I read Paul Mavis's DVD review of RiffTrax: The Little Shop of Horrors at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=37229 and...

You have now, bud. Cripes, but I loathe that scene.

Hello. Nice to meet you.

Yeah, but you found him...Paul didn't find you, so I guess it's still accurate, right?

I came here to say the EXACT same thing myself! It's no Steve Martin and Bill Murray, that's for sure.

Actually, I really disagreed with this review. First off, I believe he is the FIRST person I have ever met that found the original LSOH funny. Everyone else I know thought it was a shitty b-movie whose value was mostly as a historical footnote for horror, Jack N., and the superior musical remake. I think Rifftrax probably agrees with me and felt no particular impetus to include only their best material.

Second of all, I've seen this film three times. That's not a lot, granted, but it's enough to note that it isn't getting funnier. If anything it's getting less funny and more face-palm inducing. I'm not sure what subjective I need to find this film anything but irritating, but I don't have it in me. Frankly, I'm surprised any true "MSTie" fan does either.

Anyway, I have yet to see the Three-Riffer edition, but it's on my wishlist!

Well, I remember most people liking it -- including critics. Almost all the emails I've received about the review mention they think the original film is funny, too. Most of what I remember reading about it put it as an important footnote in both comedy and horror genres. But nobody's perfect -- maybe I remembered this wrong. So I went back and checked a few sources to see what its reputation was/is (just in case I was remembering it wrong):

It has a 89% "Fresh" rating at Tomatoes.
Variety (notoriously dismissive to grade-Z fare like this back in the day) "One big sick joke, but it's essentially harmless and good-natured"
Leonard Maltin: ***1/2* "Classic black comedy" "Hilarious" "Delightful"
DVDSavant (one of my favorite reviewers, and a bastard on unfunny films): "It's easily Roger Corman's funniest comedy; it's the best example of the late 50s trend toward morbid-but-mild 'sick' humor. The Little Shop of Horrors is still a laugh riot, thanks to an engagingly non- PC playscript by Charles B. Griffith, Roger Corman's least-honored major creative contributor."
Steven Scheuer (of the late, great Movies on TV: "More laughs than most big-budget films." "Gets better every time you watch it."
Halliwell's (also notoriously snarky and snobby and bitchy and hard to please about anything): "Lively, if occasionally ramshackle, comic delight"
Time Out Film Guide (one of the best UK film review guides): "Its spoofy comedy keeps you tittering, s******ing and occasionally laughing out loud right to the last ridiculous frame."
Janet Maslin, New York Times: "Mr. Corman's charming throwaway film"
And Pauline Kael: "Amateurish yet funny, in a gross way. The film is notable for the performance that Jack Nicholson gives in a minor role; as a pain freak who is in ecstasy in a dentist's chair, he shows the comic intensity that later made him a star."

Those are just the ones I had on my desk, and the first few ones I punched up on the net. A pretty heady group.

As for your theory that since Rifftrax agreed with you that LSOH was a "shitty B-movie" and therefore Mike and the guys didn't feel a "particular impetus to include only their best material," I'd say you just agreed 100% with my review: the commentary wasn't particularly funny, because it didn't show Mike and the rest (who I like) at their best.

My review isn't devoted to securing a reputation for LSOH that hardly needs my help (almost 50 years and running, and they're still cranking out public domain copies like there's no tomorrow). It just points out the commentary isn't as funny as the film. But if you disagree, that's cool. It's still a free country (at least until the next press conference).

Does anybody else think the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" movie is as bad as anything they ever made fun of? I can believe that there are a lot of people who don't find the original Little Shop of Horrors funny. They are probably the same people who think that "Scary Movie 3" is a riot.

No.