted by Regality @ 10:19 AM 
