Somebody intentionally told you to answer On the Waterfront?
Well, I’ve seen it and didn’t find it particularly funny, but it’s supposed to be a romantic comedy, or so I’ve been told.
I maintain that American Beauty is not a tragedy.
(Today’s “Most excellent 50s scandal reference goes to…”)
A bit off-topic, but almost any actor or writer will tell you comedy’s a lot harder than drama. It’s odd that Eddie Murphy got critical raves for a straight dramatic role in Dreamgirls. While he really was great in that performance, I can think of several other actors who could have done the same role (Jamie Foxx [had he not been the mogul in the movie] could have pulled it off as could Will Smith as could others). There are hardly any other actors who could have pulled off Coming to America or The Nutty Professor or even Trading Places anywhere near as funnily and convincingly however.
It’s totally political and formulaic and your chances of nomination depend as much on the screenwriter and director as on your performance.
Scooby Doo was hardly an Oscar caliber film, but Matthew Lillard’s Shaggy was at least as great a performance in terms of acting talent and making t his own while paying homage to Kasem’s voice and the cartoon character as Hoffman was in Capote but nobody paid homage because it’s a silly cartoon-come-to-life kids movie. [Red Buttons]Matthew Lillard never got a dinner.[/Red Buttons]
Last year Toby Jones gave a performance in Infamous, that, imo, blew Hoffman away in a vehicle with the same basic premise but a much better script. He didn’t even get a nomination though because 1) who’s Toby Jones? and 2) sorry, we just gave PSH an Oscar for playing Capote. C’est la vie.
The Apartment is not a comedy. Although it initially plays like a standard issue rom-com (complete with typical ingenue love interest, slightly creepy and stalkerish would-be romancer, and stock villian) it’s actually a take-down of the style of romantic comedies that preceeded it, and most that followed as well. Instead of sprialing to a comedic cresendo, it crashes into reality…that being a character in a romantic comedy would actually be disturbing. It’s no more a comedy than Roman Holiday.
I agree. It’s a farce of the Lynchian expectation of “the dark underbelly of suburban life”; everyone is such a characture of suburbanite vacuousness that it’s impossible to take the film seriously. I consider it Fight Club Lite, minus the happy-go-apocalyptic ending.
As noted, there have been several other comedies as Best Picture, though the Academy prefers drama, especially preachy, weepy, heart-strings-tugging films, 'cause then they look like they’re all serious and shit. I think Martin Scorsese should have broken his statue in half on the podium and thrown the pieces at Academy members while quoting famous lines from his movies as his acceptance speech (“Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads. Here is a man who would not take it anymore. Funny? How the fuck am I funny? Did you fuck my wife!?!”) but I guess despite making some of the best movies in history he still requires validation from authority like most other people.
Stranger
Another comedy that was nominated for Best Picture is Tootsie (also nominated for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress (the only win, for Jessica Lange), Director, Editing, Cinematography, Sound and Screenplay).
And by the way, Tootsie and Dustin Hoffman (who played Tootsie) lost the Best Picture and Best Actor awards to Gandhi and Ben Kingsley (who played Gandhi). This was also the same year that ET was released. I think that both ET and Tootsie were better, more significant films, but the AMPAS gave the prize to the noble, historical epic.
Kevin Kline won BSA for his role in A Fish Called Wanda.
And then there’s Marisa Tomei’s Best Supporting Actress win for My Cousin Vinny, but as we all know, that’s only because the announcer read the wrong name. 