That’s right, I like to shake things up every now and again. So tonight, two months before my annual Month of the Living Dead, I’m looking at Retardead (2008). I could try to entice you with tidbits of plot cleverness, but instead I shall simply say: “From the producers/writers/director/stars of Monsturd.” What other recommendation do you need?
#1 by MatthewF on August 14, 2008 - 8:59 am
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I think it’s interesting that all the special needs jokes didn’t bother you but the swearing did, especially as they seem to be picketing that Ben Stiller movie at the moment for some similar, though no doubt much milder, humour. I haven’t seen it so I don’t have an opinion but I do know that sometimes it’s just annoying rather than cool and dangerous. Having said that I’m all for some creative swearing.
#2 by Nathan Shumate on August 14, 2008 - 9:36 am
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It’s not that the swearing bothered me; I didn’t clap my hand to my mouth in shock and get out the smelling salts. I just don’t think that humor is automatically enhanced by F-bombs or any other monotonously overused word. It got to be as annoying as a script that punctuated every third word with “y’know.”
I’m all for creative swearing, too, but this wasn’t it.
(Bonus info: The single best comedic dropping of the F-bomb? Has to be in Kuffs.)
#3 by Blake Matthews on August 14, 2008 - 9:46 am
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I remember your review of “The Big Hit” went into that idea a little bit. Yeah, the one is “Kuffs” was pretty good, simply because you didn’t see it coming in that context. My friends used to laugh at the F-bombs delivered in British accents in “Alien 3”, but we were in the 7th and 8th grade back then.
#4 by MatthewF on August 14, 2008 - 9:57 am
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I love this ‘F-Bomb’ thing, that’s great slang right there, we don’t have that. I suppose it’s more fun than typing ‘f*ck’ the whole time.
BTW if you get a kick out of hearing british people swear I’ll tape my office and put it on-line (i work for the police, and rozzers swear a LOT).
#5 by Blake Matthews on August 14, 2008 - 10:05 am
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There was a faux-movie trailer made by some French guys (if I’m not mistaken) for a movie called “F*** You”, a buddy-cop movie in which the two main characters use the f-bomb about three times per sentence. It ends on a joke about a seal (which is “foca” in French or in Portuguese or one of those Latin-based languages).
#6 by lyzard on August 14, 2008 - 5:07 pm
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Nothing’s funnier than a well-placed obscenity, but I find the dozen-times-a-minute convention extremely tiresome. Okay, maybe real people do talk like that, but whoever said it was entertaining? Pads out a skimpy screenplay, though, I guess.
And I’ll see your “y’know”, Nathan, and raise you a “like”. A couple of years ago there was a girl working in my department who was incapable of uttering a sentence without half a dozen like-s in it. It was, like, agonising having to, like, listen, like, while she said “like, like, every, like, second or so, like. She’s lucky she left when she did. She clearly had no idea how close to death she was.
#7 by Blake Matthews on August 14, 2008 - 6:30 pm
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A well-placed swear word by an old person can be comedy gold.
#8 by Nathan Shumate on August 14, 2008 - 7:18 pm
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Rick Popko emailed me and told me I was basically right about the swearing; they didn’t realize how much they did it while ad-libbing, and were taken off-guard when they went to edit it.
#9 by El Santo on August 14, 2008 - 8:06 pm
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“My friends used to laugh at the F-bombs delivered in British accents in “Alien 3″, but we were in the 7th and 8th grade back then.”
In which case it may amuse you to learn that during World War I, the French soldiers dubbed their British counterparts, “Les Goddamns,” due to their incessant swearing.
#10 by MatthewF on August 15, 2008 - 3:50 am
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Fuck me
#11 by KeithA on August 15, 2008 - 9:03 am
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Working at a Univeristy and being around students a lot, I’ve had to steel myself against “like” abuse. I grew up int he 80s and the height of the Valley Girl craze, and even we didn’t say “like ” that much.
However, try as I might, I cannot tolerate “like” abuse when coupled by those people who rapidly raise their voice higher and end every sentence like they’re asking a question. If you’ve ever herd it, you know what I’m talking about.
#12 by lyzard on August 15, 2008 - 3:16 pm
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She did THAT, too. And yet, I let her live….
#13 by The Rev. D.D. on August 17, 2008 - 5:04 pm
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You gettin’ soft in your….er….slightly less young but still fresh and vibrant age, lyz?
*whew* That was….too close.
Good uses of swearing I like include Freddy vs. Jason and The Deadly Spawn. (Not having seen Kuffs I don’t know if they’re similar or not…)