Comedy Archeology - On The Big Screen (The 90s)

In a move that will surprise absolutely no one given that yesterday’s post dealt with films from the 80s, let’s take a look at some of the 90s fare that stuck in the old comedy noggin and refused to budge.

Groundhog Day
“Ned! Ryerson! Needlenose Ned. Ned the Head.”
Why Do I Love It So? It’s a natural progression on from Ghostbusters. Bill Murray absolutely acing it as the time-warped Phil Connors doomed to go through the same day over and over plus Harold Ramis completely understanding that this is a film that doesn’t need the technical explanation of why this keeps happening to him; being stuck and trying to get out is funny enough. It’s also one of those films that has sneakily tricked me into enjoying what is essentially a romantic comedy.

There’s Something About Mary
“Frank and beans!”
Why Do I Love It So? I’m a man who enjoys clever wordplay, sophisticated character interplay and compex comedy craft. I’m also someone who would find it near impossible not to laugh at someone getting their genitals caught in their zip. The Farrelly Brothers knew how to to do bad taste, gross out comedy with a sense of weird style in both this and in Kingpin. It was a close call as to which of the two I would go for but this one just edges it for me.

Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery
“Who does Number Two work for?”
Why Do I Love It So? It’s in a similar vein to Bill and Ted in that it hits that dumb but lovable spot but it’s also stranger than that (as evidenced by Dr Evil’s bizarre recounting of his childhood during the group therapy session with his estranged son). It’s a mixture of a character comedy and a sketch show - a technique favoured by the Python team but something that seems to have become more ingrained in American film comedy over the subsequent decades. It’s also so infectiously good-natured that it’s hard not to love it.

The Big Lebowski
“Nice marmot”
Why Do I Love It So? It’s the sort of film that grows more and more with each rewatch, much in the same vein as Withnail And I, and the more you watch it, the more quotable it becomes. It's a film that’s hard to pin down to any one genre, having elements of comedy, detective noir, 30s musical and even farce. It’s a career best performance from Jeff Bridges and arguably one that’s he’s been reproducing shades of ever since, so inextricably linked with The Dude is he.

There were a few other comedy filmmakers of the 90s that I haven’t touched on yet and who definitely have been big parts of my comedy sensibility but I reckon they need their own posts another time...