Word: funnier
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...CARTER'S fiction is far funnier than any fairy tale or erudite vignette. The first story in Saints and Strangers, "The Fall River Axe Murders," recreates some of the events and personalities involved in Lizzie Borden's murder of her parents. Since the events of the story are already preordained--as they are in fairy tales--Carter's weapons are atmosphere, humor and meticulous research...
Gene Kelly in The Pirate, Peter O'Toole in My Favorite Year, Jeff Daniels in The Purple Rose of Cairo -- each played an actor forced to project his romantic persona into real life. There are few things funnier or more touching than the sight of a performer's image slipping down around his knees while he tries to yank it into place before anyone notices he is only human...
...might expect the same fate to befall Smile, adapted from a 1975 Michael Ritchie film that satirized beauty pageants. The narrative, centering on girls who are strangers, inevitably lacks complex relationships and love interest. Moreover, it is difficult to write a parody much funnier than the real Miss America proceedings. And it is hard to keep audiences interested in the climax -- which entrant will win -- after repeatedly telling them it shouldn't matter. Curiously, Smile works. It is a swift-paced, skillfully performed and thoroughly professional entertainment that balances amusement at the shallow ambitions of the characters with respect...
...said I hadn't, so he went ahead and told me, and it was a good one sure enough. When he wants to be, the President can be funnier than James Watt...
Indeed, a few Carol Burnett Show writers, or just one of the Zucker brothers (whose movie Airplane! was a funnier and more freewheeling spoof), might have turned Fresno into the definitive takeoff it aspires to be. Fresno seems oddly overqualified: a parody that is better plotted, acted and directed (by Jeff Bleckner) than most of the shows it satirizes. Six hours without one ludicrous cliff-hanger or evil twin? This is a mini-series that could have used a bit less taste and a little more Fresno...