# Besides Borat what "intelligent" comedies have done well at the box office? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 18, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631 "2006-12-18T15:10:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/1 "2006-12-18T15:10:09Z")
Intelligent comedy I guess is subjective, but I am going by what most on the SD agree are intelligent comedies (Spinal Tap, Holy Grail, Office Space, Hudusucker Proxy- and all other Coen comedies-, Withnail & I, Zoolander, Mystery Men, Cable Guy (!), etc.) and see that none except for Borat have done well at the box office., Are there any that did? ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/2 "2006-12-18T15:17:00Z")
_Galaxy Quest_? Not a huge hit, but definitely not a flop. And it’s at least as intelligent as the likes of _Office Space_ and _Zoolander_. ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/3 "2006-12-18T15:18:20Z")
_Mean Girls_. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/4 "2006-12-18T15:18:29Z")
_A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. The Producers._ ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/5 "2006-12-18T15:27:20Z")
I think Christopher Guest’s films do okay at the box-office – though, come to think of it, I usually wait till they’re out on video. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/6 "2006-12-18T15:42:50Z")
_Annie Hall_? ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/7 "2006-12-18T15:45:27Z")
[Being Jon Malkovich](http://imdb.com/title/tt0120601/business) did pretty well at the box office ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/8 "2006-12-18T17:08:22Z")
I disagree that Borat was “intelligent” exactly. I mean, the coup degrace of the movie was a fat naked guy wrestling with a tall skinny guy. Also, Jews lay eggs. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/9 "2006-12-18T17:11:57Z")
[QUOTE=Apos] I disagree that Borat was “intelligent” exactly. I mean, the coup degrace of the movie was a fat naked guy wrestling with a tall skinny guy. Also, Jews lay eggs. [/QUOTE] I have to say I agree with the above - Borat struck me as being crass and not particularly funny. Definitely not intelligent. Perhaps I’m not close enough to the stereotypes he’s making fun of to be able to appreciate the humour, but I walked out of the theatre thinking to myself “What a waste of time and money.” ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/10 "2006-12-18T17:23:58Z")
Whether you appreciate or even like the humor of Borat is not the issue- surely even if you didn’t enjoy it, you do see the difference between “the running of the Jew” joke and say, a man getting a football in the groin? Certainly Borat had its puerile moments, but I think even its detractors agree there is real intelligence behind it. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/11 "2006-12-18T17:34:57Z")
Just about any of Woody Allen’s comedies would, I think, count as an intelligent movie. So do the first two Mel Brooks movies–_The Producers_ (already mentioned in this thread) and _To Be Or Not To Be_. The Marx Brothers movies and Buster Keaton films are pretty smart. _Dr. Strangelove_ requires a certain amount of brainpower to appreciate, and, IIRC, that did well at the box office. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/12 "2006-12-18T17:43:49Z")
Agree about Woody Allen, but that’s the reason for the OP- I don’t think he’s had a movie even reach the 20 million mark in 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/13 "2006-12-18T17:52:59Z")
[QUOTE=Scribble] Just about any of Woody Allen’s comedies would, I think, count as an intelligent movie. So do the first two Mel Brooks movies–_The Producers_ (already mentioned in this thread) and _To Be Or Not To Be_. [/QUOTE] Que? _To Be Or Not To Be_ came out in 1983, well after \*Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, \*and _History of the World Part 1_. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/14 "2006-12-18T18:01:45Z")
**Wayne’s World** was quite successful, and contained some fairly intelligent humor. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/15 "2006-12-18T20:40:04Z")
[QUOTE=Max Carnage] Que? _To Be Or Not To Be_ came out in 1983, well after \*Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, \*and _History of the World Part 1_. [/QUOTE] I messed up on editing. I managed to merge one partially deleted and rearranged sentence with another, and got a sentence that scanned OK but was wrong. Sorry for the confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/16 "2006-12-19T03:12:32Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Agree about Woody Allen, but that’s the reason for the OP- I don’t think he’s had a movie even reach the 20 million mark in 20 years. [/QUOTE] I saw an interview once where Allen took great pride in the fact that (at least up to that time) he never went over budget and all his films made money. He may never have cleaned up at the box office, but a lot of directors can’t claim to being consistently profitable. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/17 "2006-12-19T03:24:41Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Whether you appreciate or even like the humor of Borat is not the issue- surely even if you didn’t enjoy it, you do see the difference between “the running of the Jew” joke and say, a man getting a football in the groin? Certainly Borat had its puerile moments, but I think even its detractors agree there is real intelligence behind it. [/QUOTE] Meh, I didn’t really find it all that intelligent, either. The antisemitism jokes were on the verge of being intelligent, I guess, when you look at it in terms of taking people’s prejudice and showing how absurd it really is. It even did that with a couple of other prejudices (i.e. misogyny, gays, foreigners). But the vast majority of the movie was candid camera / punk’d style shock material. It was okay for what it was, but I found it amazingly overrated and not much more intelligent than movies like “Old School”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/18 "2006-12-19T03:31:32Z")
> [@](#): > > I saw an interview once where Allen took great pride in the fact that (at least up to that time) he never went over budget and all his films made money. > > He may never have cleaned up at the box office, but a lot of directors can’t claim to being consistently profitable. Kevin Smith has said similar things. All of his movies have made a profit even with modest ticket sales. Like Allen, Smith bases his movies on dialogue rather than special effects or big stars. Because of this, they can keep their budgets very low by Hollywood standards. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/19 "2006-12-19T03:41:28Z")
Some recent intelligent comedies that earned over $100,000,000: The Break-up The Devil Wears Prada Dodgeball Elf 50 First Dates The 40-Year Old Virgin Meet the Fockers My Big Fat Greek Wedding Sweet Home Alabama The Wedding Crashers ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631/20 "2006-12-19T04:30:06Z")
[QUOTE=MaxTheVool] **Wayne’s World** was quite successful, and contained some fairly intelligent humor. [/QUOTE] Absolutely. One of the funniest and smartest comedies I’ve seen [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/besides-borat-what-intelligent-comedies-have-done-well-at-the-box-office/384631.md?page=2)