The Hangover and the rise of the jokeless comedy

The second Hangover movie makes it official: Punchlines are no longer welcome in funny movies, says Adam Sternbergh in The New York Times

"The Hangover Part II" is the latest bro-focused films, following "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up," that completely lacks jokes, says Adam Sternbergh in The New York Times.
(Image credit: Facebook/The Hangover)

Love it or hate it, The Hangover Part II is "a notable, even groundbreaking film," says Adam Sternbergh in The New York Times. It marks the first time that someone has "dared to make a mainstream American comedy in which nothing funny happens." That's not to say that nothing happens. There's plenty of "shrieking, squirming, beatings, panic, a severed finger, and a facial tattoo." And "it's certainly possible that you might watch it and convulsively emit human laughter." There just aren't any jokes — "you know, those familiar contraptions of setups and punchlines; the misunderstandings, mistaken identities, spoofed conventions or parodied clichés." Much of the blame lies with the wildly successful directors Judd Apatow and Todd Phillips, Sternbergh says. Here, an excerpt:

What these auteurs truly have in common, though, is that they have systematically boiled away many of the pleasures previously associated with comedy — first among these, jokes themselves — and replaced them with a different kind of lure: the appeal of spending two hours hanging out with a loose and jocular gang of goofy bros. (Also: ritual humiliation. Humiliation is a big part of it, too.) ...

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us