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Way back in June, I passed along the news that Paul “Pee Wee Herman” Reubens was set to star in Life During Wartime, Todd Solondz’ alleged semi-sequel to Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse. According to this post on MTV’s Movie Blog, Reubens is still attached to the project, but the project itself may not be any closer to getting made. The former Pee Wee says Wartime has “gotten pushed three times” due to “problems with the financing on it.” At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, Solondz issued a statement about the “unbridled enthusiasm and support” the project enjoyed from then-financiers Fortissimo Films. Are we to assume that said enthusiasm has waned?

Regardless, that’s not even the most interesting nugget of the MTV story. Reubens confirms that as written, Wartime features “characters from Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness whose paths converge. It???s all different people playing the same roles…I???m playing a role someone else played in one of those movies.???

So who do you think it could be? Assuming Solondz is taking age and gender into account in his casting process (and post-Palindromes, there’s no reason to assume that at all), the safest bets would probably be one of three characters from Happiness. There’s Allen, the pervy caller played by Philip Seymour Hoffman (see the clip above, beginning around 5:40); Dylan Baker’s father/psychiatrist/pedophile; and the character played by Jon Lovitz, potential suitor who is jilted in the film’s first scene by Jane Adams. Given Reuben’s personal history, the Dylan Baker character is probably the most obvious, but I think the Jon Lovitz character might be more interesting. Tell us your own thoughts in the comments.

Under discussion:

Some Like It Hot  (1959)

Cabin Boy  (1994)

Knocked Up  (2007)

Superbad  (2007)

Juno  (2007)

What is the difference between a great comedy and a really funny movie? Is one easily classifiable and the other too subjective? It’s quite possible. Billy Wilder’s Some Like it Hot is considered by many academics and critics to be the best comedy film of all time. I won’t argue, as I’m not an expert on the craft of comedy, but despite the fact that I enjoy the film, it’s not one that makes me laugh much. Meanwhile I’ll fall on the floor laughing at parts of Cabin Boy, which I know is not a well-made movie, and which I don’t even especially like. So, the question is, how does one award comedy?

Every year during the awards season, people talk about how comedies and comedic performances are largely overlooked. I’ve already commented once on the subject, regarding this year’s Golden Globe nominations, but since then I’ve noticed more complaints about overlooked comedies, and in most instances there seems to be a confusion about what it really means to be a great comedy and what is just a funny movie.?? Today, the IMDb linked to the Misfortune Cookie Blog and its honoring of “the year’s funniest in film.” The site references Knocked Up and Juno as “comedic achievements” that will go unrecognized (never mind that Juno is a Best Picture Oscar front-runner) yet also makes the point of naming Superbad the “Funniest Movie of the Year” with a disclaimer stating that it is not the “best movie, or best-written, or most likely to change your life.” So, what is the argument? Are you making a point of recognizing under-appreciated comedic genius, or are you just pointing out something that made YOU laugh.

(more…)

So. Tired. Of. Talking. About. Juno.

Look, let’s get one thing straight: in that post that I wrote earlier this week,?? I wasn’t making a statement about Juno’s quality. I’ve done that elsewhere, but at this point it seems like my energy would be best directed elsewhere–it’s not THAT offensive, and it’s certainly better than Little Miss Sunshine. All I was saying, is that the idea that this film has “crossed over” from an “indie” sphere to mainstream success is a fiction created and promoted by Fox Searchlight in order to align Juno with past “crossover” successes. This is working for them, so that’s great. But the idea that Juno is “small”, that it’s some kind of an underdog??????either at the box office or within the clusterfuck of award’s season??????is categorically insane.

It’s also somewhat troubling to think that if this kind of marketing coup works so well once, it’ll almost certainly work again, and at some point, there won’t be room in the marketplace for actual “small” films that have actually “crossed over”, because they’ll be pushed out of the conversation by studio films (I don’t care how much Juno cost to produce–it was paid for by a studio and it has the full benefit of a studio’s marketing apparatus) masquerading as “small” “crossovers.”

I don’t think I have anything left to say about this, but feel free to have at it/me in the comments.