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In Reply to: This movie had me asking myself ... was the book a piece of crap as well? posted by Lord Dot on May 1, 2005 at 11:31:53:
> Was this ever really funny?Yep, the books are great. The movie managed to suck a lot of the humor out of the books. I think it was the bad directing mixed with poor editing, on top of huge chunks being removed and re-edited. The book is tightly written with a lot of stuff jammed into a small space. The movie didn't manage to capture Adams' *style* at all.
> Is the humor of absurdity exceedingly time sensitive material?
No, Monty Python is still funny. If you mean "timing" sensitive, then absolutely. Timing jokes is super-critical in absurdist comedy.
> Am I becoming an old fart?
No. It was disapointing compared to the books you remember as being hilarious.
> Is it humor for children?
Maybe children would think it was funnier. I don't know, my wife is going to take her young brother to see it this week, we'll see.
> Was it the directing, actors, timing, script ...
It was directing mixed with poor timing, and chaning the script *after* filming was done. I thought the acting was OK, Rockwell was way over the top in a grating sense. The bits where the acting seemed bad was more bad directing than bad acting.
> Was it the random mix of quality special effects with strictly amateurish ones?
No, that was also bad directing.
> And so it went on, one after another, the plot taking an aggressive run at each theme found in the book, only to leave the viewer stranded in mid air, not having had the time to absorb the humor of the situation, then tumbling into the cold water of the next contrivance.
It's supposed to be a fast paced, mad romp throught the cosmos type scifi comedy, but you're right that they didn't deliver the punchline most of the time.
/*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/
Follow Ups:
My wife hated this movie with a passion, but she apparently didn't care much for Douglas Adam's work anyway. Ironically, she is tuned into British humor, but apparently there was something about the style of Adam's humor which didn't connect with her; I'm wondering if this might in some instances be more of a male/female thing than an adult/child thing humor wise.I recall finding the original British mini-series hilarious (i.e., I guess I ought to purchase the DVDs for comparison's sake); some of what made that funny did make it's way into the movie, but it felt like Adam's witty asides had been dropped in as an afterthought, too few and far between. Cleverness was abandoned in service to telling a more traditionally coherent story, but the Director's approach and the editing of this film lost most of the rapid-fire ironies inherent in Adam's work.
Also, the acting seemed VERY uneven to me, almost embarrassingly amateurish in places, but this may have been a Directorial problem as well. Note: In addition to the acting, the mixture of muppet costumes and SOTA visual FX was uneven; it was the visual equivallent to consuming a McDonald's cheeseburger along side gourmet cuisine. One or the other is fine, but you wouldn't order a Big Mac at a Four Star Restaurant any more than requesting escargo at a drive-through!
IMO, the only thing approaching Adam's level of ironic British wit are the televised episodes of the new Dr. Who, which are surprisingly more sophisticated in the use of witty tongue 'n cheek humor than prior versions; the new series also sports decent visual effects (i.e., occasionally cheesy, but sharp, not cottage-cheesy like the paper-mache FX of earlier incarnations).
AuPh
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