Do’s and Don’ts in a Comedy Film

What separates American Pie from American Pie 14

We all love comedy. There’s something about rib hurting, tear streaming attention drawing laughter that keeps us coming back for more.

Over the years there’s been a plethora of comedy films to everyone’s tastes, from the classic slapstick of Laurel and Hardy to the modern teenage romps such as American Pie. If this history of wonderful comic creations has taught us anything, however, it’s that some methods and techniques work much better than others.

Here is a list of things that do work when making a comedy film – and things that just plain don’t. The list is by no means exhaustive but I hope it provides some enjoyment and if you feel any films deserve to be in these categories, please comment below.

Do’s

DO…learn from the classics

There’s nothing like switching on the television on a Saturday evening and seeing The Naked Gun, Old School, Airplane or Monty Python (among many) listed to start in five minutes. The familiar feeling of humorous nostalgia fills your chest as each of the memorable scenes swim happily across your mind’s eye.

So strong is this feeling that you will often reach for the closest communication device in order to check if your friends are watching it, and grin with a surprising amount of glee when they respond that they are. This nostalgia isn’t just created by the sands of time, an appreciation verging on antiquity.

It’s created by the sheer fact these films are well made, with timeless jokes that are still funny after the 100^th time of watching, memorable characters and pretty much everything on this list of Do’s. Many modern films can take their inspiration from these classics and, if they haven’t, they certainly should.

DO…have a great director

Good comedy directing intertwines with many things, including the script and the characters. However, a great director threads these into the seamless folds of a cleverly woven fabric. One of the standout directors in modern comedy, in my opinion, is the fantastic Edgar Wright. Any student of film studies will see an Edgar Wright production, such as the 2004 Shaun of the Dead, and shriek with uncontrollable delight.

Every scene is carefully constructed. Switching between shots is just as humorous as the script and the mirror-effects throughout these nuances will have those same film studies students reaching for the moist towel, and provides the icing on an altogether scrumptious cake. Anyone looking for an example of how great directing can impact on a comedy film, should start here.

DO…have an excellent script

A clever, binding and strong script is everything in a comedy film. Slapstick moments and stereotyped characters will only generate so many laughs. It’s the exchanges between characters and the one-liners that will pull any film from sinking in a vast expanse of poor plotline quicksand up to a glittering oasis filled with dancing hula girls and a sizzling hog roast.

Paul Rudd on his first attempt at writing began with an excellent screenplay for the film Role Models. Some might say it’s an odd choice for a mention as an exemplary script, given it contains the most over-stereotyped character in all comedy movies (the generic, ethnic minority bleating expletives).

However, exchanges between the two leads and other characters in the film are original and wonderfully bizarre. Lines like “I’m not here to service you, I’m here to service these young boys,”  “Now let us gingerly touch our tips,” and “Minnootaaaaur!” are among many uproariously funny moments that will have you watching the film over and over again. In fact, the more you watch it, the funnier it gets – a glowing attribute only an excellent script can provide.

DO…have memorable characters

Among the delights of watching comedy is the insatiable joy of seeing a wildly eccentric character steal every scene they’re in. Jane Lynch is one of these actresses. Anyone who has seen her Guatemalan love song scene from The 40 Year Old Virgin or her lines in Role Models will understand what I mean. Will Ferrell’s Anchorman, Zach Galifianakis’s Alan Garner and Robin Williams’ Genie are other names among the list of characters that you will remember long after the plot line has dwindled away.

These characters serve to light up the screen making you relish every second they’re on it, and when they’re not, you’re waiting for them to appear again. They’re characters that are first to be shotgunned in playground re-enactments; characters whose lines are quoted repeatedly and characters who will be the sole reasons for the film’s recommendation to anyone.

DO…have quotable moments

A film’s quotable moments are the central hub of comic communication for friendship circles across the world. Often, not a day will go by without the repeated reminiscing of lines from a favourite film. Surprisingly, the laughs never seem to dwindle however many times this happens. The quote is always followed by a group chuckle, followed by another quote and another group chuckle. In any other situation this wouldn’t work. A group of friends repeatedly stating their sexuality would be like a 12 hour long episode of Will and Grace. But it works with comedy.

And one of the most quotable films in history has to be Anchorman. There isn’t a school, college, university or workplace where no one knows the entire quote book of the film and why shouldn’t they? It has some of the most genuine comedic one-liners in filming history.

Lines like “60 percent of the time, it works every time,” “Take me to Pleasure Town,” “It’s so damn hot….Milk was a bad choice!” “I killed a guy with a trident,” “I love lamp,” and “Great Odin’s Raven” will strike at the laughter chord again and again and again. These quotable lines make Anchorman a top 10, if not a number one film for thousands of people.

DO…be original

There’s nothing worse than seeing the same archetypal comedy run through the mill and kicked into cinemas to make a quick buck, where changing the actors and the setting is classed as enough to make it original. An original film would be dressing yourself as a Kazakhstani journalist and travelling to America to get yourself into unimaginable situations and film the public’s responses. Yes, I’m talking about Borat.

Sacha Baron Cohen has a unique ability to present original and daring acts of comedy gold simply to make people laugh. Far from the tired old scripts that are often reused to make generic romcoms, Baron Cohen pushes the limits every time he sets out on a new adventure. Last year’s Bruno was enough to make anyone bite their knuckles and wonder how the in hell he got away with it. The world of comic filming should be grateful people are still willing to present original ideas, while those who make them should endeavour to follow suit.

DO…have those little moments

The climax of the do’s list. The crème de la crème of comedy. It’s a feat only few achieve and almost never master. Anyone who has seen Old School will know exactly what I’m talking about. Here is a film that has mastered everything to do with comedy, from the actors to the script, the directing to the originality. It’s a film that kick-started more than one career, including the likes of Will Ferrell and it’s a comedy that a future generation of film was based on.

Why is it so good? The answer – those little moments. In the opening scene Luke Wilson’s character is on an escalator in an airport and sees a father slap his child on the back of the head for being naughty. At home, after catching his wife having an orgy, his wife blows smoke out of her mouth with a fake sorry face. Will Ferrell’s character drags a hockey stick round a kitchen. The earmuffs. Almost all of Vince Vaughn’s lines. Luke Wilson’s drunk performance at the wedding. These little touches, touches of genius provide Old School with a feeling that this is comedy at its greatest. A masterpiece.

Don’ts

DON’T…overuse stereotypes

A classic mistake with many films is the overused stereotype. It’s such a common faux pas that films have attempted to parody the concept to even worse effect. Films like The Longest Yard, Dogma and Shrek all portray the aforementioned generic, black, expletive gushing, wise-cracking sidekick. You can almost hear the concurrent groan across the cinema audience as characters wade onto screen screaming “What’s happenin’ cracker?” You want to curl up into a ball and cease to exist.

Black-meets-any-other-race comedies, like Rush Hour, consistently crop up with the same stereotypical jokes battering the eardrums. Not only do they serve to prolong these stereotypes in everyday life, they also are the easiest characters to write and, as such, drastically detract from the films credibility.

DON’T…hire over-the-hill actors

Watching an over-the-hill actor meander around screen, wishing they could get the roles they used to, is so sad it’s like staring at a St. Bernard’s face. Vince Vaughn, oh-so brilliant in his glory days, has not only resorted to grabbing any role that comes his way – no matter how dire, he also appears to have ballooned considerably with each film, making you wonder if he’s turned from high cash offerings to films that offer him payment in chocolate coins.

Films like Fred Claus and The Break Up make you want to gouge your own eye balls out so you can remember his greatness in classics like Old School and Anchorman. Comedy films are so much more vibrant with a more unknown cast, such as The 40 Year Old Virgin and The Hangover and to an extent,  Anchorman. The characters are all the more believable when you know they’re doing it to make people laugh and not to earn so much money they can bathe in it. It’s certainly not entertaining watching something that resembles the sexual equivalent of trying to thumb in a softie.

DON’T…be too American

The Americans, with all the subtlety of a bus crash, could certainly learn a thing or two from watching a British comedy. A step down Monty Python lane will quickly teach you that the way to make someone laugh isn’t to shout insults so loud your ancestors will hear them. The mighty Will Ferrell’s recent roles with the frustratingly underwhelming John  C. Reilly – although still brilliant – are bordering on being too American.

2008’s Step Brothers involved two 40-year old siblings by marriage shouting insults at each other for the majority of the film. If it was anyone other than Will Ferrell this would be about as funny as being told your cancer is terminal.

DON’T…stick to the formula

The common mistake many films make is the “don’t fix it if it’s not broken” dogma. This may seem like a smart piece of philosophy in everyday life, yet in film making if this is adhered to you’re left with a string of comedies that are all too similar. If anyone else is thinking Judd Apatow, you’re absolutely right. Nothing says typecast like putting your main character as a Jewish, pot smoking not-so-easy-on-the-eye 30 year old with a heart of gold in three almost consecutive films. Yet this is exactly how Seth Rogen was cast in Knocked Up, Zack and Miri Make a Porno and Pineapple Express.

Although these films are arguably great and Apatow continues to produce quality comedy, every time Seth Rogen is cast as the lead, there’s almost no anticipation because you know exactly what it will be like. If this doesn’t tell you to change the formula and bring some originality forward, nothing will.

DON’T…do it for the money

Everyone remembers the first American Pie – A film filled with the randy teenage antics of four young men trying to pop their proverbial cherries and enough sexual innuendos and references to give a nun a coronary. However, you could probably count the number of people who’ve watched American Pie: The Naked Mile and American Pie: Beta House with just your index finger.

It’s a classic example of producers and writers drinking the formula well dry for the simple act of making money. The poor actors drafted in for the title characters will soon be wishing they’d taken on a more original role as their names drift off producer’s desks with the same gentle breeze that brings the morning smell of doughnuts under Vince Vaughn’s nose.

DON’T…drive political agendas

Anyone who has read my Motherhood review will know just how I feel about comedy being used to cover up politically driven agendas in film. Yet you’d be surprised how often it happens if you look past the poorly constructed gags. Films such as Happy Feet masks the agenda of damning mass sea fishing farming by putting Robin Williams in a studio, giving him a cup of coffee and letting him bounce of the walls. Wall-E’s hidden message that if we keep consuming on a mass scale the human race will end up being carted round an interstellar spaceship on automated entertainment buggies owned by a universal conglomerate is hardly fitting for a children’s comedy adventure.

While it may be in our interests to hear these messages and film is a genuine medium for political expression, masking these feats as comedy is one sure way to send audiences running for their defiant frowns.

DON’T…make another Epic Movie

There had to be a special section for the woeful Epic Movie series, and a warning to any future parodies. The prelude to this overture of misery was the Wayan Brother’s Scary Movie. A fresh, original take on comedy it was an instant hit but, unfortunately, that’s where it should have stayed. Scary Movie 2 and 3 were so over the top and mundane it was like watching an American equivalent of My Family. Not only this, but it paved the way for a generation of gut wrenching follow-ups by less skilled directors, a dreadful cast and a team of writers fresh out of nursery.

Parodying movies has had its own vault of comedy wealth for a number of years with Hot Shots and Naked Gun showing everyone how it’s supposed to be done. However, this new generation of films seems to think that the cheesier and cornier the gag, the more people will laugh. Instead the reverse is the case where the cheesier and cornier the gag is, the more I want to vomit into my popcorn.