Movies that people say are funny but which really disappointed you?

[Orrex]

For me, it's Idiocracy. From start to finish it seems forced and lame and obvious, not to mention boring. The joke, such as it is, might have been sufficient to carry a fifteen minute short-subject film, but it just doesn't have the oomph to support a feature-length movie.


C.S.A. was a major let-down for me, too.

[mitchum]

1. I agree about both your examples...

add the last couple of Christopher Guest projects

It is really difficult to sustain the funny in a feature length comedy
maybe that's why there should be less of them?

[Orrex]

2. Best in Show was his last one that really made me laugh

And I still laugh myself silly every time I see it. Mighty Wind and the rest, though? Not so much.


Generally speaking, it's difficult to base a comedy film on a single joke, even if the joke is seemingly wide-ranging. That's why Idiocracy and C.S.A. fail for me.

[Broken_Hero]

3. C.S.A whats that?

And concerning your question, Borat...Borat, I hated that movie...I took a chance on the pulse of the DU Lounge Movie buffs and bought it when it came out on dvd, since then, I hardly pay attention to the movie critic stuff I read here, unless it follows a certain path(of Duers).

[Orrex]

4. Confederate States of America

It was a mockumentary, and I'm not even sure that it's supposed to be funny per se, but it wasn't even all that clever.

I really liked Borat, though...

[PVnRT]

5. It was just fucking stupid

At no point did the Confederacy want to "conquer" the rest of the Union. Had they won, there would be the CSA and the USA.

[Orrex]

8. Beyond the historical problems, the film was just poorly executed

Boring!

[Bucky]

61. Big "Duh" moment here. It wasn't supposed to be serious, ya knucklehead.

The mockumentary was making a point about continued racism in the United States well into the 20th Century. The "outlandishly" racist products they mentioned, for instance, (like Nigger Hair Tobacco and Coon Chicken restaurants) were actual products sold in the US (and not just in the South).

Of course you're free not to have liked the movie. But unless I also have to tell you that Jonathan Swift didn't really believe in cooking Irish babies for dinner, you shouldn't have to be told that the CSA movie wasn't a literal historical projection.

[Orsino]

6. Spaceballs.

I know I'm supposed to love genre movies,and parodies of genre movies, but Spaceballs struck me as aggressively unfunny, and not even interesting.

[Orrex]

9. That's a great example

I've disliked that movie from the first time I saw it. Everything about it is unwatchable.

Quite a disappointment after such films as Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles.

[Richardo]

12. I'm with you both on this one

[CBGLuthier]

7. everything WIll Farrell has done.

Nothing personal against him. Even thought he was funny on SNL. But his work in movies is painfully unfunny.

Who told you C.S.A. was a comedy? Humorous at times but not really a comedy. I know people think all satires are comedies but not really.

[Orrex]

11. I mentioned in reply 4 that I didn't know whether it was supposed to be funny

But it wasn't even clever.

[NJmaverick]

58. His one man show as George Bush was hilarious

his movies suck

[peekaloo]

10. The 40 Year Old Virgin.

:shrug:

[TZ]

13. American Pie

I'm certainly no prude but it just came off as mostly stupid to me....

[bigwillq]

14. Wedding Crashers

It was ok. I hate Vince Vaughn, maybe that is why.

[LynneSin]

15. The first 30 minutes when they were crashing weddings was funny as hell

Once they crashed the Senator's daughter wedding it went very quickly downhill from there.

[gmoney]

24. that seems to be the trend these days

Most "comedies" start out with the funny stuff for the first half-hour or so, then feel obliged to have a morality tale or sensitive romance unfold or something.

Rare to find a comedy that's funny (or even intends to be funny) start to finish anymore.

[LynneSin]

26. Office Space - that was funny from start to end without too much of a lull

and I love office space. Raising Arizona was the same way too.

[gmoney]

28. You do realize that Office Space is 10 years old now?

And Raising Arizona is 22 years?

[LynneSin]

29. And I could watch both of them tonight and still laugh my ass off the entire time.

I could watch Wedding Crashers and be bored after 30 minutes.

[gmoney]

30. Oh sure... they're great movies.

I love both those movies, too! I'm just saying "they don't make 'em like that anymore." These days, you get a few minutes of attempted funny, then padding for the rest. (e.g. Wedding Crashers)

Now, get off my lawn!

[PVnRT]

45. Role Models is funny for about 90% of the movie

It hits a slow spot near the end, but when they show up at a ren faire battle as the KISS guild - fucking comedy gold.

[brendan120678]

16. Pineapple Express. (nt)

[bif]

17. Austin Powers

[mikeytherat]

18. Dude, where's my car?

A black hole of suck from which no humor could escape. None.

mikey_the_rat

[Tommy_Carcetti]

19. Idiocracy has grown on me to become one of my favorites.

When I first saw it, I gave it a definite meh. But after a few more viewings, I really came to like it.

The thing about Mike Judge is that he is terrific at creating satire that will go over most people's heads. The problem is, well, it goes over most people's heads (hence, you had teenagers who thought that the title characters in Beavis and Buttheads were actually cool role models to emulate).

Idiocracy on the surface just seems so incredibly juvenile and dumb that it's so hard to take it seriously. But there really is a deeper reading of it. Take the idiot teabaggers who are repeating phrases at townhall meetings that are being fed to them by talk radio hosts without having any concept of what they are saying--because, well, Glenn Beck/Rush Limbaugh/Sean Hannity have radio and TV shows, so that means they must be smarter than the rest of us.

The entire scene where Luke Wilson's character is arguing with the President's cabinet after he finds out that plants are being watered by Brawndo (i.e. Gatorade). The cabinet keeps on repeating Brawndo's corporate slogans to all of his questions. The whole scene is so indicative of many internet "debates", even some dare I say that I've come across in DU.

Or our increasingly shrinking attention span. Like how in Idiocracy everyone expected the Luke Wilson character to solve the drought in a week. We see the same thing today with President Obama trying to solve the economy, and a mere seven months into his presidency people are screaming at him because unemployment hasn't turned around yet.

There really is a genius in that movie, believe it or not. You just have to put aside the adolescent humor to find it.

[gmoney]

27. The premise is pretty spot on...

The reproductive, uh, trends being what they are these days.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

57. Read up on "Regression Towards the Mean".

It will make you feel better.

[Eyerish]

20. There's Something about Mary...

& "Meet the Parents". Not the biggest Ben Stiller fan. The only movie I've ever liked him in was "The Royal Tenenbaums"

[Beer on a stick]

32. Try "The Heartbreak Kid". Really funny.

[Patiod]

37. I didn't laugh at all during "Something About Mary"

OR "Royal Tannenbaums".

Although I loved his short-lived TV series, which DID make me laugh. That's why they say "YMMV", I guess.

[Richardo]

39. I had one LOL moment in "Something about Mary" - The 6-min vs 7-min abs argument.

Other than that, painfully unfunny.

[Dr. Strange]

21. The English Patient

Not funny at all.

[Beer on a stick]

22. Borat. TWO funny bits in the entire movie. Ugh.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

23. Most anything by Kevin Smith.

Clerks--the original one--had some originality to it, but that's about it. The rest is all shameless pandering to the hipster/fanboy set. And the Jay and Silent Bob characters (especially the Jay character) are just annoying more than anything else, and not funny in the least.

[begin_within]

25. The Big Lebowski

turned out to be a third-rate story, populated with a parade of oddball minor characters in the tradition of John Waters, but with none of the charm and humanity of John Waters' characters, and who serve no purpose in the story except to create a "bizarre" atmosphere. Normally I have nothing against the f-word in films, but when the f-word or some variation of it is every third word in the script, you know something went wrong in the script writing phase of the project. My neighbors show movies in their backyard every other Saturday in the summer, and one of them last year was "Lebowski" and there were at least 30 people at the beginning of the movie, and only 4 of us left at the end - and 2 of the 4 were the people that live at the house.

[Arugula Latte]

35. That's what I was going to say. What an overrated movie.

I expected to love it -- but I've fallen asleep twice trying to get through it.

I usually love the Cohen Bros. :shrug:

[cemaphonic]

41. Well it's true that the plot is mostly just a scaffolding to hang jokes and characters off of.

(that and a parody of "The Big Sleep"). I don't really see a John Waters comparison, other than a love for Americana and eccentric characters - but both of those have been Coen staples since their first movie.

[begin_within]

48. I just meant the bit characters

Waters' movies are full of them but they are funny and charming. I did not find the minor characters in Big Leb. to be amusing or charming at all, just annoying. I didn't like Jeff Bridge's attempt to be Tommy Chong-like much either. I thought Big Leb. is the Coen's weakest and most disposable film, of the ones I have seen anyway. This is all just my opinion though, I am aware that "Big Lebowski" is highly revered on this web site and fully expected to be crucified for criticizing it here..

[jobycom]

56. I used to hate Marvin Gaye.

Then one day it clicked and I understood what he was doing, and I can't understand how I missed it before. I think it's like one of those 3-D pictures. If you don't get it, you just see scribbling. But when everything comes into focus, you see the whole thing. One day I hope that happens for you with The Big Lebowski. Not one bit of the reason that film is so revered has anything to do with the plot or bizarre atmosphere. It's revered for what's going on below the scribbling on the surface, and that's just something you either see or don't.

[begin_within]

59. well, just tell me then

[jobycom]

60. Can't.

It's the satire, it's the mockery of past film making and scriptwriting conventions, it's the melodrama of cliche cops versus the absurdity of reverse-cliche cab drivers, it's the mocking of audience expectations. I can't explain it any more than I can explain why Marvin Gaye is more than a weak-voiced tenor who sings off-rhythm or why Jimi Hendrix did more than make a racket.

[begin_within]

63. Well they certainly mocked my expectations

I saw "Big Lebowski" 4 days after having watched "Tokyo Story" and thus "Big Lebowski" forever ruined my expectations of what a film could be... so I guess they succeeded on that level without my even being aware of it. Thanks to the Coen brothers we can no longer expect good films or even good filmmaking. Congratulations!.

[fizzgig]

31. bottle rocket bored me to tears

my sister and my fiance love that movie and both raved about it. i found it damn near unwatchable.

[cemaphonic]

38. Bottle Rocket has some dead spots for sure

All of the scenes with the South American maid being biggest culprit. I thought that it was pretty funny overall, but mostly thanks to Owen Wilson's characterization and delivery. So if you just find Dignan obnoxious (which I can easily see), there's not much more to it.

My wife hates it too.

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

This week is our third quarter 2009 fund drive. Democratic Underground is
a completely independent website. We depend on donations from our members
to cover our costs. Please take a moment to donate! Thank you!

[SeekerBlue]

34. Anything involving Judd Apatow

It's just misogynistic juvenalia, as far as I can tell.

[CreekDog]

36. Princess Bride

Slacker :boring: (and I was in college when i saw it...)

[TZ]

42. DTTZ.

So you had a humor transplant in college?

[CreekDog]

47. That movie was funny the same way the "Capitol Steps" are funny

yeah I get it.

Princess Bride could be made into a pretty good video game though...because the movie is about going through all these things in order to get the girl. I realized this when he kept fighting with people and had to climb that big wall, etc.

I was thinking, "this is like a video game where each level you have to do one thing in order to move on..."

[Dulcinea]

40. Most anything involving Adam Sandler. eom

[WildEyedLiberal]

43. Superbad - what an awful, offensive pile of shit that movie was

Actually, all those fucking Judd Apatow movies are awful. Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill are obnoxious and unfunny, and the idea that two fat schlubby losers like them manage again and again to score these wicked hot chicks is tiresome in the extreme. Where's the movie about the chubby plain girl who hooks up with Mr. Washboard Abs?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

49. Well, supposedly.....

The title character in "Bridget Jones' Diary" is supposed to be the "chubby plain girl" but frankly I don't see how Renee Zellweger falls into either catagory.

Speaking of which, I think "Bridget Jones' Diary" (and its sequel, I guess) fall into the OP's catagory. One of the few movies that I literally fell asleep watching. Call it the Colin Firth rule--if Colin Firth is in a movie, it is guaranteed to be boring as hell.

[WildEyedLiberal]

50. Yeah, isn't it funny how the "plain girl" is always someone who is actually hot

And just happens to be wearing no makeup, a ponytail, and glasses? Whereas Jonah Hill is fugly by any conventional standard.

I mean, I wouldn't actually watch a movie about a plain girl hooking up with a hot guy, because romcoms are tedious and uninteresting to me. Bridget Jones does seem like a snoozefest. But at least I'd know they were out there to balance all the "fat ugly dudes hooking up with Katherine Heigl" movies.

[HughBeaumont]

51. That's every Movie, TV series and commercial.

And because of it, we're now saying it's OK to be a schlub!

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705324181/Potbellies-the-new-six-pack-for-men.html?linkTrack=rss-30

Seriously, men, why bother to work harder at your physique, do that pesky boring "exercise thing" and staying out of the hospital? Don't be bothered with trying to stomach "rabbit food", don't count those calories, and by ALL means, you don't HAVE to give up your pizza/corndogs/triple fatass burger cuisine every other night!! Because even though you look like you just dressed out of a hamper and got back from Giant Beer and Wing Night at O'Hanrahans, righteous babes will FLOCK to you anyway.

Look at the movies. Every single stripper-quality hottie/milf just lurrrrves them a portly, jowly, Artie Lange-looking loser like yourselves!

:sarcasm:

I see it WAAAAAY too much IRL. It makes me think all the work I'm putting into making myself fit is for naught and then I say to myself: "Well I do it because I don't want to look like the gooey dorks in Apatow movies." The excuses they give are along the lines of "well, how often do you SEE six-pack abs guy? He's usually in front of the A & F store" "It's just not masculine to look wispy thin". Oh, so letting yourself go to Pizza Hut's Meat Lover's Special every 3 days IS? It's like, they shouldn't be projecting their laziness on people like me who try to take care of themselves.

I don't want my wife to be seen with some typical blobby Joe Sportsbar.

[WildEyedLiberal]

55. And Thank God for men like you

I don't know any woman IRL - myself, my friends, anyone - who thinks men like that are attractive. And yet men are being conditioned, through all these putrid movies/shows/ads, to believe that they *deserve* a Hot Chick, even if they look like a complete mess. It's just the latest form of sexist male entitlement, and it's pathetically blind to the needs and wants of women - yes, I fantasize about fucking some schlub who pays zero attention to his appearance, but who obviously expects me to maintain some kind of supermodel physique. Because GOD FORBID *I* have more than 5 lbs of excess body weight :eyes:

I don't expect washboard abs - I certainly don't have a supermodel perfect body. But I try to take care of myself and maintain a certain standard of nutrition and fitness because I take pride in how I present myself to the world. Why the fuck would I not expect the same out of my man?

I don't even have anything against schlubby people per se - just the expectation that you can be schlubby and yet still be seen as some kind of object of sexual desire to even the most gorgeous of women. It's an infuriating double standard.

[dysfunctional press]

44. i was really disappointed by 'monsters vs aliens'...

the writing should have been much better than it was.

[PVnRT]

46. Van Wilder

I don't think I even chuckled during that MIRV of shit.

[Bennyboy]

52. I call it RUSHMORE SYNDROME!

Seems that a huge bunch of movies all came out at the same time that others found funny and I hated. Rushmore and Lost in Translation chief among them.

[jobycom]

53. Ferris Buehler's Day Off. And may I say that many of you need therapy.

Either for laughing at the formulaic emptiness of Ferris Buehler or for not laughing at the brilliance of films like "The Princess Bride" or "The Big Lebowski." Borat I can give a pass on. It was above a lot of people's comprehension, being rich with satire.

[Fire Walk With Me]

54. Running With Scissors.

It was marketed as weird funny, but was an adaptation of a real-life multifaceted tragedy.

[azmouse]

62. Caddyshack

:puke: