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JNeibaur
Reviews
The Mouse in The Bread (2018)
Strong indie film from new young filmmaker
Sharisse Zeroonian's experimental film "The Mouse in the Bread" explores its characters within the trappings of a narrative that seems standard at the outset but soon delves into deeper and more complex issues. "The Mouse in the Bread" is a series of awkward situations among quirky people whose actions range from amusing to uncomfortable. The performances by non-professionals are accurate to their characters. They respond well to Zeroonian's direction. I will look forward to more from this impressive young filmmaker.
Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World (2005)
The search for humor
Albert Brooks has a very particular style of comedy, that which is dryer and more offbeat than what can be considered the mainstream. The idea of him doing his ventriloquist routine (where he simply talks along with the dummy, his mouth moving all along, and tosses it to the ground while looking for a prop while still doing its voice), or improv act (where he gets ideas from the audience and subsequently uses none of them) in a Muslim country is actually quite amusing. These bits are the very sort of comedy that would not comfortably translate, and that is the essential humor of the piece. That someone like Brooks would be chosen for an assignment to study what makes people laugh in India and Pakistan is also outrageously funny in that it is first a ridiculous idea for government study and, mostly, because Albert Brooks' particular style would be all wrong for such a study. The movie itself starts out quite funny, from his trying out for a remake of "Harvey" to his receiving the dubious honor of the assignment, and his immediate attempts to adjust when first landing in India. His attempt to translate his comedy is also funny in the way it fails so miserably. But, like most Albert Brooks films, this one doesn't sustain its strength to the end. It manages to peter out. This is a problem with many of Brooks' films, and he even makes a joke about the ending of Lost in America being "tacked on." But when approached with an open mind, "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World" is actually quite an amusing effort. I usually understand when certain films receive extreme comments, but the negative ones for this harmless movie are a surprise to me.
Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title (1966)
An interesting period piece
This had a long reputation as one of the worst movies ever made, though few had actually seen it. It took me until the winter of 2007 to catch up with this one, and while by no means a good movie, it is at least an interesting one. I understand that the backstory behind this low budget production was that The Dick Van Dyke Show was wrapping up, and a few of its stars put together an independent movie. Morey Amsterdam produced, co-wrote, and starred, along with Rose Marie and Richard Deacon. As insurance, he filled his script with jokes, and filled his movie with cameos. Its plot about spies and espionage does not hold together, but now, after 40 years, the movie works on another level. The plot is dated, the stars and cameos are very much from another era of showbiz, and the jokes are of the irresistibly corny variety that have also faded into memory. So now the film is a quirky little cultural artifact of sorts. It is not good cinema, but in the wake of the Police Academy series, Dude Where's My Car, and Freddy Got Fingered, it can hardly be called among the worst movies ever made. It is offbeat, silly, dated, and, if you're in the right frame of mind, rather fun, especially if you have an interest in the era, or fond memories of it.
The Out of Towners (1970)
Outrageously funny
I was only a 12 year old kid when I initially saw this movie on the first day of my summer vacation from school back in 1970. We laughed so hard throughout that I missed many funny lines. Since then I have seen this movie several times, and still find it uproariously funny. I am a Midwesterner who loves visiting New York City, so I do not believe it is a put down of the big apple, but simply a comic study of a trip where everything goes wrong for a very high-strung person and his comparatively passive wife. Lemmon plays this frustration beautifully, and the angry humor is as much cathartic as it is hilarious. While no cinema classic, it remains one of the funniest movies of its time, and one I enjoy upon repeated viewings.
Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)
Fascinatingly terrible
As remarkably bad this film is, somehow there is a certain macabre interest in watching a film that is at such a level. Bela Lugosi is always welcome, no matter how bad the movie may be, but the Martin and Lewis ripoff act, Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo, are nothing more than a glaring example of how show business devours its own. One has to sit through this travesty to believe it. Some side trivia: Martin and Lewis took Mitchell and Petrillo to court for stealing their act, but in court Mitchell stated that while Petrillo looking like Lewis was an act of God, Martin got a nose job to look more like Mitchell! And that comment ruined Dean and Jerry's case! Also, in the 1980s, when Lewis appeared on the Today show, they ran a montage of Jerry Lewis clips from The Colgate Comedy Hour, except one clip was of Sammy Petrillo and not Jerry! Lewis pointed out the error to flustered interviewer Bryant Gumbel. Jerry was not offended, though, he found the whole thing funny. "I was never that good looking," he said. Incidentally, Duke Mitchell actually appears in the Martin and Lewis feature "Sailor Beware."