What Tickels The Dre's Funny Bone or: #1 or #2?

There are two ways to answer the question "what's your favorite movie of all time"? A) Do you mean the best movie I've ever seen? or B) Do you mean the #1 movie, I've enjoyed watching in my life? These two types of questions are fundamentally different. One asks if you see a well-directed, well acted, well written movie do you appreciate it? Liking it in that case is less relevant than appreciating it for it's artistic qualities and it's contributions to film history. The 2nd part of that question is more along the lines of "what's the movie you'd put on, if you were alone, bored and needed some company"? I guess that's the true test of "favorite movie".... (at least to me... I could be way off on this...)

So to be difficult I'm going to give my 3 "favorite" comedies, based on these 2 different ways of thinking of the question.

1) Airplane!- It's simply the funniest movie ever made! Seriously! I saw this movie when I was 10 years old, and at that time I'd never laughed harder in my life. Sixteen years later, I feel the exact same way. There's a lot of lame, obvious humor in this movie, but it's the conviction with which the film makers persist at that type of humor that makes it funny. The humor in this movie is layered. There are a lot of puns, as well as visual gags, as well as pop culture references and movie parodies, there's a little something for everyone here. It's a work of genius, I can't wait to show it to my kids. (This is a #2 type film...)

2) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - This is the #1 type of answer... it's a movie that I've seen and I enjoyed thoroughly, but my enjoyment took a back seat, to the fact that I knew I was watching one of the greatest movies ever created! This movie is truly hysterically funny, and it does so in a variety of ways (like Airplane!), but it makes a social statement as well. It's a hilarious movie about a very serious and frightening topic. Nuclear holocaust was on the mind of every American in the mid 60's, thus making a movie about it and making it HILARIOUS is an undertaking no short of genius. Peter Sellers (who plays four different characters) is on his A-game, as are George C. Scott, James Earl Jones and the rest of the cast. This movie is a treat to the funny bone, but it's rooted in political and social parody as well. It's one you must watch or re-watch soon. I know I'll be doing the same thing and glad that I did.

3) This one was a struggle for me, so narrow it down to just one film. I finally decided on this #2 type comedy, Lost in Translation. I was trying to find three movies with three distinct styles, and styles of humor as well. This movie, is beautifully shot, and moody. I like it, the craziness of Japan is part of the ambience of the movie, and adds to the loneliness of the two central characters and the comedy therein. Bill Murry (along with Steve Martin- who has nothing to do with this film- but I'm glad Joel gave him a nod in his own column) is a comic genius. He can make everything funny, and this movie is a perfect example. There are scenes in this movie that wouldn't be funny had a different actor been cast. Furthermore, it's the humanity of the characters, the fact that we can all somehow Identify with them that makes this movie successful on a deeper level than emitting a vocal response to it's humor. I think this movie is hilarious, but it's subtle in its approach. Part of the humor comes from knowing the characters, and getting into their skin. The other part comes in seeing them react to the crazy world around them, and who doesn't know what that's like... (If you like this movie and want another one like it (and don't mind "slow" movies) check out Stranger Than Paradise. )