the last laugh documentary review
The eternal battle between humor and censure is illustrated in a brief throwback to Lenny Bruce’s legal battles, and his latterday (if seldom litigated-against) equivalents like Dave Chapelle, Ricky Gervais, Sarah Silverman, “South Park” and so forth, all of whom frequently depend on the shock value of “inappropriate” material. Fri Mar 03 2017, 04:48pm | 10 comments.
Small-screen clips of the late Joan Rivers and others illustrate how an uninspired wisecrack that might’ve otherwise been forgivable can induce channel-changing revulsion when it happens to hinge upon Jews and ovens. An A-list roster of comedians as well as several Holocaust survivors ponder the outer limits of humor and "good taste.". The mix of levity, serious themes, marquee names and archival materials in Ferne Pearlstein’s entertaining, thought-provoking documentary should find primarily broadcast buyers in numerous markets. please share with your friends and followers! Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 53% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 5.38/10. And Chase here works overtime: He does schtick, plays dramatic beats, romances Andie MacDowell, even sings and plays jazz piano. Click here for my ranking of this and 2017’s other releases. This is not a movie about “political correctness” or about justifying heartlessness or cruelty in the name of comedy.
(I will never ever sell or share your email address. The Last Laugh documentary review: punching Nazis (with comedy) by MaryAnn Johanson.
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Is that as incongruous as the sparkly showgirls of “Springtime for Hitler”?). https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/movies/the-last-laugh-review.html “Punch up rather than punch down” is what it comes down to.
She provides a liberal barometer of what’s permissible in comedy, as she watches a number of comedians riffing on YouTube and elsewhere, deeming some genuinely funny and others simply tasteless. film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997. The picture’s single saving grace is Chase’s co-star Dreyfuss, who deploys all of his considerable charisma.
Analyzing jokes can ruin humor, but not here.
But he doesn’t really have the chops for this kind of showcase — his earlier vehicles, while funny, never required him to be much of an actor.
Photographed, edited and directed with the minimal competency of an 1980s TV movie, with every scene slathered in a pushy, secondhand musical score (lest we’re ever left to decide how to feel about any of its events for ourselves), “The Last Laugh” is also hobbled by the weakness that has plagued stand-up narratives from “Punchline” to “The Comedian”: all the onstage material, whether intended to be bad or brilliant, simply isn’t funny. There are very few taboos left in comedy.
Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. “The Last Laugh” asks the non-musical question — well, non-musical unless you’re talking about “The Producers” — “Can Nazis and the Final Solution ever be funny? a wise and funny defense of the necessity of the court jester to speak truth to power. You'll laugh until you cry. Read Next: Radu Ciorniciuc to Follow Sundance Awarded ‘Acasa, My Home’ With ‘Tata’ for HBO Europe (EXCLUSIVE), ‘2067’ Review: Kodi Smit-McPhee Visits an All-Too-Familiar Dystopian Future, ‘Lost Girls & Love Hotels’ Review: Alexandra Daddario Wanders Tokyo in ‘Fifty Shades’-Style Erotic Indie, ‘The Secrets We Keep’ Review: Noomi Rapace Discovers An Incognito War Criminal in Taut Suspense Drama, James Bond Film ‘No Time to Die’ Explored $600 Million Sale to Streaming Services, Migos' Offset Detained by Police After Run-In With Trump Supporters, Borat Hilariously Defends Rudy Giuliani After Controversial Scene, Adele Sings on 'Saturday Night Live' After All, ’60 Minutes’ Will Run Trump Interview Sunday, Despite President’s Release of Footage, Kanye West Says His 'Calling Is to Be the Leader of the Free World' in Three-Hour Joe Rogan Interview, ‘Saturday Night Live’ Tackles Trump’s COVID Plan, Rudy Giuliani and the Mute Button in Presidential Debate Sketch, Donald Trump Responds to Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Borat’ Sequel: ‘To Me, He’s a Creep’, Trading Places: Jennifer Lawrence Swaps NYC Penthouse for $22 Million Townhouse, Liam Neeson Thriller ‘Honest Thief’ Tops Quiet U.S. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Brooks has the last word when he says “Comics are the conscience of the people, and they’re allowed a large berth in any direction…even if it’s in bad taste.”. Archival materials here afford a rich array, from seized Nazi footage of prisoner-performed cabaret acts to Chaplin’s “Great Dictator” megalomaniac’s ballet and behind-the-scenes footage of Jerry Lewis’ still-unreleased “The Day the Clown Cried.” Plus, of course, myriad clips from latterday comedians (including many interviewed here) — and “Springtime for Hitler,” naturally.
If there’s one thing we should never joke about, it’s the Holocaust, surely? Yet laughter, too, can be used to make serious points, and the frontiers of what constitutes “good taste” (or at least what doesn’t constitute unforgivably bad taste) continue to be pushed outward. That’s funny, isn’t it? Get a once-a-week email notification of all the latest goodies. Should they be joked about?” A starry roster of comedians as well as several actual Holocaust survivors weigh in, providing a range of answers that underlines just how personal, and changeable, notions of humor and offense are.
No content appearing on this site may be reproduced, reposted, or reused in any manner without express written permission. SHARES . Never miss a review! Documentary ‘The Last Laugh’ A Fascinating Look At Comedy & The Holocaust [BFI London Film Fest Review] Oliver Lyttelton. Analyzing comedy can tend to ruin the humor, but that doesn’t happen here; instead we are treated to a provocative, hilarious (and sometimes cringe-worthy, but far less often than you would expect), and genuinely important discussion of where the boundaries are, when they can and should be transgressed, and who gets to make such decisions. This is a provocative, hilarious, and important discussion of comedy taboos, who gets to transgress them, and why. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for The Last Laugh: Crime Stories at Amazon.com.
Copyright (c) 1997-2020 MaryAnn Johanson. Is it in poor taste to make Holocaust jokes?
The site's consensus reads: "Chevy Chase and Richard Dreyfuss are a sight for sore eyes, but they unfortunately do not get The Last Laugh in a generic buddy comedy that never musters any jokes worthy of their comedic chops".
[, Analyzing comedy can tend to ruin the humor, but that doesn’t happen here. Promise. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for The Last Laugh at Amazon.com. © Copyright 2020 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. Pearlstein’s very deft assembly manages to raise all these ideas and others for viewer consideration while underlining that there are few, if any, definitive responses to them — humor being the most subjective of values, even when it comes to an apparent moral absolute like the Holocaust. MaryAnn’s quick take… Analyzing jokes can ruin humor, but not here. Reviews. As Al Hart, a retired agent for stand-up comics who takes his very first client (Richard Dreyfuss) on the road for one last tour, Chase mostly engages in his trademark mugging, while his earnest moments are smothered by the clumsiness of the filmmaking.
Even concentration camp survivors have wildly different perspectives on the matter. Mel Brooks — the guy who wrote “Springtime for Hitler” — would beg to differ, of course. Comic talents, authors and others debate narrower issues: Why it’s usually OK to mock Nazis, but not the Holocaust (because ridiculing oppressors is one thing, their victims another); just when the “too soon” rule expires on sensitive subjects (nobody bridles at mocking the Spanish Inquisition, for instance, but 9/11 jokes are still “wrong”); whether Roberto Begnini’s Oscar-winning ego trip “Life is Beautiful” is “absolutely brilliant” (as the Anti-Defamation League’s Abraham Foxman opines) or “the worst movie ever made” (Mel Brooks, an MVP commentator here); and the divide over current envelope-pushers like Sasha Baron Cohen, whose characters often parody anti-Semitism and other prejudices, albeit in subversive ways that actual bigots might well interpret as confirming their biases. the movie seems to silently ask. please help keep truly independent film criticism alive!
Tragedy compounded by survivor guilt has left her living in a world where comedy seems superfluous at best. Greg Pritikin’s “The Last Laugh,” on Netflix, is a transparent attempt to do for Chevy Chase what “The Hero” did for Sam Elliott, or “The Last Movie Star” for Burt Reynolds, or “Hello My Name Is Doris” for Sally Field: It places an aging star at the center of a low-budget, character-driven indie and reminds us of his gifts. October 16, 2016 6:35 pm. An Auschwitz inmate turned educator, Renee Firestone emerged from great suffering—including the death of her sister after Nazi “medical experiments” — with joie de vivre intact, perhaps even amplified by so much personal loss. Box Office Again, Stevie Nicks on Her New Concert Film and the ‘Crazy’ Resurgence of ‘Dreams’, ‘The Vow’: What Happened to Keith Raniere, Allison Mack and Other Key Figures, Kanye West Says His 'Calling Is to Be the Leader of the Free World', Unsure How to Select Artwork?
Comedy can be a survival tactic and a means of revenge against tyranny, even as it can also be a tool of crass insensitivity.
“Comedy puts light onto darkness, and darkness can’t live where there’s light,” Silverman offers philosophically; on the old adage about comedy equaling tragedy plus time, Gottfried quips, “Why wait?”, But perhaps those are rather easy things to say for those too young to have lived through the Holocaust, so Pearlstein also follows 90-year-old Holocaust survivor and educator Renee Firestone on her own personal exploration of this great comedic taboo. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. ), based on the Aggregate theme by Elegant Themes | powered by WordPress.
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(A Holocaust survivors’ convention in Vegas? As more than one stand-up pro notes here, the stakes rise with the bigger risk; if you’re going to joke about a “taboo” subject, it better be a very good joke. This thought-provoking doco explores the subject.
"The Last Laugh" documentary from Ferne Pearlstein asks provocative questions about humor on horrific topics like the Holocaust. This is a provocative, hilarious, and important discussion of comedy taboos, who gets to transgress them, and why.
And vice versa. Film Review: The Last Laugh Insightful and well-explored documentary about comedians addressing the Holocaust and other ostensibly taboo topics lines up comedy legends, Holocaust survivors and others. On the other hand, we see her visit Las Vegas with a friend who can’t seem to freely enjoy the excursion or any other experience nearly 70 years after her own camp experience. All that glitz and neon? Tech/design contribs are pro down the line. The Last Laugh is a wise and funny defense of the necessity of the court jester to speak truth to power, which is just as vital today at it ever was.
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