I have often said that The Producers is a Mel Brooks movie for people who don’t like Mel Brooks.
Every other movie of his is a farce - it is intended to be so utterly unbelievable that you can under no circumstances suspend disbelief and truly fall into the movie. If you go in expecting a believable plot with believable characters acting in some way believably, then you will hate Mel Brooks movies. Kinda like 3 Stooges - you either love it or you hate it.
That being said, there’s a lot of social commentary in Blazing Saddles. The whole “black sheriff” thing to start with; the line-up of thugs at for Headly Lamar; Governor LePetomane. Yes, I will admit, if you don’t like farces, you won’t like Blazing Saddles. The 12-year-old in me can laugh at the campfire scene; my mature adult can understand the mistreatment of the railroad workers; my satiric adult loves the “But we don’t want the Irish!” line.
Not necessarily “a” movie that is overrated, but how about an actor? There’s a lot of people who love anything that Will Ferrell puts out; I think he overacts and mugs too much. Can not watch anything where he’s the main character other than Stranger Than Fiction, where he does a good job playing it straight.
I was excited to see Ladybird after it got so many accolades. After watching it I was embarrassed that it had gotten to many accolades. Like, had reviewers/critics seen any other films before?
The Breakfast Club.
Everyone is so distractingly fidgety and wound up, like they’re meth addicts or something.
Dazed and Confuzed.
Seriously? Oh giggle - neat bong hits! Giggle! Featuring Matthew McConaughey as one of cinema’s skeeviest characters.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
I wanted awful things to happen to Broderick after a while.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Actually, any John Hughes film, possibly.
Sleepless in Seattle.
Just…no.
Crouching Tiger…Hidden Drag.
Absolutely no clue about what all the fuss was when this came out - all I saw was a bunch of levitating deadbeats.
Saw.
Fuck torture porn.
Kids.
For some reason this was supposed to be hip, or something, when it came out. I wanted to strangle most of those fuckers, especially the incoherent lead.
Elizabethtown.
Yet another reason why there’s no such thing as a good rom-com.
I really have to object, though this is certainly not at the top of my list of favorite films, but it was well-made and enjoyable. I’m male and I do recognize it as basically a woman’s film (dare I say “chick-flick”?) with the general theme that many men are assholes, but some are not. I felt that the HD version was worth preserving in my archives and I wouldn’t mind watching it again. IMDB and the Rotten Tomates critics’ rating – which can be radically different – both rate it quite highly.
As a superhero fan, I found the Christopher Nolan Batman movies almost unbearable–fascism and nonsensical behavior overlain with gloomy seriousness and long stretches of boredom.
Okay, you and I are never going to agree on criticism. I’ll console myself with the many erudite articles appearing in major publications that talk about how the movie is an underappreciated satirical masterpiece, and you content yourself with…whatever that was.
Have you seen The Twelve Chairs? It’s a comedy but it’s a lot closer to The Producers than it is to Brooks’ subsequent work.
It’s weird if you watch The Twelve Chairs and Love and Death. They were made around the same time and both were satires of Russian literature. I think most people watching them back when they were released would have predicted Mel Brooks and Woody Allen would have following the opposite career paths. Allen would have appeared to be the one who would end up making slapstick farces and Brooks would have appeared to be the one who would end up making serious movies.
Huh - didn’t realise it was that much so universally critically panned (as I search into it, now). Was dragged to it with the unpromising braying about Orlando Bloom being the newest thing. Glad that it ended up with the judgement it deserved.
It seemed to me it was one stupid decision after another. Nothing those women did made sense. I watched with a woman who agreed. She said they were just being reactionary.
I still don’t know quite what the OP is talking about, but Garbo was tougher than Lucy Lawless, more sublime than Meryl Streep, and funnier than Wanda Sykes & Tina Fey put together. Also, more sophisticated than Katharine Hepburn.
The sole advert tag for Anna Christie was “Garbo Talks!” and then for Ninotchka was “Garbo Laughs!” and I’m here to tell you, there is not a sexier laugh that side of the Hays Code. I could just watch a loop of Garbo laughing for an hour. Two hours when we were on lockdown.
So what? Know who else did a lot of things that didn’t make sense? Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Which was sort of the point. One critic who enthusiastically praised the film called the women’s actions “preposterous”, as indeed they were by most common standards, but that didn’t stop Thelma and Louise from being nominated for six Oscars, including Ridley Scott for best director and both lead actors for best actress, and winning for … best original screenplay. Based on overall critic reviews, it’s now considered one of the two best films of 1991, bested only by Silence of the Lambs. What you seem to feel is off-putting is in a sense a significant dark point of a great and entertaining film.
You’re not supposed to like anyone in Kids, Harmony is a bit of a nihilist. His films are about the tragedy of the human condition. Bizarre and depressing is what that man is going for. Gummo even more so.
That’s cool if it’s not your cup of tea though.
ETA; I was replying to someone up thread, but this new websites functionality and iPad’s auto incorrect have just about done me in. Fuck this.
Okay, you and I are never going to agree on criticism. I’ll console myself with the many erudite articles appearing in major publications that talk about how the movie is an underappreciated satirical masterpiece, and you content yourself with…whatever that was.