Quote:
|
Originally Posted by !@#$%!
oh no, freddy got fingered isn't a "screwball" comedy-- neither is dumb and dumber-- screwball is a particular genre from the depression era that included strong female leads, "classy" settings, and elements of slapstick comedy and snappy dialogue. the best contemporary example i can think of is almodovar's "women on the verge of a nervous breakdown"--almodovar famously looks back a lot on classic hollywood films for inspiration. the reason i brought it up was because demoņo mentioned "desperate housewives" and there definitely was a strong element of that in the first year of that show (which i happened to witness, to my embarrassment). the heir to the screwball genre are more the "romantic comedies" you see today but they are fucking weak and pathetic.
|
Yeah, it's very much that world populated by Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, with lots of razor-sharp, mile-a-minute dialogue (written at a time when Hollywood employed screenwriters who really could
write). Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday pretty much define the territory - totally different animals to the likes of Freddy Got Fingered and Dumb and Dumber.
It's pretty much disappeared now, besides in TV shows like Desperate Housewives and (to some degree) Ugly Betty. The Devil Wears Prada and Legally Blonde might be seen as a kind of attempt to revive the form for cinema but, as you say, its closest modern equivalent is probably more with stuff like 'Women on the Verge'.
Archetypal Screwball comedy scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrMcNk3MUgs