# Comedy movies that haven't aged well **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358 "2014-12-16T03:51:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358/101 "2014-12-21T01:18:08Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > I just re-watched _Cannonball Run_ a couple nights ago. Still some amusing bits, but a lot more “couldn’t be done today, and probably a good thing” stuff. Everyone stocking up on beer for their cross-country drive, so many of the jokes based on the lowest possible racial denominator, etc. The earlier (and funnier IMHO) Gumball Rally is still very funny. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358/102 "2014-12-21T01:58:27Z")
_Blazing Saddles_ makes me laugh every time I watch it. But _Airplane_ … hilarious the first couple times, but, leave it alone for some years and come back to it … just not that funny. The best laugh I got from _Airplane_, though, came from an entirely different movie. It was one of the _Scary Movie_ movies … #3? I can’t remember. Leslie Nielson was playing the POTUS. The two main characters, a man and a woman, were in a high-pressure situation, trying to defuse an alien bomb, and Nielson stuck his head in and said, “I just want you to know that we’re all counting on you.” I was probably the oldest person in the theater, and I was the only person who laughed at that line. And … I actually enjoyed being the only person laughing, because _I was the only person in the fucking theater who got the joke_. Fucking kids. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358/103 "2014-12-21T02:30:03Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I find Austin Power painfully unfunny now. I loved it at the time. I kind of like the opening musical moments and I like the opening to the third one, but the rest is kind of dull. Even though it seemed fresh to me in 1997, it now seems cliche. I guess it made itself cliche somehow. Austin Power was always clichéd. The reason that some humour is clichéd is that it works. It works so well that it gets used heavily, commonly, by everybody. The weakness of cliché is that it gets worn out. Austin Power didn’t become cliché. It was constructed from cliché. It worked. You’ve grown up. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358/104 "2014-12-22T00:45:03Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Yes. Do you understand that someone who is predisposed to picketing a movie over a comedic drunk driving scene isn’t going to give a flying fuck either way? Do you understand that you’re picking a ridiculous nit? Do you understand that, thanks to you, this thread has taken an utterly absurd turn? Do you understand that you and me are the only people who care and have commented on this particular item. Do you understand that you saying “this thread has taken an utterly absurd turn” makes less sense than your obtuseness about the difference between characters and their importance in movies and audience reactions them? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358/105 "2014-12-22T01:25:40Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I was probably the oldest person in the theater, and I was the only person who laughed at that line. And … I actually enjoyed being the only person laughing, because _I was the only person in the fucking theater who got the joke_. Fucking kids. I had the same experience with “We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!” in _ **Blazing Saddles** _. The saddest part was, this happened in 1974 or '75, and _none_ of my friends got the joke either! I felt like an old fart by the time I was 20! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358/106 "2014-12-22T02:03:06Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Do you understand that you and me are the only people who care and have commented on this particular item. No. I understand that you are the only one who cares. It’s what prompted my comments on the ridiculousness of your hijack. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358/107 "2014-12-22T02:42:02Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Do you understand that you and me are the only people who care and have commented on this particular item. Do you understand that you saying “this thread has taken an utterly absurd turn” makes less sense than your obtuseness about the difference between characters and their importance in movies and audience reactions them? For what it’s worth, I think Labrador Deceiver is clearly and obviously correct. The original statement was that drunk driving couldn’t be played for laughs in a modern movie; people would picket. Backing off that claim to say that a _main character_ and ONLY a main character couldn’t be a drunk driver played for laughs is pretty much meaningless. Clearly, as demonstrated by the 40 Year Old Virgin, drunk driving can still be played for laughs. Labrador is absolutely correct that the people who would picket such depictions wouldn’t make a distinction between main characters and side characters. Keep in mind that this hypothetical uptight group of people are likely the same group that currently advocates a “no tolerance” R rating for any movie that has any depictions of smoking cigarettes by anyone. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358/108 "2014-12-22T02:52:20Z")
Doing a quick [IMDb search](http://www.imdb.com/search/title?keywords=drunk-driving&production_status=released&release_date=2004,&title_type=feature) for all movies released in the past 10 years with the keyword “drunk driving” shows Hot Fuzz as the #2 hit. [Here](http://www.metacafe.com/watch/an-VrbMnJYthunu/hot_fuzz_2007_too_drunk_to_drive/) is a scene from Hot Fuzz of a main character drunk driving played for laughs. If 40 Year Old Virgin and Hot Fuzz are too old (almost 10 years ago), [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-poTVWtIkA) is a scene from the movie [The Campaign](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790886/?ref_=nv_sr_1) with the main character drunk driving, played for laughs, released in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358/109 "2014-12-23T14:11:32Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Doing a quick [IMDb search](http://www.imdb.com/search/title?keywords=drunk-driving&production_status=released&release_date=2004,&title_type=feature) for all movies released in the past 10 years with the keyword “drunk driving” shows Hot Fuzz as the #2 hit. > > [Here](http://www.metacafe.com/watch/an-VrbMnJYthunu/hot_fuzz_2007_too_drunk_to_drive/) is a scene from Hot Fuzz of a main character drunk driving played for laughs. > > If 40 Year Old Virgin and Hot Fuzz are too old (almost 10 years ago), [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-poTVWtIkA) is a scene from the movie [The Campaign](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790886/?ref_=nv_sr_1) with the main character drunk driving, played for laughs, released in 2012. But in Hot Fuzz the character does have an accident and does get arrested for it. He doesn’t get charged, because the police there are corrupt (even the nice ones), but the drunk driving scene is definitely played as “drunk driving is bad and illegal and will cause accidents.” ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358/110 "2014-12-23T15:02:05Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > But in Hot Fuzz the character does have an accident and does get arrested for it. He doesn’t get charged, because the police there are corrupt (even the nice ones), but the drunk driving scene is definitely played as “drunk driving is bad and illegal and will cause accidents.” Collisions. “Accidents” implies there’s nobody to blame. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358/111 "2014-12-23T15:19:33Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#): > > Well, I guess I’m thirding Clerks. I just watched it again for the first time since high school and I almost fell asleep. I remember laughing my ass off at that movie. Like you, my wife had never seen it, but unfortunately I did waste her time with it. I’m sure I’ll hear about it the next time we’re trying to pick out something to watch. I’ll add _Chasing Amy_ to the mix. My wife had never seen it and I recommended it. I’m still apologizing for the 20 minutes we watched it. God it was painful. But, I beg to differ on _Wedding Crashers_. Still very funny to me. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358/112 "2014-12-23T19:32:53Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > But in Hot Fuzz the character does have an accident and does get arrested for it. He doesn’t get charged, because the police there are corrupt (even the nice ones), but the drunk driving scene is definitely played as “drunk driving is bad and illegal and will cause accidents.” The same can be said for 40 Year Old Virgin. She had to have Steve Carrell do the breathalyzer to start her car because drunk driving is bad and illegal and she got in trouble for it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-movies-that-havent-aged-well/707358.md?page=5)