Author Topic: The Aristocrats  (Read 3442 times)

livlab

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The Aristocrats
« on: August 11, 2005, 08:49:21 PM »
Don't waste your time. I just left the theatre and would ask for my money back... except this was a pre-screening and I got in for free.

The premise is that, there is this one joke that all comedians tell - each in their own way - that is funny as hell. They can extend it, introduce new characters, make it hell out of it. And it's always funny.

Not really. You giggle sometimes, but the whole build-up about how funny the joke really is, kind of kills the documentary nature of exploring how different comedians (over one hundred in the film) make it their own. I think it had potential but they didn't really quite pull it off.

The one trully good part of the documentary is on Gilbert Gottfried and how he used this joke to salvage a fundraiser event taking place after 9/11.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/the_aristocrats.html

Freddie

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The Aristocrats
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2005, 08:00:49 AM »
South park rendition... that will have you on the floor....

WARNING: don't listen if you are easily offended! ! ! !

KilroysCarnival

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The Aristocrats
« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2005, 08:37:14 AM »
I think the real 'point' of this documentary, at least for me, is a look into the world of standup comedians, with a wide range of talent interviewed from the nearly-fossilized to the still-headlining. The film is also a kind of study into what makes us laugh -- sometimes despite ourselves.

It made me reflect on how standup is often a competitive, lonely business-- certainly compared to theater and improv. I saw it on vacation in L.A., and I'm sort of glad I got to see it in a forum with other people, because gauging the reactions of the room was part of the experiment, I thought. Watching it alone on DVD would have done little for me.

The filmmakers must have decided that single-shot talking head interview segments would be too uninteresting, because they kept showing scenes of two-camera interviews, at approximately right angles, editing back and forth between, say, the left side of Paul Reiser's face and his right. This got annoying to me as a matter of technique.

If you're not a fan of a lot of old comics, or interested in exploring the line between humor and disgust, this one is not for you. Not a great film, but I can understand the sensation over it.

gateway

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The Aristocrats
« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2005, 09:42:03 PM »
I'm usually don't mind vulgar movies, my policy is that they're just words, they won't do any harm. But I did read a press release one of the directors sent out to various movie sites, stating the audiences who would be best to see this film. At the end of the letter, they said (very clearly) that if you were offended at all reading the press release, then you shouldn't see the movie. Well, I was offended by one of the points made in the letter, so I don't have any plans to see this movie. I might check it out if it's ever on HBO, but otherwise I don't think I'll be using money on it for a ticket or rental.
"I hope someday to be rich enough to smoke giant cigars while cackling maniacally."
- Nathan Rabin (echoing my thoughts exactly)

Don W

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Go figure. I enjoyed it.
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2005, 06:39:58 PM »
I thought it was a riot. The joke and the point of it was interesting and revealing about the people who tell it. Is it, as a joke with the punchline "the Aristocrats!" funny? No, and that's part of the point. But the comedy put into the middle of the joke (and the comedy that the South Park guys mine from the fact that it isn't funny) IS funny. The people they talk to are for the most part interesting and the version of the joke by a mime is great.

I think if you like standup and don't mind potty-mouthed and rough humor you'd enjoy it.

imafungi1

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The Aristocrats
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2005, 03:22:08 PM »
I thought this was hilarious! I especially liked Kevin Pollack's channeling Christopher Walken.

And, if you look closely, when the mime is doing his routine, you can see he has a mike hooked up to his suspenders. That's funny.

Great movie if you're a lover of comedy. There's slapstick, dry humor, sarcasm, irony, and just about every type of humor to please everyone.

Long live Sarah Silverman.

 8)
- Austin "Danger" Burns
austin.burns@gmail.com

KilroysCarnival

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The Aristocrats
« Reply #6 on: September 13, 2005, 03:59:05 PM »
A friend of mine just sent me this link to a McSweeney's piece

"The Aristocrats"
as I Think
Bob Newhart
Would Perform It.
BY TABETHA WELLS

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2005/9/8wells.html

...which is, I think, way funnier than the joke itself, but then again it relies on the fact that we already know the joke. : )