OK. I am belaboring the comedy thing, but please indulge me. The Kevin Smith comedies have been uttery entertaining for me on many levels, if not somewhat simplistic.
There was Clerks, and later Clerks 2, both of which were oddball comedies. Along that genre that introduced us to Jay and Silent Bob, there were also Mall Rats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and in a lesser fashion, Chasing Amy.
Now, I seperate Chasing Amy from the others titles, because it was a str8 guy's attempt to "understand" lesbianism. But since doing a lesbian is the ultimate male fantasy, the only way for him to deal with it, was to make her Bi-sexual. And it was overly simplistic too, but then, he only had an hour and a half to come up with a vehicle to understand the character played by 'Joey.'
The one thing that stands out in 'Chasing Amy' was the scene between 'Amy' and 'Banky' where they compared love scars to show who had suffered more to please their woman. It was a wonderful vehicle to create a bonding experience between the two characters while the third wheel looked on, ala Sheriff Brodie in the film Jaws as 'Quint' and 'Hooper' go at it to show who is the tougher guy. It also showed that Smith had studied the great directors like Spielberg that knew how to create a mood in a scene. It was what led me to take his work more seriously.
And, it illustrated for the public what we in the queer world already knew. That dykes and sensitive str8 men -- men of a conscience and let's say, with more of a gentleman's demeanor -- have a lot in common. For one thing, we often date out of the same pool of women, who identify as bisexual, and we are both irritated by their 'inability' to fall to either side of the fence. It's wonderfully comical.
But back to Mr. Smith. The one film, that does deserve to be nominated for the 'best of' list in the category of comedy in this time frame of the last ten years, is 'Dogma.' I watched it again today, and even after all of these years, it still holds up nicely, even with all of the expletive-laced dialogue by 'Jay' and the scatalogical humour of the toilet demon. It's well-written, with some minor irritants in the plotline, but it is evenly paced, and the characters are pretty-well developed for a comedy -- especially, a screw-ball comedy. Simply put, I love this movie.
I propose that we all vote for a movie in one of three categories from this time frame.
Nominate one drama, one science fiction/fantasy/action/adventure film, and one comedy for this time frame. Remember that LOTR-- the Fellowship of the Ring is already in the ten year list as is Titannic.
I nominate: Lost & Delirious -- drama
Dogma -- comedy
The Matrix -- action/adventure/science fiction/fantasy
