Dany Boon, Julie Delpy and Vincent Lacoste in Lolo. It’s tempting to associate Julie Delpy entirely with Celine, the smart, clever, magnetically appealing and mostly uncompromising modern woman whose maturation we’ve witnessed, over three films and 18 years, in Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy. To preserve my own faith in humanity, I’ll need to hold on to this delusion … [Read more...]
The great-grandfathers of our comedy: Gilded Age cartoons at the Flagler
A man tells his friend he lost $27 in Wall Street. The friend replies that he read the stock market news in the paper and asks: “Who got it – Gould or Sage?” This was brave humor in 1900. Jay Gould and Russell Sage were well-known railroad executives at the time. The joke derives from a 1900 cartoon by Louis W. Dalrymple that suggests such powerful financiers controlled … [Read more...]
The A-word, and one sharp comedy
Obvious Child is the best and funniest comedy about women’s reproductive options since Citizen Ruth, but that alone isn’t saying much. The subject of abortion is still largely a third rail in mainstream films, despite the pretense that Hollywood is a bastion of leftism. Even when they’re unplanned, movie pregnancies are usually taken to term and are viewed as gifts. The A-word … [Read more...]
Odd-couple quest for lost son becomes radiant human-interest story
Philomena opens with a poop joke, but it’s an erudite poop joke. Steve Coogan is hearing medical results from his doctor, and he’s told his stool sample is “outstanding,” which Coogan’s character takes as a compliment, until the doc clarifies that Coogan hasn’t provided the sample yet. So you see, it’s not scatological humor so much as phonic humor, playing off an amusing … [Read more...]
Fine comedians, strong singers fire PBO’s ‘Cenerentola’
Sometimes there’s nothing quite as satisfying on stage as seeing a few good clowns do their best to make a Saturday night fly by. The Palm Beach Opera’s current production of Giaochino Rossini’s La Cenerentola has, in addition to a hugely impressive performance by the celebrated mezzo Vivica Genaux as the title character, some very fine comedy in its two and half hours. It’s … [Read more...]
See ‘Punchline’ before ‘Funny People’
Editor's note: There are no new ideas in Hollywood – only new spins on old ones. This occasional column looks at new releases and argues why you should see old ones first. Stand-up comedians are self-absorbed, narcissistic, snobbish, petty, antagonistic people. It’s a blanket statement, but it’s born of a stereotype that I’ve found true no matter how many places … [Read more...]
‘Ugly Truth’ is rom-com by the numbers
The ugly truth about the new romantic comedy The Ugly Truth is that it wastes a talented cast on a formulaic story that audiences are either going to be way ahead of or shaking their heads in disbelief over. Like The Proposal, the Sandra Bullock vehicle that has proven inexplicably popular, this is another tale of a savvy, professionally successful woman who suddenly turns … [Read more...]