Comedies from the 2000s

Lammbock
      2001 | Germany | Laughs: 2.0 (Smirk) | imdb: 7.3
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Two young men sell cannabis products under the cover of a pizza delivery business. An undercover cop befriends them. There isn't much more to say about the plot. The movie is entertaining enough if your expectations are low, but it fails to deliver laughs.

There is a 2017 sequel, Lommbock.

(Last viewed: September 2022)

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Lost in Translation
      2003 | USA | Laughs: 2.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.7
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

Five stars. Bill Murray shoots a whiskey ad in Tokyo. For the full review, skip over to my "Brush up your Japanese" page. (Last viewed: Mar 2003 March 2010)

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Adam's Apples (Adams Æbler)
      2005 | Denmark | Laughs: 2.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.8
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Apparently, in Denmark this film is considered a comedy. In the English-speaking world I might be more of a light drama, though it does pack two excellent laughs, both involving a petty Pakistani criminal with a short temper. A neo-nazi gang member is sent to a rural church to serve his parole. It is not the uplifting tear-jerker you might expect. The priest is in complete denial of anything negative that happens around him, and the new arrival is determined to make him see he lives in a rotten world. The unusual story will probably stick in my mind. Well worth a watch—or two. (Last viewed: December 2011)

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House Bunny
      2008 | USA | Laughs: 1.8 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 5.5
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Evicted from a mens' magazine's entertainment mansion, a "bunny" finds refuge at a college sorority, where she helps unpopular women improve their image.

Plot-wise, this sweet and predictable movie has about two shreds, which in my mind is plenty in the comedy genre if the laughs are there. Sadly, I'm afraid that the main reason (if any) to keep watching is not the humor, but the glitter, curves and skin.

(Last viewed: January 2019)

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A Day Without a Mexican
      2004 | USA | Laughs: 1.8 | imdb: 4.7
      wikipedia | who was involved?

One bright day, all people of Hispanic origin (about one third of the population) vanish from the State of California. Through a mixture of personal stories and journalism, this film documents the chaos that ensues.

The premise didn't sound bad, but I was too bored to continue past the 40th minute. I'm not exactly sure what to reproach the film, but it was probably a combination of low production values and pulling the cord too thin, or as the vanished might say, estirar el chicle.
(Last viewed: May 2019)

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How Much Does the Trojan Horse Weigh? (Ile waży koń trojański?)
      2008 | Poland | Laughs: 1.8 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 5.8
      wikipedia | who was involved?

In the year 2000, a Polish woman falls through a time warp and travels back to communist times, when she has a chance to meet her future husband fifteen years ahead of time.

This was cute but slow. The ex-husband (Robert Wieckiewicz) had terrific comedic potential, but sadly there was too little of him.

Altogether, not a terrific use of two hours — unless you speak Polish or are fascinated by the transformations that took place in Eastern Europe during that decade… and it's hard not to be.

(Last viewed: December 2019)

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The Delicate Art of Parking
      2003 | Canada | Laughs: 1.8 (Just Awful) | imdb: 6.4
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This mockumentary / satire about parking enforcement officers took a bit of work to watch. The main reason we went through with it was to see some of the crew of Corner Gas. To start with, the camera work was awful. To convey a sense of filming on the streets, the image is jumpy to the point of making you want to throw up. This is a stupid technique, guys, please grow up and lose that. Each of the actors performs well. Yet the overall performance is only a couple notches above that of a student film. That's because the film suffers from the mixed-genre syndrome—the producers didn't seem to have decided whether the movie was meant to be a believable mockumentary like Kenny or an all-out satire. On the mockumentary side, the tow truck driver is excellent and gives you a feel for his job. On the satire side, most of the characters are geeky caricatures. You don't feel a sense of compassion or love for the subject, unlike in Kenny, where you walk out with a lot of respect for portable toilet installers. Here, you can't help but feel that in the director's mind parking enforcers are a topic of ridicule. All that being said, there's a lot to enjoy in the film—starting with the actors' individual performances—but the overall product gets low marks. (Last viewed: February 2012)

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Analyze That
      2002 | USA | Laughs: 1.6 (Just Awful) | imdb: 5.9
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

Dismal sequel to Analyze This. These retarded Hollywood scripte writers couldn't help themselves…instead of featuring a believable mafia concerned with extortion and car wreckers, they had to invent a James-Bond-scale heist and make it unravel in the middle of a movie set—don't you know the whole world revolves around movies? De Niro and Crystal's strong acting coax out a few smiles, but even they could not save the movie from its sinking, stinking plot. Pathetic. (Last viewed: September 2010)

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On Probation (Tiempo de valientes)
      2005 | Argentina | Laughs: 1.5 (Watch Once) | imdb: 7.6
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A policeman who is severely depressed after learning that his wife is cheating on him is assigned a psychiatrist, who soon learns that he too is a cuckold.

After starting out as a comedy, the movie turns into a full-fledged adventure flick somewhere partway. While either part is fine in its own right and the characters are likeable, I do prefer it when movies stick to a single genre.

Everything considered, still an entertaining watch if you have nothing better to do. (Last viewed: December 2018)

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Holy Water (a.k.a Hard Times)
      2009 | U.K. | Laughs: 1.5 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 5.9
      wikipedia | who was involved?

In a depressed Irish village, four friends decide to hijack a truck from the Viagra plant and to sell the pills to shore up their finances. The plot sounds like it could work for a comedy and the cast is well-meaning, but the movie lingers on that "well-meaning" level without ever developing much comedic power. Ninety minutes isn't long but these particular ninety minutes felt like three hours. Since you probably won't watch the film, you won't mind this spoiler: the funniest part is the last minute, when a TV reporter does a story on the village, and in the background you can see shining new sports cars and farming equipment, all presumably acquired with the bounty. (Last viewed: April 2016)

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Be Kind Rewind
      2008 | USA | Laughs: 1.5 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.4
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

All the tapes at a struggling video rental store get erased. To limit the damage, the staff start shooting their own versions of blockbuster movies and meet unexpected success. This was sweet and well-intentionned but fairly boring. (Last viewed: July 2017)

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Russian Dolls (Les Poupées Russes)
      2005 | France | Laughs: 1.5 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.0
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This light-hearted introspective romance is a sequel to The Spanish Apartment. It's a decent movie, though a bit more scattered than the original. Once again you're not here expecting to laugh, but there should be lots of smiling and maybe a few chuckles. If you've watched the first movie you'll know whether you want to watch this one—and the third installment Chinese Puzzle. (Last viewed: July 2014)

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Pootie Tang
      2001 | USA | Laughs: 1.5 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 5.3
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

A rock star who speaks a language of his own is also a righter of wrongs. When he mentors America's children to stay away from tobacco and hamburgers, he gets in the cross-hairs of corporate America's big boss.

I enjoyed seeing Wanda Sykes as well as JB Smoove (the actor who plays Leon in Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Chris Rock. Although this movie didn't really make me laugh, it entertained me as I found it thoroughly original.

I didn't know Louis CK could direct, let alone write such a mad script. This movie establishes him among the best African American directors, alongside Spike Lee. (Last viewed: July 2015)

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The Ferpect Crime (a.k.a El Crimen Perfecto: The Perfect Crime) (Crimen Ferpecto)
      2004 | Spain | Laughs: 1.5 (Chuckle) | imdb: 7.1
      wikipedia | who was involved?

The first fifteen minutes of this movie are irreproachable. They introduce a smooth salesman whose immediate ambition is to be promoted to head of a department store's clothing floor. As we start to believe in the power of his ruthless charm, we begin to expect that his ascent will be unstoppable.

Sadly, everything soon goes wrong for our antihero. At that stage, in my view, the movie loses much of its appeal because the main character is far less interesting as an underdog than as a winner. That being said, it's still one of the most entertaining Spanish comedies I've seen — although it didn't quite manage to make me laugh.

(Last viewed: January 2019)

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Coco
      2009 | France | Laughs: 1.4 (Just Awful) | imdb: 3.3
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This film is an example of what tends to happen when you allow an excellent stand-up comedian write and direct a feature film. I guess Gad Elmaleh needed direct experience to learn that writing a script for an array of characters requires different skills from writing a show for himself alone. I like Gad's work a lot, both as a stand-up and in films such as The Valet, but Coco deserves nothing more than its 3.1 IMDB rating—probably a record low, of all comedies whose IMDB pages I have seen. (Last viewed: May 2012)

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