How about War of The Roses?
You’re looking at them in the context of their whole career, I’m just looking at them through the lens of the one movie. Groucho wilttily and zanily sent young men to their deaths as a punchline. Harpo chased that girl around as an armed soldier, not as a madcap romantic. The closing scene was of a war-weary public telling their leader to go fuck himself. If Duck Soup had been their only release, it would be remembered as pretty dark.
When you think of it, a lot of both The Simpsons and Futurama is dark comedy. And let’s not forget South Park. All of them make light of total idiots making huge errors and creating complete chaos, it’s just that they don’t show the uglier elements on screen. South Park shows more, so in that sense you can say it’s darker.
Remember when Homer was in charge of getting computers Y2K compliant, and every commercial jet fell out of the sky like a brick at 12:00:01? No corpses shown, of course. And funny as hell. Don’t Get me started on Zapp Brannigan. Oh yeah, and then there’s Kenny.
The Player
Bob Roberts
Has anyone here seen The Chumscrubber?
Yes. Great movie.
Ok, good, thanks. I was unsure whether my thing for Allison Janney might have been coloring my judgement.
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The Player and Bob Roberts are both good. I have them on VHS somewhere. I saw The Chumscrubber when the DVD came out a few years ago. It didn’t really make a big impression on me but I understand it has gained somewhat of a cult following.
No, it was good. I see you also mentioned Brazil. That’s on my must watch list. Still. It’s one of that those I am certain I will love. 'Tis a very long list. I don’t get around to watching movies all that often, and I have a terrible memory when it comes to those I have watched.
It’s a big favorite of mine (Mean Girls was nearly a scene-by-scene remake), but it has a happy ending that upholds traditional values, so… Yeah, not quite dark enough.
The original ending, which wasn’t filmed, would have been a bit darker but still basically a happy ending. In case you don’t know about the original ending:
J.D. blows up the school and everyone dies, but all the different social groups (jocks, geeks, stoners etc.) come together and have a prom in heaven.
Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange is arguably an even darker comedy than his** Dr. Strangelove**.
Some great films listed here, but in terms of blackness, Chris Morris’s Jam makes everything else look like an episode of the Golden Girls. Humour that is genuinely painful
One does also not eat chicken before, during, or after David Lynch’s Eraserhead.
That was my first thought. Even if you think the moral of the story is “don’t get divorced” (which I don’t), it’s not “don’t get divorced, because divorce is wrong.” It’s “don’t get divorced, or else you’ll end up dead.” Love that movie.
Andrew Vachss’s Burke mysteries are very dark and very funny, in a perverse sort of way.