Screwball Comedy: Difference between revisions
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* Conversely, the 1928 silent Marion Davies comedy ''The Patsy'' can be regarded as a sort of very early prototype for the genre. |
* Conversely, the 1928 silent Marion Davies comedy ''The Patsy'' can be regarded as a sort of very early prototype for the genre. |
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* ''Ticktock'', a ''horror novel'' by [[Dean Koontz]], is deliberately written as a [[Screwball Comedy]]. |
* ''Ticktock'', a ''horror novel'' by [[Dean Koontz]], is deliberately written as a [[Screwball Comedy]]. |
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* ''[[Dharma |
* ''[[Dharma & Greg (TV)|Dharma and Greg]]'' |
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* ''[[House Sitter]]'' |
* ''[[House Sitter]]'' |
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* ''[[Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle]]'' is a non-romantic version, in which uptight, nervous Harold gets broken out of his shell by laid-back Kumar. [[Bringing Up Baby|And there's a big cat and everything]]. |
* ''[[Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle]]'' is a non-romantic version, in which uptight, nervous Harold gets broken out of his shell by laid-back Kumar. [[Bringing Up Baby|And there's a big cat and everything]]. |
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Revision as of 15:24, 9 January 2014
No, this doesn't mean what you think.
The Screwball Comedy has a pretty precise definition: a comedy film -- usually in black and white, although some were made in color -- in which an uptight, repressed, or otherwise stiff character gets broken out of his or her shell by being romantically pursued by a Cloudcuckoolander (or a similar character type). It does not just mean "zany comedy." The Producers, say, is not a screwball comedy, although it is screwy, ballsy, and very funny. It is characterized by fast-paced repartee, farcical situations, escapist themes, and plot lines involving courtship and marriage and showing the struggle between economic classes.
In other words, a Parody of a Romantic Comedy.
Classic screwball comedy examples include (period 1934-1944):
- The Awful Truth
- Bachelor Mother
- Ball of Fire
- Bringing Up Baby
- Dinner At Eight
- Easy Living
- Holiday
- It Happened One Night
- Its a Wonderful World (the film - page at the moment redirects to The World Ends With You)
- It Started With Eve
- His Girl Friday (A remake of the play/movie The Front Page)
- The Lady Eve
- Libeled Lady
- Midnight
- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
- My Favorite Wife
- My Man Godfrey
- Nothing Sacred
- The Palm Beach Story
- The Philadelphia Story
- To Be or Not To Be
- Top Hat
- Topper, followed by two sequels. Based on two novels by Thorne Smith, who also wrote the book on which I Married A Witch is based.
- Twentieth Century
- You Can't Take It With You
Later and modern examples of screwball comedy include:
- I Was a Male War Bride
- What's Up Doc: Peter Bogdanovich's Homage to the genre
- Switching Channels: A remake of His Girl Friday (which as noted above was a remake of The Front Page).
- The Hudsucker Proxy: Another homage, written and directed by The Coen Brothers
- Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day: A modern Pastiche of the genre
- Arthur is about equal parts PG Wodehouse pastiche and screwball pastiche.
- Oscar
- Date Night
- After Hours and Something Wild can be seen as darkly postmodern '80s variations of the genre.
- The Runaway Bride
- Conversely, the 1928 silent Marion Davies comedy The Patsy can be regarded as a sort of very early prototype for the genre.
- Ticktock, a horror novel by Dean Koontz, is deliberately written as a Screwball Comedy.
- Dharma and Greg
- House Sitter
- Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle is a non-romantic version, in which uptight, nervous Harold gets broken out of his shell by laid-back Kumar. And there's a big cat and everything.