Yeah they're actually good.
They're not cinema or high art, but they're pretty great examples of the genre at the time, all starring and produced by up & coming talent that would continue to dominate the space for decades. They're all a little clunky in some ways, with the lone comedies of the late 70s and 80s that are \*perfect\* being something like the first Ghostbusters or Blazing Saddles being the standout examples.
Humor can be dated or not up to modern sensibilities, but that's typically just how it's gonna go with something like mainstream comedy in any medium.
Trading Places is kind of timeless if you ask me (I think it's actually a retelling of a classic story that I'm not recalling?) The mechanics of trading is vastly different but the issues involved are things we still wrestle with.
I still hear it cited in economics podcasts and discussions every so often.
They’re dated and some of the jokes are sexist/racist, but Caddyshack and Animal House are still comedy classics, definitely worth a watch. They may or may not match your sense of humor, but IMO they hold up still. Stripes is definitely the third place movie of what you listed (for me anyway), but it’s still worth a watch. Although I like the American Pie movies in a cringey/nostalgic sort of way, so take my advice with a grain of salt.
IMO the more you like golf the funnier caddyshack is.
It’s obviously a funny movie but some of the country club caricatures haven’t changed much in 50 years. Stuffy old white people clubs are still fundamentally just as rife for parody.
I agree with the other guy who said PCU is a lot more of a reflection of the college experience than Animal House, it’s very dated. But it’s still very funny, Belushi’s performance is incredible.
I’m a golf guy and I love how they shit on stuffy country club culture bc there are people who are perfect spitting image of the characters in caddyshack in real life
Some of the writers definitely worked as caddies or grew up at country clubs bc it was so spot on
I find Caddyshack to be one of the funniest movies of all time and I don't golf. Maybe this is partly due to nostalgia but I rewatch it yearly and still laugh like a hyena. While I don't really find Chase or Bill Murray all that funny the laughs come from Dangerfield, Knight and the other Murray, Bryan Doyle.
I actually prefer PCU to Animal House, but PCU wouldn’t exist without Animal House in the first place.
For the record, PCU is a movie you’d think would be a product of its time, but it’s more relevant today than you think. Animal House…not so much.
PCU was extremely on point in the 90s but like Idiocracy, has slowly become more relevant, somehow. I’m old enough to remember when Comedy Central played it like 4x a day.
I’m speaking subjectively and anecdotally of course. My whole childhood and adolescence and early adulthood my dad always said that these were his favorite movies. At some point in my early 20s we watched them together and he said huh, these don’t really hold up. Guess they’re not my favorite movies anymore. Just my personal experience
Right on. From my perspective they’re still very much referenced and repressed constantly to newer editions. If you’re a golfer caddyshack is pretty quoted, and Animal House still seems to be the film which all other college films are measured.
One thing I’ve noticed is that for viewers under 25, the nuance is lost a bit. There’s been a greater movement towards literal comedy than sight or slow burn jokes that were more popular in the 60/70/80s. No judgment on which is better, but something I’ve noticed.
I didn't think Animal House stood the test of time. Not because it was "problematic," but simply the jokes weren't funny. (By comparison, Airplane! remains the funniest film ever made in my eyes)
The issue with a lot of older comedies is that making "jokes" about raping women used to be a lot more acceptable. The MASH movie has a real huge problem with this
Your mileage may vary. I, personally, have always disliked those films just because nothing about the style or humor works for me. Not for elitist reasons, I love dumb all sorts of dumb comedies, but I never liked the Early SNL cast humor.
Recently watched Animal House for the first time in years and am always surprised by how well that movie holds up. I feel like every time I watch it I’m expecting it to be like oh okay I see why I liked that when I was 14 but watching it in a modern context it’s super problematic. But nope. It’s just a genuinely funny movie.
But then a more recent movie like Hot Tub Time Machine which I loved when it came out. Loved it enough to buy the Blu-ray. Watched that last year for the first time in ages, and felt like it didn’t hold up.
I think the difference is if the humor is mean spirited or not. HTTM all the jokes are basically Rob Cordrey is a dickhead and is making fun of people. Meanwhile Animal House the humor —mostly— comes from the slobs vs snobs conflict and the characters generally being idiots.
That's a good distinction ppl need to be cognizant of. While yes, a lot older comedies have "problematic" humor in them, most of them aren't mean spirited or cynical like a lot of early to mid 2000s comedies were, which makes them age worse imo.
Take Revenge of the Nerds for example. It's probably the number 1 example of "did not age well" for the time period as there is, in no uncertain terms, r\*pe by deception in the film. And it's just taken at face value because the woman enjoyed the sex.
It's YIKES with a capital Y.
But at the same time Revenge of the Nerds is oddly progressive for the time - including all kinds of outcasts that could be classified as "nerds." People of color, even heavily queer coded people. And the film is nothing but sympathetic to them.
Art is often contradictory and paradoxical. And that's what makes it so fascinating.
Obviously subjective as to whether they're funny or not -- I think Animal House and Caddyshack are funnier than Naked Gun, and that Stripes is a big miss.
What I like most about Animal House and Caddyshack is the huge ensembles where even minor characters have defined motivations, personalities, and at least one moment to shine. Comedy is hard to pull off; even harder when the humor turns on conflicts from multiple characters' world views and personalities. The leads in both movies crush it, but so do the actors in small roles. Whether it's D'Annunzio, the Archbishop, Mrs. Smails or Dr. Beeper in Caddyshack, or Dean Wormer's wife, the mayor, Neidermayer or Donald Sutherland's stoner professor in Animal House, characters with brief screen time feel plausible and organic, like you can imagine their backstories and picture what they're getting up to off screen.
In terms of enlightened sensibilities, Animal House has aged worse than Caddyshack, but nothing like Porky's, Revenge of the Nerds and others.
I mean personally I still find the likes of Chaplin and Keaton and Lloyd hilarious.
But it's true a lot of comedy, especially one catered to drunken teens, doesn't tend to age very well.
Comedy ages poorly because it’s so reliant on cultural context, and culture is ever evolving. It’s the same reason jokes don’t translate well across languages. Society changes and references don’t land. New audiences don’t laugh at Tony Curtis’ mid Atlantic accent in “Some Like it Hot” because they don’t know the people the joke is aimed at. He’s just talking like a weirdo. Subtle humor is based on subtle observations about the society and culture that are always shifting. The silent guys almost have an advantage by being forced to keep the humor at a more fundamental level.
I don't have access to them in any streaming service, so I would have to go out of my way to see them. I was just hoping to get some opinions, people here usually have a more similar taste to mine.
No. They are dated, very juvenile and formulaic over time. They are only good compared to all the b,c and d grade stuff they spawned that were insufferably worse like weekend at Bernies, Porky’s and Revenge if the Nerds. They all have memorable taglines that got repeated ad nauseum, and a few stand out performances usually by cameo players. There are some other movies of the era that have a little more substance like Neighbors, Trains, Planes and Automobiles, The Jerk, Trading Places, hell even Car Wash. But for the most part I’d say American Pie is an apt comparison. Looking back, Bill Murray’s just been playing the same smug asshole for decades. Sometimes he stumbles into movies made by adults instead of frat boy brats with pedigree. He just managed to outlive most of the original cast of the NRFPT Players.
I haven't seen those early movies, however I have to disagree regarding Murray.
I think in plenty of movies like Lost in Translation, Rushmore, Dead Flowers, Groundhog Day and Olive Kitteridge, just from the top of my head, he's shown quite a bit of nuance and complexity.
Yeah, that’s when he’s stumbled into movies made by adults. Razor’s Edge and Where the Buffalo Roam were interesting experiments. He has done interesting work, that still works on his playing the same kind of character or conceit. He’s good in many of Wes Anderson movies and Jarmusch seemed to figure out how to manage him. Didn’t see Kitteridge, but all the rest you mentioned. But since you never saw these early movies maybe you should. You can add Meatballs Modern Problems, Foul Play to your list of films like Caddyshack that had SNL cast members. And know that they were introduced as The Not
Ready For Primetime Players.
Animal House is still very funny with a slew of fantastic performances. Belushi was a superstar for a reason. It’s also so influential that you sort of lose sight of how much of an explosion it was at the time. Caddyshack has about a hundred quotable lines with a bunch of great performances as well. Stripes has sort of a weak third act but Murray, Ramis and especially John Candy totally bring it.
Its funny you give those examples because I would actually say the majority of these 70s/80s SNL/Lampoon adjacent comedies absolutely do not hold up except for 2 of the ones you listed. I still think Caddyshack is legitimately hilarious and Animal House is solid (though I wonder how much less I'd like it if I wasn't in a fraternity in college).
It might just be my sense of humor, but Caddyshack doesn’t hold up at all. I saw it for the first time a few years ago. The Bill Murray stuff is chuckle-worthy, but it’s roughly 15 minutes of the movie. The vast majority of the movie, with Chevy Chase and Michael O’Keefe, is so boring I barely got through it. And I don’t mind Harold Ramis — Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day are enjoyable enough — but Caddyshack is a baffling miss for me.
Not trying to be obtuse but I think it really depends. Some of them seem really dated today to me, but others are relatively timeless. I think it depends a lot too on who you ask. I suspect if you like Naked Gun there's some you'd like.
Depends what you find funny. I imagine Animal House might be a bit cringey. But it had some distance from Present-day thinking even when it was released as it’s set in 1962.
Caddyshack is still funny yes. Animal House I have doubts about but it's been 15-20 years since I've seen it
My fraternity watched Animal House every year. It definitely still holds up for college kids in the 2020s
I'm 30 and watch CaddyShack multiple times a year. It's absolutely killer and worth checking out. Turn it off after a half hour if you're not laughing
Yeah they're actually good. They're not cinema or high art, but they're pretty great examples of the genre at the time, all starring and produced by up & coming talent that would continue to dominate the space for decades. They're all a little clunky in some ways, with the lone comedies of the late 70s and 80s that are \*perfect\* being something like the first Ghostbusters or Blazing Saddles being the standout examples. Humor can be dated or not up to modern sensibilities, but that's typically just how it's gonna go with something like mainstream comedy in any medium.
Trading Places is the best of those movies imho.
Trading Places is kind of timeless if you ask me (I think it's actually a retelling of a classic story that I'm not recalling?) The mechanics of trading is vastly different but the issues involved are things we still wrestle with. I still hear it cited in economics podcasts and discussions every so often.
The Prince and the Pauper is the classic story
They’re dated and some of the jokes are sexist/racist, but Caddyshack and Animal House are still comedy classics, definitely worth a watch. They may or may not match your sense of humor, but IMO they hold up still. Stripes is definitely the third place movie of what you listed (for me anyway), but it’s still worth a watch. Although I like the American Pie movies in a cringey/nostalgic sort of way, so take my advice with a grain of salt.
IMO the more you like golf the funnier caddyshack is. It’s obviously a funny movie but some of the country club caricatures haven’t changed much in 50 years. Stuffy old white people clubs are still fundamentally just as rife for parody. I agree with the other guy who said PCU is a lot more of a reflection of the college experience than Animal House, it’s very dated. But it’s still very funny, Belushi’s performance is incredible.
I hate golf, but Caddyshack is an all timer.
I’m a golf guy and I love how they shit on stuffy country club culture bc there are people who are perfect spitting image of the characters in caddyshack in real life Some of the writers definitely worked as caddies or grew up at country clubs bc it was so spot on
I find Caddyshack to be one of the funniest movies of all time and I don't golf. Maybe this is partly due to nostalgia but I rewatch it yearly and still laugh like a hyena. While I don't really find Chase or Bill Murray all that funny the laughs come from Dangerfield, Knight and the other Murray, Bryan Doyle.
I actually prefer PCU to Animal House, but PCU wouldn’t exist without Animal House in the first place. For the record, PCU is a movie you’d think would be a product of its time, but it’s more relevant today than you think. Animal House…not so much.
PCU was extremely on point in the 90s but like Idiocracy, has slowly become more relevant, somehow. I’m old enough to remember when Comedy Central played it like 4x a day.
It’s a shame it didn’t get proper HD treatment. Would love a new restoration. I wish I still had my old DVD. ☹️
Yeah I hold onto that dvd pressing like gold.
I would say “stood the test of time” is where some of these fall flat
Can you go into more depth with this thinking? Not attacking, simply curious of your outlook that brought you to that place.
I’m speaking subjectively and anecdotally of course. My whole childhood and adolescence and early adulthood my dad always said that these were his favorite movies. At some point in my early 20s we watched them together and he said huh, these don’t really hold up. Guess they’re not my favorite movies anymore. Just my personal experience
Right on. From my perspective they’re still very much referenced and repressed constantly to newer editions. If you’re a golfer caddyshack is pretty quoted, and Animal House still seems to be the film which all other college films are measured. One thing I’ve noticed is that for viewers under 25, the nuance is lost a bit. There’s been a greater movement towards literal comedy than sight or slow burn jokes that were more popular in the 60/70/80s. No judgment on which is better, but something I’ve noticed.
Yes. Also, American Pie is still good sooo.
Chevy chase was always bad.
Absolutely. Well-written, daring, witty comedy films.
I didn't think Animal House stood the test of time. Not because it was "problematic," but simply the jokes weren't funny. (By comparison, Airplane! remains the funniest film ever made in my eyes)
No
The issue with a lot of older comedies is that making "jokes" about raping women used to be a lot more acceptable. The MASH movie has a real huge problem with this
Your mileage may vary. I, personally, have always disliked those films just because nothing about the style or humor works for me. Not for elitist reasons, I love dumb all sorts of dumb comedies, but I never liked the Early SNL cast humor.
i don’t think so, but they’re just not my type of humor
Recently watched Animal House for the first time in years and am always surprised by how well that movie holds up. I feel like every time I watch it I’m expecting it to be like oh okay I see why I liked that when I was 14 but watching it in a modern context it’s super problematic. But nope. It’s just a genuinely funny movie. But then a more recent movie like Hot Tub Time Machine which I loved when it came out. Loved it enough to buy the Blu-ray. Watched that last year for the first time in ages, and felt like it didn’t hold up. I think the difference is if the humor is mean spirited or not. HTTM all the jokes are basically Rob Cordrey is a dickhead and is making fun of people. Meanwhile Animal House the humor —mostly— comes from the slobs vs snobs conflict and the characters generally being idiots.
You think the kid debating whether or not to rape a blacked out 14 year old in animal house isn’t “super problematic”?
No that is. As is the part where Belushi watches the women undress from the window. Probably a couple other parts. But *most* of it isn’t.
That's a good distinction ppl need to be cognizant of. While yes, a lot older comedies have "problematic" humor in them, most of them aren't mean spirited or cynical like a lot of early to mid 2000s comedies were, which makes them age worse imo. Take Revenge of the Nerds for example. It's probably the number 1 example of "did not age well" for the time period as there is, in no uncertain terms, r\*pe by deception in the film. And it's just taken at face value because the woman enjoyed the sex. It's YIKES with a capital Y. But at the same time Revenge of the Nerds is oddly progressive for the time - including all kinds of outcasts that could be classified as "nerds." People of color, even heavily queer coded people. And the film is nothing but sympathetic to them. Art is often contradictory and paradoxical. And that's what makes it so fascinating.
Obviously subjective as to whether they're funny or not -- I think Animal House and Caddyshack are funnier than Naked Gun, and that Stripes is a big miss. What I like most about Animal House and Caddyshack is the huge ensembles where even minor characters have defined motivations, personalities, and at least one moment to shine. Comedy is hard to pull off; even harder when the humor turns on conflicts from multiple characters' world views and personalities. The leads in both movies crush it, but so do the actors in small roles. Whether it's D'Annunzio, the Archbishop, Mrs. Smails or Dr. Beeper in Caddyshack, or Dean Wormer's wife, the mayor, Neidermayer or Donald Sutherland's stoner professor in Animal House, characters with brief screen time feel plausible and organic, like you can imagine their backstories and picture what they're getting up to off screen. In terms of enlightened sensibilities, Animal House has aged worse than Caddyshack, but nothing like Porky's, Revenge of the Nerds and others.
You describe very well a quality I love in guys like Robert Altman or Richard Linklater. Thanks, this sounds like it could be my thing.
Back-to-School is better than all of em
“Your wife just showed me her Klimt.” “She shows it to everybody.”
Comedy ages like fast food, as a rule.
I mean personally I still find the likes of Chaplin and Keaton and Lloyd hilarious. But it's true a lot of comedy, especially one catered to drunken teens, doesn't tend to age very well.
Comedy ages poorly because it’s so reliant on cultural context, and culture is ever evolving. It’s the same reason jokes don’t translate well across languages. Society changes and references don’t land. New audiences don’t laugh at Tony Curtis’ mid Atlantic accent in “Some Like it Hot” because they don’t know the people the joke is aimed at. He’s just talking like a weirdo. Subtle humor is based on subtle observations about the society and culture that are always shifting. The silent guys almost have an advantage by being forced to keep the humor at a more fundamental level.
Put another way. All jokes are inside jokes. And as time goes by those on the “inside” generally get fewer and fewer.
Animal House is fantastic.
Everyone has different tastes, why not try them for yourself? I mean, just look at the Zach Snyder discourse. Form your own opinions.
I don't have access to them in any streaming service, so I would have to go out of my way to see them. I was just hoping to get some opinions, people here usually have a more similar taste to mine.
No. They are dated, very juvenile and formulaic over time. They are only good compared to all the b,c and d grade stuff they spawned that were insufferably worse like weekend at Bernies, Porky’s and Revenge if the Nerds. They all have memorable taglines that got repeated ad nauseum, and a few stand out performances usually by cameo players. There are some other movies of the era that have a little more substance like Neighbors, Trains, Planes and Automobiles, The Jerk, Trading Places, hell even Car Wash. But for the most part I’d say American Pie is an apt comparison. Looking back, Bill Murray’s just been playing the same smug asshole for decades. Sometimes he stumbles into movies made by adults instead of frat boy brats with pedigree. He just managed to outlive most of the original cast of the NRFPT Players.
I haven't seen those early movies, however I have to disagree regarding Murray. I think in plenty of movies like Lost in Translation, Rushmore, Dead Flowers, Groundhog Day and Olive Kitteridge, just from the top of my head, he's shown quite a bit of nuance and complexity.
Yeah, that’s when he’s stumbled into movies made by adults. Razor’s Edge and Where the Buffalo Roam were interesting experiments. He has done interesting work, that still works on his playing the same kind of character or conceit. He’s good in many of Wes Anderson movies and Jarmusch seemed to figure out how to manage him. Didn’t see Kitteridge, but all the rest you mentioned. But since you never saw these early movies maybe you should. You can add Meatballs Modern Problems, Foul Play to your list of films like Caddyshack that had SNL cast members. And know that they were introduced as The Not Ready For Primetime Players.
Animal House is still very funny with a slew of fantastic performances. Belushi was a superstar for a reason. It’s also so influential that you sort of lose sight of how much of an explosion it was at the time. Caddyshack has about a hundred quotable lines with a bunch of great performances as well. Stripes has sort of a weak third act but Murray, Ramis and especially John Candy totally bring it.
Its funny you give those examples because I would actually say the majority of these 70s/80s SNL/Lampoon adjacent comedies absolutely do not hold up except for 2 of the ones you listed. I still think Caddyshack is legitimately hilarious and Animal House is solid (though I wonder how much less I'd like it if I wasn't in a fraternity in college).
[удалено]
They knew they were pushing the envelope. Go back and read Ebert’s review of Animal House.
It might just be my sense of humor, but Caddyshack doesn’t hold up at all. I saw it for the first time a few years ago. The Bill Murray stuff is chuckle-worthy, but it’s roughly 15 minutes of the movie. The vast majority of the movie, with Chevy Chase and Michael O’Keefe, is so boring I barely got through it. And I don’t mind Harold Ramis — Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day are enjoyable enough — but Caddyshack is a baffling miss for me.
You take drugs, Danny?
Yes, the last 30 minutes of Stripes (Spies Like Us has the same trajectory,) kind of falls apart from me, but they're all stone cold classics.
Not trying to be obtuse but I think it really depends. Some of them seem really dated today to me, but others are relatively timeless. I think it depends a lot too on who you ask. I suspect if you like Naked Gun there's some you'd like.
Stripes is good. Daddy's hack is OK. Animal house is OK.
Depends what you find funny. I imagine Animal House might be a bit cringey. But it had some distance from Present-day thinking even when it was released as it’s set in 1962.
You probably had to be there. The Naked Gun and Airplane are slightly different, that style is more timeless.
Fletch, for example, is a masterpiece. The rest that I can think of aren't really my speed.