Word: lilah
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...really purely funny in this movie about two would-be comedians struggling for recognition in a Manhattan night club. Even their jokes provoke more thought than laughter. Steven (Tom Hanks) is a medical school dropout whose comic routines are pointed reminiscences of his own failures as a student. Lilah (Sally Field), a New Jersey housewife with a yen for humor, fails miserably at first at the business of being funny. She resorts to time-worn Polish jokes--you know the type: "My husband's Polish. He gave me something long and hard when we got married...a last name." Understandably...
...Nothing is a joke to me. That's why I do stand-up comedy and you don't," Steven tells Lilah. And this paradoxical statement is the crux of the movie. Steven coaches Lilah in the subtleties of being funny--convincing her that if she's late getting home, it's funny...because the babysitter's name is Charley Manson...