“They [execs] just overthink it,” Vaughn told host Sean Evans “And it’s like, it’s crazy, you get these rules, like, if you did geometry, and you said 87 degrees was a right angle, then all your answers are messed up, instead of 90 degrees. So there became some idea or concept, like, they would say something like, ‘You have to have an IP.’”
The Couples Retreat star proceeded to use the board game Battleship (which inspired the 2012 film of the same name) as a meaningless IP example, saying it became a “vehicle for storytelling” just because it had a recognizable name. However, he noted that the “IP” when he got his start in Hollywood was the shared life experiences people have, such as the plot of his 2003 movie Old School, which saw friends (Vaughn, Will Ferrell and Luke Wilson) returning to college when they’re older.
“The people in charge don’t want to get fired more so than they’re looking to do something great, so they want to kind of follow a set of rules that somehow get set in stone, that don’t really translate,” Vaughn continued. “But as long as they follow them, they’re not going to lose their job because they can say, ’Well, look, I made a movie off the board game Payday so even though the movie didn’t work, you can’t let me go, right?’”
But the Bad Monkey actor still has hope for the future and predicted that audiences would see more films similar to his R-rated comedies again.
“People want to laugh, people want to look at stuff that feels a little bit like it’s, you know, dangerous or pushing the envelope,” Vaughn explained. “I think you’re going to see more of it in the film space sooner than later, would be my guess.”
There’s plenty of space for comedies that don’t punch down or belittle people. The fact that nobody wants to roll the dice to see if they lose their jobs because Vince Vaughn’s movies do that frequently shouldn’t be a mark against their character. The fact that they are greedy movie execs with massive paychecks stolen from actors and studio crew should be.
But where are those comedies?
Seriously, I can’t recall any good recent comedy movie. Some good series, but that’s it. All comedies are basically those “for the whole family” kind of background noise generator, and they all seem to be the same plot points and jokes sewn together in slightly different patterns.
Older comedies are often a bit dated, but were good back then, even without belittling. Look at Old School, Anchorman, Stranger than Fiction, everything Leslie Nielsen did, Big Lebowski. These are not super experimental art house movies or super edgy, but solid, innovative comedies.
Maybe I’m overlooking a ton of comedy gems, absolutely possible, but I can honestly say that not a single movie of the last years was really funny to me.
Off the top: I’d say Palm Springs, Free Guy, Deadpool movies, Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and the Weird Al movie all were movies that came out recently, were funny(IMO), and primarily marketed to an adult audience. In the child friendly vein you’ve got stuff like Barbie, the Chip n Dale movie, Encanto(or any recent Disney movie) and so on. Just because it’s made for kids doesn’t make it any less funny.
Comedy is out there, but studios don’t seem to be going in for the old raunchy comedy formulas any more. This is not a bad thing in my estimation. Lots of old comedies like that(revenge of the nerds, superbad, Austin powers) don’t age that well because some if not all make light of subjects that today are seen to be no laughing matter.
Deadpool is not a good comedy. Haven’t seen the others, but Deadpool is what a 14 years old guy thinks how cool people act. I’d put that on a level with this Mall Cop thingy.
Fourteen-year-olds don’t think cool people make Fire Phone references.
Stranger than Fiction is a fantastic example of a comedy that doesn’t punch down at all. It’s also just a great movie in general tbh.
But it’s also an 18 year old movie, so it doesn’t do much to disprove that good comedies don’t get made any more.
You my friend have an obvious taste for comedies that fall into the definition of “crass”. You listed some GREAT comedies but they are chock-a-block with humor that is juvenile, sexist, lean into gender / racial stereotypes and are generally considered “problematic” today. The last of these I can think of is “Tropic Thunder”.
This is what Vince is talking about; our culture has changed and Hollywood no longer wants to invest in Crass Comedies. Mostly because they don’t do well at the Box Office anymore and they can bring a LOT of negative attention…two things what will sink a producers career faster than anything else.
What exactly is problematic about them?
Every single one of them makes fun of a ton of stereotypes, the entire point of Anchorman is to make fun of sexism - the sexists are the idiots!
Which movie of the last 50 isn’t? Seriously, every single movie has some problematic bits in them. Ignoring the historic context is just incredibly braindead. You can’t just put modern standards and push them onto everything.
I think, you are exactly of the mindset criticized in the article. You don’t want to offend anyone, you don’t want to risk having tastes changed, because then suddenly you are problematic. And that’s just the exact opposite of art. That’s the mindset of a subject.
I think you are taking my comment as combative when it isn’t. I personally enjoyed those movies! There’s little debate though that they are generally crass…I mean c’mon…Leslie Nelson driving on the highway in front of the two nuclear reactors that are sticking up and looking like boobs… (as a singular example).
You…don’t know me…like at all.
Right, but it doesn’t sound like Vince Vaughn is arguing for a new type of comedy… it sounds like he’s trying to just bring back the old type, which while funny in their day, aren’t really funny now.
Anchorman without the nostalgia goggles… not very funny actually. When you make a movie that’s full of sexism to “make fun of sexism” you’ve still just made a movie that’s full of sexism.
I will say I watched Austin Powers recently, and it held up pretty well. Anchorman has a lot of funny bits, but a lot of it is still just saying isn’t it funny that this guy is mentally handicapped and none of us are acknowledging it? Isn’t it funny for this guy to say tits McGee instead of her name? Isn’t it funny that even the only non sexist guy also doesn’t want her career to succeed? Isn’t it funny how they all sabotage her in ways that are not actually that far from how women were actually sabotaged in the workplace pretty recently?
It’s not just people pretending not to like it for fear of being labeled problematic. Some of us actually don’t think that kind of humor is clever enough to actually be funny
It was clever at its time. I mean, it’s not like any of that was a secret that needed to be exposed, but it’s a comedy that clearly makes fun of a stereotype, and you can’t reference a stereotype without actually showing. That’s kind of the point.
Take any current stereotype. Muslims, immigrants, whatever, how do you make fun of the people creating that stereotype without showing the stereotype? How can you show that hate against immigrants is stupid, without showing hate against immigrants? Yes, that’s a fine line, but that’s the burden of art.
Many movies and TV shows seem to do it without making the people creating the stereotype the protagonist or the hero of the film. I think that’s the difference. Make the Muslims, immigrants, whatever the protagonists and then you can showcase the stereotypes and the racists, sexists, bigots, whatever in a way that doesn’t celebrate them as centered.
Or just create comedy that doesn’t rely on sexism or racism to be funny. I think that’s why Vince Vaughn isn’t getting the movie deals anymore, and I don’t think it’s only because producers are scared for their jobs, it’s also because the market for low brow humor is less than it was in the aughts.
Unfortunately, making comedies that don’t punch down and/or aren’t gross-outs are difficult - you need to have a top class concept and be able to execute it expertly, which is hard.
Personally, I find that !comedyplusgenre@lemmy.world is still a fertile ground for comedy - GotG3, The Suicide Squad, EEAAO, D&D, The Menu, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Spontaneous, The Babysitter films, Free Guy, Boss Level, Violent Night, Day Shift, Boys From County Hell, etc. Although it could be argued that adding a genre element in means the comedy doesn’t have to do all the heavy-lifting, so it may be a cop-out.
Decent real-world set comedies of recent years include: the Banshees of Inisherin, Bullet Train, Guns Akimbo, etc.
Not sure where Jojo Rabbit fits but that too.
Thanks for reminding me of Banshees of Inisherin. Loved it.
Great film and not afraid to keep going into some dark territory.
For action comedy, I thought bullet train was great.
It was a gem.
Joy Ride, Bottoms, You People, Theatre Camp, Weird, Unbearable Weight Massive Talent…