Deleted Scenes 06.11.09: We're a Totem Pole
Posted by Robert Sullivan on 06.11.2009
Really, we are. Come on in.
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another round of Deleted Scenes. I'm Rob, Clifford Barnes is off this week hunting elk in Kenya.
In a very encouraging sign of a hopefully growing post-Apatow stretch of cinematic comedy, I'm happy to report The Hangover was both 1) funny and 2) nearly free of any and all moralizing and life lessons of any sort. The only bit in any question, really, was lead douchebag Phil realizing that maybe his wife and kid aren't such annoying carry-on material after all. However, was there a minutes-long monologue establishing this point that ground the narrative to a halt? No, there wasn't. The audience was left to connect those dots on its own. True, this was not subtlety on a grand stage, but for a movie like The Hangover it's something to be noted.
Zach Galifianakis is finally a star, and I'm loving it. From watching him set both VH1 execs and Creed on fire during his short-lived talk show "Late World with Zach" to examining the problems of having an Asian roommate and no gong, Zach has long been established in my mind as the funniest stand-up comedian available in America today. The rest of the country catching up to that fact, years late as it may be, is still very cool. Also, no scene in The Hangover where he learns that he must "grow up," whatever that means, to be considered a true adult. Zach's character is left just who he is at the beginning, and it's the other characters who figure out (again, without any speechifying) that he's actually an all right dude once you get to know him. That's a pretty refreshing viewpoint in our current comedic landscape, to be certain.
Also refreshing - a harpy shrew of a girlfriend is actually acknowledged as such. Absolutely amazing when you think about it, but not so much when you consider what might have been the alternative had a certain other director been in the chair for this film. Ed Helms' character is locked in a loveless relationship of convenience and instead of shackling himself to his partner permanently out of a misplaced sense of obligation, he finds out that all women aren't emasculating nightmares and happiness can be found elsewhere, on your own terms. How brilliant.
Now that America has proven itself open to a raucous comedy that doesn't completely sell out in the third act, it's time to do the heavy lifting. Whether Funny People bombs or not ultimately isn't up to me. It's up to all of you. With great power comes responsibility, this is true, but what often is not said is that responsibility comes with little power as well.
Well, comparatively less power, that is. By purchasing movie tickets, we cast a vote for what we want to see and more important what we want produced by Hollywood. If you don't want any more comedies that rip off their balls in the closing half hour, you know what to do If you don't want any more comedies that proselytize, you know what to do. And if you don't want any more comedies that are marketed from sea to shining sea as "how life really is," you know what to do.
