I mean, wasn't there a revival of "Our Gang" that killed Penelope Spheeris' career? And then wasn't there recently a rehash of Laurel and Hardy? Or some other comedian of that era? It came and went so fast I can't even remember it.
You can appropriate personas, like the Nutty Professor (Frink on The Simpsons) or Boris Karloff (Hank Azaria did an imitation in Night at the Museum 2), and lord knows you can rip off individual bits and sketches, but I don't think you can successfully transplant entire comedy routines with the personas.
I don't know. The biopic of Lenny Bruce worked. And the preformance of Robert Downey Jr. as Chaplin was a tour de force or whatever you call that kind of crapola.
It is a matter of how familar the archtypes are to the people who are watching it.
That is why on American Idol you have kids saying "I will be singing David Archuletta's song "Imagine""
The kids today don't know the Stooges. It's just a fact.
But those are biopics. It's not like Downey decided to remake "The Kid" with himself as Chaplin. Same with "Lenny", though you could argue a lot of careers were built on Bruce's bones.
Biopics: Fine. Stealing classic material: Fine. Pretending to be classic comedian while stealing his material? Never worked.
At least, not that I can recall. "Pink Panther" is another one.
Will Sasso - he did a great Tony Soprano imitation on MAD tv - they envisioned The Sopranos censored enough to be broadcast on PAX tv. That skit still cracks me up - it's about 3 minutes long - mostly bleeps and jump cuts, with the occasional mention of gabba goo.
Aw heck - rather than try to describe it - here's the link:
Cate Blanchett playing Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator has to be about the worst depiction of an actress by another actress. She wrecked that movie better than Howard Hughes wrecked planes.
There was no reason for that Andy Kaufman movie to be made. Jim Carrey has an ego as large as the heap of money he as earned. That movie did nothing to advance the story of Kaufman's life, and I doubt that it helped Carrey's career much, either.
Actors often do a great job of imitating comedians. But all those examples are biopics, not a wholesale lifting of character with the schtick.
Michelle Phillips ain't gonna be doing "Some Like It Hot" as Marilyn, Landau ain't gonna be doing "Dracula" as Bela, etc.
See what I mean?
It's like Kurt Russell doing John Wayne in Big Trouble In Little China versus him doing Wayne in a remake of Rio Bravo. The former is kind of amusing; the latter, sacrilege.
I hate Sarah Jessica Parker, Robin Williams, Tim Robbins, Susan Saradon, the BJ Hunnicut guy, brussel sprouts, the Boston Red Sox, commies and well, lawyers.
15 comments:
That looks good! Who is the one playing Curly? He nailed it.
Huh. Aren't these things career killers?
I mean, wasn't there a revival of "Our Gang" that killed Penelope Spheeris' career? And then wasn't there recently a rehash of Laurel and Hardy? Or some other comedian of that era? It came and went so fast I can't even remember it.
You can appropriate personas, like the Nutty Professor (Frink on The Simpsons) or Boris Karloff (Hank Azaria did an imitation in Night at the Museum 2), and lord knows you can rip off individual bits and sketches, but I don't think you can successfully transplant entire comedy routines with the personas.
I don't know. The biopic of Lenny Bruce worked. And the preformance of Robert Downey Jr. as Chaplin was a tour de force or whatever you call that kind of crapola.
It is a matter of how familar the archtypes are to the people who are watching it.
That is why on American Idol you have kids saying "I will be singing David Archuletta's song "Imagine""
The kids today don't know the Stooges. It's just a fact.
The guy playing Curly was this dude who played William Shatner's son in "Shit My Dad Says" a couple of years ago.
Much better than Michael Chiklis did in the TV movie a couple of years ago.
But those are biopics. It's not like Downey decided to remake "The Kid" with himself as Chaplin. Same with "Lenny", though you could argue a lot of careers were built on Bruce's bones.
Biopics: Fine. Stealing classic material: Fine. Pretending to be classic comedian while stealing his material? Never worked.
At least, not that I can recall. "Pink Panther" is another one.
Will Sasso - he did a great Tony Soprano imitation on MAD tv - they envisioned The Sopranos censored enough to be broadcast on PAX tv. That skit still cracks me up - it's about 3 minutes long - mostly bleeps and jump cuts, with the occasional mention of gabba goo.
Aw heck - rather than try to describe it - here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp4QVYNAFcQ
Cate Blanchett playing Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator has to be about the worst depiction of an actress by another actress. She wrecked that movie better than Howard Hughes wrecked planes.
Well I hear the Michelle Williams imitation of Marilyn Monroe is pretty good.
What about Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman in that biopic?
He was doing his routines but was that not acceptable because it was a biopic?
Martin Landau as Bela was great in Ed Wood.
There was no reason for that Andy Kaufman movie to be made. Jim Carrey has an ego as large as the heap of money he as earned. That movie did nothing to advance the story of Kaufman's life, and I doubt that it helped Carrey's career much, either.
Generally I agree that remakes suck but this one really looks good and just plain funny like the Stooges were.
Thanks 60- Will Sasso huh. He did good.
Actors often do a great job of imitating comedians. But all those examples are biopics, not a wholesale lifting of character with the schtick.
Michelle Phillips ain't gonna be doing "Some Like It Hot" as Marilyn, Landau ain't gonna be doing "Dracula" as Bela, etc.
See what I mean?
It's like Kurt Russell doing John Wayne in Big Trouble In Little China versus him doing Wayne in a remake of Rio Bravo. The former is kind of amusing; the latter, sacrilege.
But this is a three Stooges biopic.
I mean it is showing them when they were left on the doorstep of the orphanage.
Heh.
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