Word: laughter
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Though not everyone would agree with the alum's assessment, the Varsity Football cheerleaders are gaining increased acceptance throughout the Harvard community since their appearance three years ago. At first a loosely organized group that aroused more laughter than applause, the cheerleaders--thanks to a lot of hard work--have started to win over many of the skeptics...
...number of complex issues: illusion, self-destruction, friendship, loyalty, and fatherhood. And they try to squeeze all this into a comedy format. As a result, none of these admittedly interesting themes is explored fully, nor are they ever taken seriously enough either to touch the audience or to evoke laughter...
...film is simply too nice. The best comedy is always shot through with a subtle streak of cruelty: laughter inevitably claims a victim. Order is always sacrificed to chaos. But My Favorite Year positively wallows in benignity. The screwball comedies of the 30s could get away with that, but sheer niceness just isn't a cinematic virtue any longer. A recent example of this shift came last year in Victor/Victoria, in which Blake Edwards momentarily lost his customary sharpness and floundered around in a bland, sentimental limbo. Likewise, My Favorite Year contains too many lovable characters, too many cute situations...
...could feel the tension building. When it was over, no one spoke for a while, and I tried to break the tension by telling Begin that if he would sign the document as written, it would save all of us a lot of time. Everyone broke into laughter. Begin asked, "Would you advise me to do so?" I said no, we had better consult with our aides...
...acted as a referee and on occasion explained what was meant when there was an obvious misinterpretation. Strangely, every so often laughter broke out. Once, for instance, one of them referred to kissing TV's Barbara Walters and wondered if the cameras were on and what his wife might think. Another outburst of laughter came during an argument about which one of them was responsible for the hashish trade through the Sinai between Israel and Egypt. Still, we adjourned under considerable strain. Begin expressed his complete confidence in Sadat. Conspicuously, Sadat did not make a similar statement...