Because I write funny mysteries (I refuse to use the term "humorous" to describe my work, as it is the blandest of "funny" words, and indicates to me that something has perhaps a chuckle buried deep within it somewhere), and especially because I write a mystery series about a guy who runs an all-comedy movie theatre, people often--okay, twice--have asked me what my favorite comedy film of all time might be.
Well, why not just ask which blade of grass is the greenest?
There seems to be a prevailing opinion that comedy is interchangeable, that if something is a "comedy," we immediately know what it will be, and we can compare it straight-up to every other comedy ever conceived. It doesn't work like that.
There's the in-your-face, all-out farce of Mel Brooks, best exemplified perhaps in Young Frankenstein (1974), when he was reined in a little bit by his co-writer and star Gene Wilder. But how can you compare that to something as nuanced and subtle as, let's say, Diner by Barry Levinson? Both comedies (although one more "serious," to be sure), but in no way the same, other than they were both projected on screens and preserved on celluloid.
So let's compare farce-to-farce: the chaotic, sporadic genius of the Monty Python troupe, in their most memorable feature film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Wild, completely out-there comedy, in which absolutely anything goes. Giant wooden rabbits catapulted into the air. Neon signs in 13th-Century England. An ending that... well, there is no ending. Take that and contrast it with something like A Shot in the Dark, the second Inspector Clouseau feature with Peter Sellers (the Steve Martin Clouseau movies simply don't count). Wild farce, right? Easy to compare.
Nah. The Clouseau films, although cartoonish, broad and hilarious, are conventional. They adhere to the rules of storytelling. Inspector Clouseau is always TRYING to do his best, but he's a klutz and an idiot. The Python boys couldn't care less about a story, and will go 600 miles out of their way if there's a joke lying around to be picked up. Monologues about systems of government in a Clouseau movie? Never. Story logic and a happy ending in a Python film? Hard to imagine.
But go back further: Compare any Preston Sturges movie to those of the Marx Brothers. Compare Laurel and Hardy to the Marx Brothers, for that matter. Was Mae West like Carol Burnett? Was W.C. Fields comparable to Will Ferrell? All comedians. All successful. There will be those who say they were all hilarious. But comparable? I don't think so.
Look at it this way: What's the best DRAMA ever made? Citizen Kane? Casablanca? Schindler's List? Sophie's Choice? And WHY is one better than another? Why does it HAVE to be? Why can't we just evaluate each on a case-by-case basis and forget the competition for a minute?
My favorite comedy of all time? How do I know? Maybe I haven't seen it yet.
