How to do humor the right way.

M16_Cart

I think the humor needs context and purpose. Humor is a good way of cooling things down after tense scenes. It's good as a way to surprise the viewer out of nowhere when it's cleverly added somewhere it's supposed to be. In a movie that already has great fundamental building blocks, humor can help it. But the main thing I observe in the lesser acclaimed Bond movies is that humor is often all they have going for them. When you have a movie with no real plot that only exists to deliver one slapstick scene after another, it lacks structure and form, and it feels more like watching 20 Youtube videos back to back than a movie.

So ultimately, from my observation, my answer to the question is this: Get good actors. Get good writers. Get good directors. Get a good concept. Try to be original. And the humor will take care of itself.

chrisisall

Not a fan of four levels.
Here's mine:
DEAD SERIOUS
DN, FRWL, OHMSS, LTK, CR,QOS, SF
BASICALLY BALANCED
GF, TB, YOLT, FYEO,* OP,* AVTAK,* TLD, GE, TND, TWINE, DAD, SP
LEANING FUNNY
DAF, LALD, TMWTGG, TSWLM, MR, FYEO,* OP,* AVTAK*

*Hard to place those in just one category...

Some_Kind_Of_Hero

I actually agree with your assessment there, @chrisisall, but OHMSS belongs in the "DEAD SERIOUS" category—it certainly has no more goofy comedy in it than either LTK or SF—and I would asterisk FYEO and OP along with AVTAK. Other than that, spot on.

patb

Re OHMSS, the car sliding upside down IMHO is a good example of where a visual gag is inserted just when the tension/excitement should be the priority. It simply adds nothing and is poorly executed anyway. A lowpoint in a great movie.

chrisisall

Some_Kind_Of_Hero wrote: »

I actually agree with your assessment there, @chrisisall, but OHMSS belongs in the "DEAD SERIOUS" category—it certainly has no more goofy comedy in it than either LTK or SF—and I would asterisk FYEO and OP along with AVTAK. Other than that, spot on.

Noted. I must change my post! Done.

Some_Kind_Of_Hero

The upside-down car sliding on the ice actually has never bothered me. I found it a genuinely fun and perfectly harmless sight gag in what was otherwise a very poorly conceived sequence. The fact that Bond and Tracy and Irma and co. find themselves mixed up in a winter car race at all during what should have been a very tense and exciting car chase was the real forehead-slapper. It's my least favorite sequence in my favorite Bond film and I wish it had never been. But since it exists, the upside-down car is actually a brief reprieve for my internal groaning.

patb

Thats very fair, yes, they should not have been in the race in the first place.

M16_Cart

Some_Kind_Of_Hero wrote: »

I actually agree with your assessment there, @chrisisall, but OHMSS belongs in the "DEAD SERIOUS" category—it certainly has no more goofy comedy in it than either LTK or SF

LTK and SF have a much darker more acerbic tone to it. OHMSS is much less comedic than the two Bond films before and after it, but it would still be considered a cartoonish movie if you were comparing them to movies in general and not just the Bond series.

chrisisall wrote: »

FYEO,* OP,* AVTAK,*

*Hard to place those in just one category...

You're right. Many movies are borderline cases.

FYEO has some really stupid gags in it but 90% of it is serious.
OP has one of the most realistic plots in the series but it also has gags.
AVTAK is one of the most goofy movies, but it also has Nazi and eugenicist undertones.

Putting TSWLM as comedic yet YOLT/TB as balanced is somewhat inconsistent IMO. All 3 are fantasy movies with unbelievable plots/settings but they do have lots of tension and serious moments.

Putting DAD as balanced makes sense too. Yes, it was outlandish, but it was trying to be serious by intent.