Parcher

American Psycho. Easily one of the funniest movies I have EVER seen - and many parts of the book were hillarious as well. I know it does not aim to be specifically comedy, more a portrayal of the lunacy of the whole situation and setting - that "happens" to be funny.

The comedy just gets, makes me laugh, no reservations.
Yet many of the people that I maybe talk to about this movie, or see it with, OR, more important, people in general that I discuss this kind of comedy or these kinds of jokes with...seems VERY few people appreciate it?

I simply don't understand...that kind of comedy exists in a lot of (more or less) serious films to one extent or another. But IRL observations seem to NOT confirm that people find it funny or understand it, in particular, GIRLS. My friend - who by the way is something of a ladies' man - says that one of the most basic differences between women and men is humor, comedy. Now obviously American Psycho is directed by a woman, it's a general statement of course and obviously there will be many exceptions.

Do a lot of people NOT laugh at "special" or "weird" or "unusual" jokes because of the social setting? Guys my age, 20, basically seem to find coolness in not laughing. Right, cool. Maybe it's just because girls my age - high school/just post HS age are simply dumb and uninteresting and the boys need to look cool in front of everyone else.

Cliff's notes: My real life experiences are that people and especially girls do not at all like or appreciate the kind of comedy that for example is abundant in American Psycho* What gives?

Do you often find that your taste of comedy is not shared by others?

(*examples. "Is Paul still handling the Fisher account?" "I've got a lunch appointment with Cliff Huxtable at the Four Seasons" etc. etc. Anyone who's seen the movie or read the book knows what I mean).

(I posted this in movies because I wanted to address it more in relations to American Psycho but that kinda changed..mods feel free to move to OTher)

rkndkn

I think appreciation of different types of humor is much more subjective than say, drama. I'm not sure that it's gender related, either.

I'm female, and I loved "American Psycho". I hate what I call "stupid humor" like "Dumb and Dumber". To me, a well-written line in a Woody Allen film is much funnier than stupid visual humor.

Seantn

I think "stupid" humor is funny when it is done well. I thought "Dumb & Dumber" was great because the performers in the lead roles do such good jobs. They have great timing, and are believable.

Then you take a look at (although you shouldn't) "Dude, Where's my Car?", another "stupid" humor movie. But this movie seems to think that simply being stupid is all you have to do. Not so! It's truly awful.

Parcher

Agree completely.

Stupid humor has its time and place, but the fact that slapstick comedy basically sells better than - well, "better" (yes, subjective) humor is a little unsettling. Which is probably the reason why I feel a lot of people don't share this kind of humor.

I think for example that Christmas Vacation has a solid combination of both more intelligent humor and dumb humor. For example, 2 lines crack me up:
Cousin Eddie comes to visit Clark, they're having some egg drink whatever, and pretty much out of the blue Eddie asks Clark: "so your company kill all those people in India?" The context, the delivery of that line, simply genius IMO. But seems very wasted on others I see it with, who find it more funny when he steps on the planks and hurts himself.

Parcher

rk I think you're right it may not be gender related.
Perhaps I just need to meet other girls Seems to me though that there is a bigger audience for that kinda dark/black comedy among male audiences than female? I may be wrong.

Supermallet

To be fair, the humor in American Psycho is so easily overlooked in the wake of the extreme violence in the film. I love the movie and get all the satire, but hardly laugh out loud. But I definitely think there's far more going on in that film than just satire.

RagingBull80

I don't agree with the humor being overlooked due to the violence. The humor was the first thing that caught my attention when I watched the movie the first time. The humor is what I love the most about the movie. And, the movie really isn't all that violent. A lot of the violence is off-screen and what you do see isn't a whole lot. I think the graphic sex in the movie is worse than the violence.

Now the book on the other hand is a different story. The ratio of sex and violence in the book is pretty close, as far as severity goes.

UAIOE

I've never seen "American Psycho" and neither has my GF so i can't add anything to that.

I can say that my GF doesn't find "Police Squad/Naked Gun" funny at all. And she absolutely hated "Johnny Dangerously"...saying it was trying too hard to be funny.

Mordred

I was left feeling very blase about American Psycho. I didn't think it was all that funny, or entertaining. It seemed like it tried too hard.

Of course, I had similar feelings to the OP when I saw Fight Club opening night. I was laughing much harder than I usually do and even though the theater was packed it didn't seem like anyone else got the jokes. I couldn't believe that these people weren't getting the comedic genius of the film.

Supermallet

The book is definitely more graphic than the movie, but the movie is still pretty gruesome, even if most of the gore is suggested. Sometimes that makes things all the more terrible to the audience.

clappj

Seems like an ironic question, considering the film is directed by a woman.

starman9000

My wife and I both liked AP. But I can understand people missing the humor due to the violence.

Parcher

Funnily I noted the exact same thing in my first post. Maybe you didn't read all of it

mndtrp

I don't find the parts you quoted particularly funny, but do find humour throughout the movie. All of my friends that have seen it, several that are female, find it funny.

Every other movie in this thread, except for Dude, I find funny. Physical humor I don't find funny hardly at all. It seem like the cheap way out.

PopcornTreeCt

I liked American Psycho but I didn't find it laugh out loud funny. The book had some funny parts but were much overshadowed by the gruesome descriptions of torture.

Groucho

I pretty much agree with PopcornTreeCt. I liked American Psycho the film quite a bit (hated the book), but I didn't find it laugh out loud hilarious. It was more satirical than it was conventionally "funny".

I loved the way the filmmakers (it was also written by a woman) took a book that had been accused of misogyny and took their own feminist take on it.

slop101

AP is one of those films that's funny, and makes me laugh the more I watch it.

In fact, I don't really recall laughing at it too much when I first saw it in the theater (I wasn't sure what to expect, and since I didn't know it was supposed to be a black-comedy, I wasn't looking for comedic elements). But now, after having seen it a few times, I laugh out loud at almost all of it, and I find it to be one of the funniest most entertaining films of this decade.

Shannon Nutt

My finance hates...and I mean HATES...Kevin Smith movies. She thinks he's degrading to women. Go figure.