The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Holy fucking shit, that sucked. F

just as i expected. it's hard to take steve martin seriously anymore, and that's a bad thing when you're a comedian.

raisedbywolves wrote:that sucked.

i take it you hadn't seen any advertisements whatsoever, and decided to see it on a whim at the theatre? because i find it hard to believe anybody has seen commercials for this movie and then has gone to see it.

especially the scene they keep incessently showing, with steve martin struggling to pronounce words correctly. one of the prime sources of comedy in the original series was peter sellers' inimitable (ding! there's the biggest problem right there!) pronunciations, which nobody else understood, a fact which his version of the inspector seemed oblivious to. having steve martin's clousseau focus on this is like including punchlines to monty python gags (see: spam-a-lot).

As noted elsewhere in the Movies section, I am a movie whore and will see almost anything (Rob Schnieder "comedies" being one notable exception). Yeah, the preview was awful, and, ultimately, accurately represented the movie. Sometimes they don't. Plus, this was co-written by Steve Martin, whose writing track record had been unblemished until now. I guess the devil now has his entire soul. I thought he might have missed a spot. I hope all those freakin' Picassos are worth it.

I really never found Steve Martin to be funny in the first place.

jolly roger wrote:I really never found Steve Martin to be funny in the first place.

'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' is excellent; as is 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'. Why they had to remake this I have no idea. Sellers was unique, and as tviyh said, inimitable.

Ticket money saved: thank you.

Great Steve Martin films
The Idiot
The Man With Two Brains

Good Steve Martin Films
Roxeanne

OK Steve Martin Films
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

& The rest.

j$ wrote:Great Steve Martin films
The Idiot
The Man With Two Brains.

Absolutely

Though don't you mean "The Jerk"? Or maybe it had different names

I would also add "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid"

And though it veers dangerously close to vomit-inducing American sentimentalism - "Parenthood" is also very funny.

If my memory serves me well though - SM has form on the board for destroying great characters. Phil Silvers as Sgt Bilko was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Steve Martin as Sgt Bilko was bloody awful.

Yes, I mean The Jerk. Oops.

And yes, Dead Men is a good Steve Martin Film.

Not a huge fan of 'Parenthood' but it has some redeeming qualities. Still, not a Steve martin film in the 'star vehicle for his goofing 'around' way, I suppose.

j$

raisedbywolves wrote:As noted elsewhere in the Movies section, I am a movie whore and will see almost anything

i've kind of figured that, based on the large number of these threads you've posted. i wasn't trying to insult you or your selection in movies; just, your synopsis of "that sucked" prompted me to think "what did you expect?"

JB and I (and I think PfM) looooove L.A. Story.

And tviyh, of course I'm not insulted. I cheerfully see movies I am almost certain will be bad, and everyone thinks I'm crazy for it. For example, I saw Ultraviolet this evening, which is so bad it doesn't even deserve its own thread (D-). My taste in movies is, I think, actually fairly respectable - I just fear no crap. Except Benchwarmers, which terrifies me.

raisedbywolves wrote:JB and I (and I think PfM) looooove L.A. Story.

Oh, hey, I forgot about that one, it was awesome. I should see it again. Thanks for the reminder.
-bill

jolly roger wrote:I really never found Steve Martin to be funny in the first place.

I love his stand up comedy. Particularly the "A Wild and Crazy Guy" and "Let's Get Small" albums.

I might be in the minority on this, but to each his own, of course.

Having said that, It DOES seem like every movie that Steve Martin has been in for the last few years has been absolutely awful. I think the downhill trend started with <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131325/">Bowfinger</a>, or maybe even a little earlier than that.

ROCK!

Glenn (DR FUNK)
http://glenncase.songhole.org

yeah, i've got "wild" & it's great especially on a long car ride. standup comedy really helps to keep one awake & attentive on the driving.
-bill

Bowfinger was excellent.

Leaf wrote:Bowfinger was excellent.

Yeah, I was gonna say that was one of the few decent ones he's done lately (and that goes double for Eddie Murphy). Bringing Down The House on the other hand...

Did anyone see Shopgirl? Was it any good? I liked the book quite a lot.

raisedbywolves wrote:JB and I (and I think PfM) looooove L.A. Story.

True dat. It is my favorite movie of all time.

I am a ginormious Steve Martin fan, but I know when to watch em and when to walk away. Right now I think his real genius is shown in his writing (his last novel was absolutely brilliant). His crappy yet rediculiously high grossing films seem to provide the means for his next Picasso purchase, not his creative growth. These movies are aweful (Cheaper By The Dozen, I'm lookin at you here), but they make goooooood money at the box office. This means Martin makes gooooood money off the back end and can laugh all the way to his next New Yorker article. The exact same could be said of Eddie "All Disney, All The Time" Murphy and Tim "Let Me On That Disney Train Too" Allen. Hell, even Bill Murray did Garfield. Horror movies and family friendly films are where it's at in Hollywood right now, and as much as I can't stomach a lot of them, the business savvy actor is getting on board as fast as they damn well can.

Hmmm. Horror + family film = Goosebumps revival. Can't miss. I'm gonna get started on that. Ka-ching!

raisedbywolves wrote:Hmmm. Horror + family film = Goosebumps revival. Can't miss. I'm gonna get started on that. Ka-ching!

That's the spirit!