Word: deadpan
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...that is moderately entertaining is bound to occur. While some of the skits of the film feel repetitive or uncreative, Silverman’s poise is at least a constant throughout the piece. She is surprisingly calm on stage for all the dynamism of her jokes, and her deadpan manner, which makes her seem almost shocked at herself, is amusing, if not truly hilarious in a few situations. However, even her engaging performance fails to make the film truly memorable, much less “Magic...
...Abrahams and Jerry Zucker (who later profitably spoofed cops in their Police Squad TV show and Naked Gun movie series) set the tone for a generation of movie silliness. Their coolest inspiration: casting "serious" actors, like Lloyd Bridges and Peter Graves, who spat out the ludicrous dialogue in flawless deadpan. Bridges: "Looks like I picked the wrong week to give up sniffing glue." Graves (to young boy): "Joey, have you ever been to a Turkish prison...
...meantime, he does his part to minimize kitchen drama. With total deadpan, he explains his techniquefor dealing with fights between other cooks: “They’ll start getting really heated over something that started over nothing, so I’ll do some goofy dance in front of them. I don’t want to be working in that atmosphere...
...Piano, chattered compulsively as Wanda Holloway, the homemaker accused of plotting to eliminate her daughter's cheerleading competition. Her hilarious, high-strung performance was just part of the fun of this delicious send-up of TV's ripped- from-the-headlines docudramas. Director Michael Ritchie (Smile) brought his deadpan wit to a marvelous script by Jane Anderson, and Lucy Simon contributed an infectious, country-flavored score...
...before his film debut, Chabrol co-wrote a book on Hitchcock's oeuvre (with fellow critic and budding director Eric Rohmer). Of all the new-wave auteurs, Chabrol was the one who took Hitchcock's fancy for cinematic dread most to heart, then gave it his own twist. In deadpan tragedies like Le Boucher, La Femme Infidèle and The Beast Must Die, passion leads to crimes of passion, and crime to self-lacerating punishment. These films are all the more potent because they speak their evils and ironies in a Gallic whisper...