# Black Comedies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2004, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834 "2004-06-17T07:28:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/21 "2004-06-18T02:20:14Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > I came in here expecting a thread about _Soul Plane_ and _White Chicks_. No. It’s a thread about _COMEDIES_! ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/22 "2004-06-18T06:09:54Z")
**Barton Fink**. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/23 "2004-06-18T12:08:01Z")
Check out Jules Feiffer’s _Little Murders._ The play is better than the movie. While 60s relevancy usually makes me want to reach for my revolver, this one holds up surprisingly well. Also, Vonnegut’s _Happy Birthday, Wanda June._ Like all Vonnegut, it doesn’t transfer well to film but the play is worthwhile nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/24 "2004-06-18T12:11:03Z")
_Pretty Woman_ had all the elements of a black comedy (moreso in its first draft); a love story between the two most reviled caricatures of American capitalism, the hooker and the tycoon. Not sure how that crossed the line into Chick Flick, but it did. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/25 "2004-06-18T16:36:28Z")
Another vote for _Heathers_ here. And I must say that I was a huge fan if _Very Bad Things._ I sat through the whole entire move scratching my head and looking confused. Until that final scene, and it dawned on me. The whole movie, all those situations and crimial acts and all that destruction- were all Cameron Diaz’s comeuppance. She was the main character the whole time, and the movie was aobut her punishment. I laughed at least twice as long as she wailed. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/26 "2004-06-18T16:56:39Z")
**American Beauty**. Kevin Spacey was great. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/27 "2004-06-18T19:03:52Z")
No love for Kubrick’s LOLITA? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/28 "2004-06-18T19:06:57Z")
also, THEATRE OF BLOOD starring Vincent Price TALES OF TERROR - the second of the three, THE BLACK CAT (mixed with CASK OF AMONTILLADO) with Price & Peter Lorre as Fortunato & Monstressor. COMEDY OF TERRORS with Price, Lorre, Boris Karloff & Basil Rathbone THE RAVEN with Price, Lorre & Karloff Guess what kinda films I watched a lot in my formative years! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/29 "2004-06-18T19:10:53Z")
My two favorite black comedies are _[Very Bad Things](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124198/)_ and _[Love Stinks](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0188863/)_. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/30 "2004-06-18T19:11:01Z")
I can not remember if it is Black or Dark (reminds me of coffee, oddly enough) but check out **Naked Lunch.** My only other suggestion would be one of my favorite movies, **Brazil.** ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/31 "2004-06-18T20:11:24Z")
**Brazil** is a great choice. \*\*Monty Python and the Holy Grail \*\* is a pretty dark comedy really and another Gilliam film Time Bandits is pretty dark and really funny. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/32 "2004-06-18T21:11:30Z")
**Showgirls[COLOR=DarkOrchid]![/COLOR]** ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/33 "2004-06-18T23:18:35Z")
How about **A Fish Called Wanda**? ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/34 "2004-06-19T02:14:09Z")
Todd Solondz made _Welcome to the Dollhouse_, the blackest of comedies, as well as _Happiness_, which had comedic moments. \*Welcome to the Dollhouse \* was a revelation when I first saw it, and I consider to be among the finest movies of its decade. _Happiness_ was a bit tougher, not only because it was difficult to watch, but because it evoked deeper emotions that blunted the impact of the comic elements. The scene where Joy is broken up by the death of Jon Lovitz and the ensuing conversation among the coworkers as to who, exactly he was is emotionally wrenching as well as very funny. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/35 "2004-06-19T03:10:10Z")
Todd Solondz always does black comedies, but some are better than others. If you liked Happiness and Welcome… you may be, as I was, let down by Storytelling. My favorite black comedy, however, is [The Last Supper.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113613/) Another ood one, that I bet even fewer people have seen is [Life in the Fast Lane](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139645/). The imdb rating is proof some people have no sense of humor. Some being 60, apparently ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/36 "2004-06-19T06:54:48Z")
Chaplin’s [Monsieur Verdoux](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0039631/combined). ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/37 "2004-06-19T16:04:48Z")
> [@ZebraShaSha](#): > > I can not remember if it is Black or Dark (reminds me of coffee, oddly enough) but check out **Naked Lunch.** NAKED LUNCH is beyond black! Ewwwww! _L_ As Bart Simpson said, there are two things wrong with that title! ---
**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:** [June 19, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/38 "2004-06-19T16:10:25Z")
[Man Bites Dog](http://imdb.com/title/tt0103905/) - A Belgian comedy darker than a black hole. At night. Wearing sunglasses. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/39 "2004-06-19T17:28:15Z")
\*Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life \* – covers the alpha and omega of the human condition, doesn’t it? (And can’t I please have your liver?) \*The End \* – A terminally-ill Burt Reynolds repeatedly tries to kill himself. \*Life Stinks \* – A successful, arrogant real-estate tycoon (Mel Brooks) self-strands in dystopic Los Angeles to win a bet. Much degradation follows. \*After Hours \* – Griffin Dunne similarly lost in lower Manhattan in the A.M. and is menaced by its neurotic, paranoid, and strange denizens. \*The Trouble With Harry \* – Alfred Hitchcock’s bonbon about an inconvenient corpse found in a rural field in New England, which everyone feels guilty for, and repeatedly tries to dispose of… see it for Shirley McLaine and John Forsythe. \*Spanking the Monkey \* and \*Flirting With Disaster \* – both by David O. Russell. Comic fodder includes: incest, family dysfunction, drug use, neurotic and unpleasant personalities, gay relationships, inappropriate lust, and law enforcement. _The War of the Roses_ – In which a divorce gets very ugly. Marvellous decon work on the materialism of yuppie suburbanites, though I could’ve done without the DeVito framing device. _The New Age_ – Michael Tolkin’s very dry \*amour de’feu \* tale in which a materialistic, flaky L.A. power couple direct their self-absorbed gaze on various idealistic fancies, with disastrous results. _Withnail & I_ – unemployment, boredom, drug use, alcoholism, bad food, deranged violent wierdos, urban and rural squalidness, and unwelcome buggery. _The Wicker Man_ – Sometimes the border between horror and black comedy is razor-thin. For my first viewing it was the former, but subsequently, the latter. _Ravenous_ – Social dysfunction, anomie, drug use, professional incompetence,… and, oh yeah, _berzerker cannibalism_ at a remote Army outpost in the postbellum West. \*Twelve Monkeys \* and \*Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas \* – Terry Gilliam’s takes on apocalypse and drugged-out gonzos. (His _Brazil_ was great, too.) \*Fight Club \* – It’s a question of taste, or the lack of it, but I think Chuck Palahniuk’s febrile nightmare of urban alienation, postmodern emasculation, and free-ranging anarchy is just freakin’ hilarious. \*Groundhog Day \* – weak as a romantic comedy, but is redeemed by its strong black comedy elements, where it revels in Bill Murray’s antisocial personality, repeated suicide attempts, etc. _Magnolia_ – on balance a heavy-handed large-cast melodrama. But the first ten minutes or so (the prologue section narrated by Ricky Jay) is priceless black comedy: (paraphrasing) “And, somehow, I know that this cannot be… simply a matter of chance.” \*Re-Animator \* – horror/gorefest/farce/black comedy… and totally OTT. 🆒 ---
**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:** [June 19, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834/40 "2004-06-19T18:09:17Z")
> [@The Scrivener](#): > > _Withnail & I_ – unemployment, boredom, drug use, alcoholism, bad food, deranged violent wierdos, urban and rural squalidness, and unwelcome buggery. That’s _burglary_😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-comedies/250834.md?page=3)