Comedies involving Jerry Lewis
The laughDB database is dedicated to the funniest comedy movies, stand-up comedy and TV series.
This section is for comedies involving Jerry Lewis as an actor, director or writer. By default the movies are presented starting with those ranking highest on the laugh-o-meter, but you can also sort them by year, title or IMDB rating.
About Jerry
( wikipedia | imdb )
I haven't yet written a blurb about Jerry.
Jerry Lewis is said to have been born on Tuesday 16 March 1926 and to have died on Sunday 20 August 2017, at the age of 91 years, 5 months and 4 days.
Titles involving Jerry Lewis sorted by Laugh-o-meter (descending)
Jerry Lewis was credited as
actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about
37 years old.
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
1963 |
USA | Laughs: 1.0 (Just Awful) |
imdb: 7.5
wikipedia |
dmoz |
who was involved?
As a man who crashed his car is about to die, he tells the five people who came down the ravine to assist him that a treasure lies buried 200 miles away. A mad hunt ensues. For humor, this movie relies on a single device—to have people punched, trampled and beaten up in a hundred other ways. It's also from a time when yelling at the top of one's voice was considered good acting. With two hours and forty minutes of this loud rubbish, watching it is extremely hard work. The best thing about the movie is the story I am about to tell you. I once asked a German visitor to tell me the names of the funniest German movies he had seen. He replied that his mom would be the one to ask, and that in fact she had often told him that as a young woman she had seen a movie that was so funny that during the projection a man had died of a heart attack. Needless to say, I immediately pushed the house phone in his hand and asked him to ring his mom. She told him that the movie was called
Eine total, total verrückte Welt. I was excited to discover this amazing German movie, but a few seconds on Google revealed that it was in fact an American movie, the one we are now discussing. This shows how much we have moved on since 1963. I am sure that my grandfather (may he rest in peace) would have laughed if he had seen this movie as a boy, in the 1920s. People were simpler then. The fact that this movie still has a high imdb rating shows me that many people on imdb rate movies based on how they remember them, rather than rating them right after watching them again. There is simply no way that anyone in the 21st century could give this film more than a five out of ten, and that would be insanely generous. I wasted my time for you. Do yourself a favor and watch something else.
(Last viewed: October 2012)
More About
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World:
=> Read
what people say on Amazon
=> Add your own
Review or Comments on
laughDB's full page for
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
Jerry Lewis was credited as
writer,
director and
actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about
57 years old.
Smorgasbord
(a.k.a
Cracking Up)
1983 |
USA | Laughs: 0.5 (Just Awful) |
imdb: 5.9
wikipedia |
who was involved?
For the longest time, I thought that the frequent American sneering at the French for finding Jerry Lewis funny was a symptom of ignorance on the part of the accusers (did the French really find Jerry Lewis funny?) and of their lack of sense of humor, in keeping with the general lack of appreciation for British humor on the western side of the Atlantic. You see, I hadn't yet watched a Jerry Lewis movie, and I assumed that he had to be terribly funny in a way that most Americans just didn't get.
Some say that this film is Jerry's funniest, but it was one of the least funny comedies I'd ever watched, confirming part of the popular wisdom that I'd so long rejected. I still don't know whether the French find Jerry funny; true or not, the idea that they do is certainly amusing.
I'm sure the man was a genius of a kind and I'm glad he found his public.
(Last viewed: December 2018)
More About
Smorgasbord:
=> Read
what people say on Amazon
=> Add your own
Review or Comments on
laughDB's full page for
Smorgasbord
Jerry Lewis was credited as
actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about
67 years old.
Arizona Dream
1993 |
USA | Laughs: 0.1 (Don't Bother) |
imdb: 7.3
wikipedia |
who was involved?
A young man moves into a country house with two unstable women: that's about as far as I'd dare describe the plot of this plotless film.
This movie may deserve its "Comedy" classification in the sense that it's not serious, but don't expect it to make you laugh. Although I've watched Kusturica's work since seeing
Time of the Gypsies in the theater in 1988, some of his pieces are too chaotic for me, and this is one of them. Honorable mention for Jerry Lewis, by far the best component of the movie.
(Last viewed: June 2018)
More About
Arizona Dream:
=> Read
what people say on Amazon
=> Add your own
Review or Comments on
laughDB's full page for
Arizona Dream
Jerry Lewis was credited as
actor in the following film.
At the time, he would have been about
57 years old.
The King of Comedy
1983 |
USA | Laughs: N/A (Light-Hearted) |
imdb: 7.8
wikipedia |
who was involved?
I found this movie upleasant to watch, but still liked it enough to give it a five out of ten. No doubt Martin Scorcese, who directed the movie, wanted you to cringe, a bit like you might cringe at the behavior of characters in the early instalments of TV series such as
Curb Your Enthusiasm or
The Office. The film follows two deranged characters who've made it their life's mission to stalk a New York television show host (Jerry Lewis). DeNiro pulls off the role of the alternatively pathetic and brilliant stalker who fantasizes about becoming the next King of Comedy. Easy to skip because hard to watch, but if you do watch it, it will stay with you.
(Last viewed: November 2011)
More About
The King of Comedy:
=> Read
what people say on Amazon
=> Add your own
Review or Comments on
laughDB's full page for
The King of Comedy
Not Finding a Movie, TV Series, Stand-Up Set?
Since the reviews span many pages, if you're looking for a specific title, you can use the search box at the top of each page.
Search Tip: Type a few letters of the title, for instance "wed" for Muriel's Wedding.