As you know, we’re starting our Hitmen in Love series on PopD, but let’s face it, love stories about hitmen are just romantic comedies with extra blood and violence. So we thought for the series after that, starting in April, we’d do a little romcom antidote and go for a series of Guy Comedies:
Guy Comedy is comedy written by guys for guys in a guy POV full of stuff that guys find funny. Guy Comedy doesn’t care how low or ridiculous it goes to make you laugh, or how many marginalized women it uses to accessorize the story, so leave your taste, maturity, and feminism at the door. This is Guy Land.
Both Dodgeball and Hot Tub Time Machine are non-negotiable: they’re goin’ on the list. But after that we went through several ideas, and I did an internet search, and we ended up . . . not sure. So over to you: what dumb guy comedies would you add to this list? And what movies do you think MUST be on the list?
American Pie
Animal House
The Big Lebowski
Caddyshack
Dodgeball
Fired Up
The Hangover
Hot Tub Time Machine
Real Genius
Swingers
Weekend at Bernies
Lani and I will pick six that are available on Netflix, streaming if possible, in hope of avoiding The Assassination Bureau debacle again, so this isn’t a vote. But since you’re the ones watching with us, your opinion counts heavily.
28 responses to “And Now For Something Completely Different”
Big Lebowski is a winner – though I would have loved to see you two do Raising Arizona!
Lebowski and Raising Arizona may have some category of their own. Like Smart, Off-the-Wall, Weird Comedy. Throw in Buckaroo Banzai. Office Space.
American Pie- God, please NO!
The Big Lebowski- Love this movie
Caddyshack- Once tried to watch it but it was boring
Dodgeball- Hysterical
The Hangover- Funny moments, & probably a good example of a guy Comedy
The rest I haven’t seen, so I’m up for any. Though may I suggest an Apatow movie as he’s has a slew of movies recently and would probably be a good example of current Guy-coms (clearly not as catchy as romcom. Dudecoms? Mancoms Whatever)
Maybe The 40 Year Old Virgin or Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Oh and how about Anchorman. I’m not sure of it’s even just a Guy Comedy, it’s just so so funny.
I got these from the Argh comments & wholeheartedly agree:
Super Troopers & Young Frankenstein. Both movies I could quote for days.
The Big Lebowski is i think my favourite John Goodman movie (and I really love John Goodman). It’s such a wonderful movie so I would vote for that.
I saw Caddyshack not too long ago – ‘You’re not a bishop, you’re a man’ still makes me laugh. I didn’t notice the romantic subplot before (when I was 14) but watching it again, i’d be interested in what you guys thought of it. really funny all the way through but the romance was a bit off for me.
I have never seen Weekend at Bernies so would love to watch it for this.
Not sure about Fired Up I didn’t really laugh that much. And please don’t make me watch American Pie again (though I liked Alison Hannigan in it, but then i love her so much in Buffy I could watch her reading the phone book and love her).
Happy Gilmore
Galaxy Quest
Office Space
40-Year-Old Virgin
Anchorman
Stripes
Innerspace
Oh, and another “God, please NO!” vote for American Pie
Oh, Innerspace. I love that movie. Galaxy Quest we have in an SF list with Star Wars and old and new Star Treks although it should probably be in Satire. Sometimes we think, “We have to do this movie,” and then we think of a category.
I’ve never seen American Pie. And now I never will.
I’d second the votes for 40-Year-Old Virgin (but please, the theatrical release, and not the bloated “uncut” edition), and I’d also like to open the possibility of stoner comedies: specifically, Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle. The Big Lebowski, as Jenny mentioned, should be in another category, and I seem to recall that Caddyshack has not aged at all well.
Also — though this may be a divisive choice — I don’t think wee can look at modern Guy Comedies without including something by Kevin Smith. Mallrats, I think, would be the best choice.
So, for me… either Bill and Ted or Harold and Kumar, Mallrats, Dodgeball, Hot Tub Time Machine, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and The Hangover.
Oh, I commented on Argh Ink before comming here and seeing the comment about Office Space. I hope we do end up doing a commedy of the wierd at some point. I’m relieved American Pie will probably NOT make the list – I had no desire to see it, and still have no desire to. Also, I would hate it if Porky’s was on the list. I will skip.
Caddyshack hasn’t aged well, but I do think we should have some “old” movies and some newer ones.
These wouldn’t qualify as Dumb Guy Movies, but I’m a major fan of many of the modern CGI-animated movies that are targeted to appeal to both adults and kids, and would love to discuss them sometime:
The Incredibles, Up, Monsters Inc., Toy Story, Madagascar, Over the Hedge, Shrek, etc.
Any interest?
Re the Caddyshack comment, I’m finding some of my faves from “back in the day” haven’t aged well (or maybe it’s me who didn’t age well).
For example, the movie “Fletch” was nearly a point of religious doctrine for me in the late 80s, but when I rewatched it recently, it had lost much of its magic. Ditto for several other “classics” from the 70s and 80s. I guess they have a shelf-life…
I think CGI would be fun. I haven’t seen “Fletch” in awhile, but I still remember it fondly. And, I we just re-watched the “Vacation” movies with the kids and re-enjoyed them.
But I was merely hoping to look and see if there was a development of the Guy Film, and if we could point to a beginning film as “The First.” I would think it might be “Animal House” even though some on AI have said it’s more of a generational film.
Another vote for Harold and Kumar, another really funny movie.
Erm… what happened with Assassination Bureau?
Keith, the Fletch books are still good.
Jennifer, we’re stuck with The Assassination Bureau because it’s too late to change. I think ditto with the order of the movies so that we can stream The Big Hit. People order ahead so we can’t change at the last minute. I think from now on, we only do older movies that Netflix is likely to have many copies of, although I can’t think what those would be right now. Animal House probably. Fletch probably not.
I still like Stripes. I can watch Animal House. DH is voting for Strange Brew. I’m another ‘abso-freakin-lutely NOT’ vote for American Pie. Harold and Kumar might take a lot of wine to get through but that doesn’t mean I won’t learn something, right.
My aversion Guy Comedy is very likely due to my exposure to American Pie, so if you haven’t seen it, save yourselves, and PLEASE don’t put it on the list. Would be interested in seeing Animal House because I’ve heard about it for years.
I’ve seen American Pie and it was meh and totally a guys film.
I really enjoyed Real Genius and Weekend at Bernies but I don’t think of them as quite as stupid as the 40 year old virgin or anything Steve Carell. Wedding Crashers a ok guy film. Anything with Ben Stiller qualifies as a stupid guy film. Pretty much hate everything he’s done. Meet the Fockers, There’s Something About Mary. Oh, turns out he was a voice in Madagascar, hmm, I guess there was one film I liked. 😉 So, I’m also for doing the animated ones!
This is a genre that I’m not particularly fond of so I’ll be interested in the list chosen.
As one on the token men listening to the podcast, I have to push for an Apatow film – 40 Year Old Virgin would certainly do the trick.
I’d also suggest the non-Apatow I Love You, Man (Paul Rudd/Jason Segel) which follows a traditional Rom-Com structure but featuring two heterosexual guys “falling in love.”
I love LOVE Anchorman and would be very excited to hear what you guys have to say about it.
Glad to see Dodgeball and Hot Tub Time Machine on the definites list – excellent examples of the genre. I’d also put in a vote for Swingers and The Hangover (haven’t seen the latter, so recommendation based on hearsay).
If you do those four, you’ve covered many of the lynchpins of the recent guy-comedy genre –
Vince Vaughn,
Ben Stiller
Rob Corddry
Jon Favreau,
and the more recent up and comers,
Brad Cooper and
Zach Galifianakis.
Who you’re missing is: (not in any order)
Will Ferrell
Steve Carrell
Judd Apatow
Seth Rogen
Adam Sandler
Paul Rudd
Jim Carrey
What about Anchorman or Pineapple Express (getting James Franco for free) or Old School?
Forty-Year-Old Virgin may be a guy’s romance (Carrell and Apatow and Rudd and lots of others), so not pure “guy’s comedy” enough for this list.
Other great guy movies you shouldn’t miss (but left out for some good reason?):
Tropic Thunder (can’t get much guy-er comedy than this, can you?)
I Love You, Man as a warm, well-wishing parody of romcoms, it seems an obvious segue movie between romantic comedies and guy comedies (ignoring the sidetrack into Hitmen in Love movies)
Major League
To go on:
I don’t think you want to do an historical sweep, but really “Guy Humor” Movies started with the Three Stooges:
Start with any Three Stooges film (preferably a really short one).
Then move through the Road movies with Crosby and Hope (the sub-sub-genre of Buddy films really starts here and evolves through Martin and Lewis to Belushi and Ackroyd, to the action-comedies of today, like Gibson-Glover, Owen Wilson and a succession of buddies).
Then the Jerry Lewis days of the 50s and 60s.
Peter Sellers in the late 60s (the Pink Panther series?)
Mel Brooks in the 70s (Blazing Saddles)
Abrahams & Zucker in the 80s (Airplane!, Naked Gun)
(SNL guys – Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and John Belushi belong in there, too)
In the 90s, the genre comes into its own, thanks to Jim Carrey (Dumb and Dumber?).
The rest is an explosion of popularity of this genre, which includes most of the films that we all have listed.
(Gosh, I hope I got my html italics right, or this long comment will be impossible to read. No preview?)
I hope I don’t ruffle any feathers, but I think we should avoid equating “Guy films” as “Stupid Guy films.” Sure some can be failures, and yes some even stupid, but that goes for some of the romcoms that have been covered.
Let’s go into this new genre (after the hitman series, of course) with the open minds that we wish people had with romantic comedies. /EndPreach 🙂
No, we want stupid guy films. As opposed to Dramatic Male films (Bourne) or Sensitive Male Films (I Love You, Man) these are Guy Comedies that are lowbrow, sexist, and over the top. We could do Chick Comedies, too, like The House Bunny or that new Bridesmaids movie but we’re kind of up to here on female comedy right now, so we’re going for stupid Guy Comedy.
It’s the “Guy” that’s the giveaway, like “Chick” is a giveaway on dumb female comedy.
Oh, well then http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtcMW3i6-gA
oh, this is going to be a list that dh will love;) but you guys are killing me!
Guy films that are stupid, owbrow, sexist and over the top???? But they also have to be things that I am interested in seeing! Here are my suggestions:
Animal House. I know that it is such a classic that it is easy to overlook what makes it a such a guy film–the food fights, the drunkeness, the challenge to propriety, the use of cars as characters. Man as Id.
I’ll second the bid for Tropic Thunder, which I haven’t seen but the premise, the mud, and the Robert Downey character in blackface seems to put it squarely in the Guy category.
Airplane, Ghostbusters or Naked Gun. Slapstick, rude, funny.
Looking on line for suggestions, I was reminded of these:
Some Like it Hot? It may not be as clearly a guy comedy as others suggested, but one of the great comedies of all time, and the premise of buddies who dress up in drag to escape some hit men seems guy-inspired.
A Fish called Wanda. IMDB calls it “a comedy about murder sex and seafood.” Or alternatively Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Anything associated with the Pythons will be guy-centric: it will be full of verbal jousting, bad things happening to other people, pratfalls and sexist. They just couldn’t help themselves, bless them.
Beverly Hills Cop or one of the Die Hard films. All the men in my life love this genre of buddy films about things being blown up, the bigger the better, while jokes are being made.
Blazing Saddles–about which IGN on “the top comedies of all time”, comments: “The humor’s alternately raunchy, crude, offensive, sexist and racist.”
“This is Spinal Tap”, strikes me as very guy-humoresque. Rock, a band in decline, exploding drummers. Totally guy.
“Shaun of the Dead”. I haven’t seen it but whenever someone tries to explain it to me they start giggling.
“Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery.” Funny, low brow and any film with Fembots is by definition sexist.
The Hangover. Guys lose the groom the night before the wedding. I don’t know if its fair to call this a guy film because I was definitely LOL when I saw it.
So those are my suggestions. Films that I think qualify as guy comedies that I would be happy to watch.
What about Zoolander?
And Harold and Kumar go to White Castle is marvelous.