We watched Filth last night. Totally blown away by it. It was the best movie I’ve seen in a while. But it was dark, with a capitol D. I’m thinking I would like to explore this genre some more.
Looking for suggestions to expand my horizons. I’m looking for more dark than comedy.
I’d suggest In Bruges. I’m not usually a big fan of dark comedy, but a friend recommended it to me, and I liked it so much that I watched it twice in a week.
The obvious current example would be Barry. It’s about a hit man who wants to be an actor, starring Bill Hader (SNL) and Henry Winkler. Very dark, and very funny.
For movies, try Grosse Point Blank, in which Hitman John Cusack goes to his high school reunion and deadly hijinks ensue.
Jojo Rabbit, Paraside, Fight Club, Trainspotting.
The Menu (2022) - can be viewed on HBO MAX currently. Definitely more dark than comedy. Some have described it as “horror” but I would not categorize it that way.
One of my favorites. I watched it ten years ago and was so impressed I immediately asked my gf if she wanted to see a great movie, and watched it with her.
Some of my favourite dark comedy TV series (note: I like my comedies to be funny)
Two minor Scorsese movies that are pretty awesome:
The King of Comedy, with Robert De Niro in an atypical non-tough-guy role as a guy who lives in his mother’s basement (literally, in the literal sense of the word), aspires to be a stand-up comic, and kidnaps Jerry Lewis, who plays a television talk-show host. Being allowed to do a spot on Lewis’s show is the ransom.
After Hours, with Griffin Dunne as a guy who just wants to get home, and the whole world seems to be conspiring against him with one fucked-up situation after another frustrating him. Pretty good supporting cast, including Cheech and Chong playing . . . well, essentially the kind of guys you’d expect Cheech and Chong to play.
I liked “The Hunt” way more than I thought I would.
Tucker and Dale vs Evil
Sets the teen-sex-slasher movie on its ear. Alan (“Firefly”) Tudyk stars. Well worth your time, if you’re into this kind of thing.
Ha, brings back memories of being in my early 20s, taking a first date to that movie, not having any idea how weird and dark it was. It was kind of uncomfortable sitting through, wondering what she was thinking. Imagine taking a first date to see David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet”- similar experience. Fortunately she was cool with it. Not that the relationship went anywhere, but that was more due to me than my first date movie choice.
A couple of older movies with a similar theme…
Parents (1989)
Eating Raoul (1982)
Haven’t watched either in eons. From what I remember, Eating Raoul was an indy flick with lower production values; Parents was a more mainstream movie, starring Randy Quaid and Mary Beth Hurt.
A couple of TV series I missed
Ohh, wow. I remember watching that soon after it came out, and really enjoying it.
Trivia: Raoul was played by a young Robert Beltran, who later starred as Chakotay on Star Trek: Voyager.
A favorite:
I don’t know I would call that “dark comedy”. I love the movie. I absolutely love the scene where Judge Reinhold is ranting about how he and his wife need to be ruthless; meanwhile he is very carefully and delicately picking up a spider and placing it outside the front door. (shot from the porch) You then see the screen door open, a foot come out and smash the spider.
Reading the Wiki description of Filth, I’m surprised no one has suggested A Fish Called Wanda (though not as violent, it seems to have a similar arc).
I am also partial to A Simple Favor, which is a satire on what I call the “Gone Girl Genre” of films.
Pretty much anything by Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and thge recent The Banshees of Inisherin) all qualify. Three Billboards actually feels like a Coen Bros movies (casting Frances McDonald nails that down), so while you are at it also check out the entire oeuvre of the Coens except for their shitty remake of The Ladykillers and maybe give Intolerable Cruelty a pass. (I guess Miller’s Crossing and No Country for Old Men aren’t really comedies but why skip such great films?) Often overlooked gems are The Man Who Wasn’t There (basically a Cain-esque parody of small town murder noir) and Burn After Reading,which is a conspiracy thriller with no conspiracy populated by idiots. (J.K. Simmons only has a couple of scenes in the entire film but he clears the decks with every line.)
Danny DeVito hasn’t directed many films but while Ruthless People and Throw Momma from the Train are just pretty good, The War of the Roses is transcendent and doesn’t cop out at the end. If you’ve never seen it…you have to. “A good dog to the last bite…woof, woof!”
David O. Russell is also a director to check out (if you can get past his abusive on-set behavior) and while I don’t think he’s ever quite done another film as good as Three Kings, American Hustle and Joy have a good amount of dark humor.
Beyond that…Being John Malkovich and Adaptation are great Charlie Kaufman comedies with a dark tinge. (The Kaufman-adapted Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is less well done and overproduced but worth seeing as an early Sam Rockwell performance alone.) Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys are good sendups of the detective/conspiracy genre with plenty of darkness. Adam McKay’s Vice isn’t exactly a comedy and Christian Bale plays such a deadpan Dick Cheney that it is hard to tell if it is supposed to be a satire, but Sam Rockwell nails a perfect balance of parody and sincere idiocy in portraying George W. Bush.
The film is surprisingly lighthearted for a movie about a child whose imaginary friend is Hitler (played by Taika Waititi) in the wanting years of WWII before German collapse but it certainly has some surprisingly dark turns. And Sam Rockwell again…in fact, just go look through Rockwell’s body of work because he does very well at being the clown in the midst of darkness and despair.
Stranger
Thanks. I’ve good things unfortunately no HBO MAX - I’ll have to wait for other venues.
I wouldn’t mind if dark comedy drifted lightly into horror.