Dec. 2, 2010
BOOK REVIEW: 'Another Fine Mess'
Film Comedy Deserves More Respect and Saul Austerlitz Tries to Level the Playing Field
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
Surely Saul Austerlitz erred when he left Leslie Nielsen out of his comprehensive survey of American comedy, "Another Fine Mess: A History of American Film Comedy" (Chicago Review Press, 576 pages, $24.95). I know, I know, every writer is trying to get Nielsen's signature retort (from his role in "Airplane!") "Don't call me Shirley," into tributes to the 84-year-old Canadian-born actor who died Nov. 28.
Let me clarify that sentence: It's not totally accurate to say that Austerlitz leaves Nielsen out: He's mentioned in the short essay on the creators of "Airplane!" and the "Naked Gun" movies, Jerry Zucker, Jim Abraham and David Zucker, also known as "ZAZ." And he's mentioned in the full chapter entry on Mel Brooks, for his wonderful work in Brooks's "Dracula: Dead and Loving It." Jim Carrey, another Canadian comic genius, is represented by a short entry; surely Nielsen deserves a full entry under his own name if Doris Day and Mae West get full chapter coverage.
It couldn't be because Nielsen was Canadian, because Austerlitz, in 30 long chapters and 100 shorter essays, chronicles those of American and foreign birth who've contributed so much to American film comedy, including Canadians like Lorne Michaels of "Saturday Night Live" and movies like "A Night at the Roxbury" and "Coneheads."
From "City Lights" to "Knocked Up", Austerlitz examines American film from the perspective of its unwanted stepbrother, the comedy, and puts the comic titans of the present in the context of their predecessors. The chapters and short essays follow the connections that link Mae West to Marilyn Monroe and W. C. Fields to Will Ferrell.
I wish the author had included Madeline Kahn and Gilda Radner -- two supremely talented comediennes who died much too soon of the same disease, ovarian cancer -- in his survey, but nitpicking like this could go on forever: Every reader will have a list of people who SHOULD have been included. Speaking of nits to pick, Jerry Lewis, rightly covered in a full chapter (his sidekick, the late Dino Paul Crocetti, the pride of Steubenville, Ohio, AKA Dean Martin, gets a short entry) was born Joseph Levitch, not Jerome. Also, Alexander Payne's "Sideways" was set in Southern California's Santa Barbara County, not the Napa Valley of Northern California.
I looked in vain for an entry on Bob Clark (1939-2007) the writer/director of the two "Porky's" movies. He deserved at least a short essay.
All in all, Austerlitz offers excellent insights into comedians and directors such as Buster Keaton, Christopher Guest, Eddie Murphy, and Ben Stiller. He examines masters of the past who've influenced many filmmakers, especially Ernst Lubitsch, Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder. Laurel and Hardy, Marilyn Monroe, Peter Sellers, Mel Brooks, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, and the Coen Brothers are among others profiled, while a list of the top-100 American film comedies is also included.
Charlie Chaplin. Buster Keaton. The Marx Brothers. Billy Wilder. Woody Allen. The Coen brothers. Where would the American film be without them? Yet the cinematic genre these artists represent--comedy--has perennially received short shrift from critics, film buffs, and the Academy Awards.
Speaking of the Academy Awards, about the only time comedians get to go to the Oscars with is as hosts, and the hosts of the Oscar show next February -- James Franco and Anne Hathaway -- aren't even considered comedians. They're both outstanding actors and have been picked to represent the younger generation.
I have a category of books that I like to have in the bathroom for my sit-down sessions. "Another Fine Mess" is a great bathroom book and that's no joke!
About the Author
Saul Austerlitz is a writer living in New York City. His work has been published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Slate, the Boston Globe, and other publications. He is the author of Money for Nothing: A History of the Music Video from the Beatles to the White Stripes.
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BOOK REVIEW: 'Another Fine Mess'
Film Comedy Deserves More Respect and Saul Austerlitz Tries to Level the Playing Field
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
Surely Saul Austerlitz erred when he left Leslie Nielsen out of his comprehensive survey of American comedy, "Another Fine Mess: A History of American Film Comedy" (Chicago Review Press, 576 pages, $24.95). I know, I know, every writer is trying to get Nielsen's signature retort (from his role in "Airplane!") "Don't call me Shirley," into tributes to the 84-year-old Canadian-born actor who died Nov. 28.
Let me clarify that sentence: It's not totally accurate to say that Austerlitz leaves Nielsen out: He's mentioned in the short essay on the creators of "Airplane!" and the "Naked Gun" movies, Jerry Zucker, Jim Abraham and David Zucker, also known as "ZAZ." And he's mentioned in the full chapter entry on Mel Brooks, for his wonderful work in Brooks's "Dracula: Dead and Loving It." Jim Carrey, another Canadian comic genius, is represented by a short entry; surely Nielsen deserves a full entry under his own name if Doris Day and Mae West get full chapter coverage.
It couldn't be because Nielsen was Canadian, because Austerlitz, in 30 long chapters and 100 shorter essays, chronicles those of American and foreign birth who've contributed so much to American film comedy, including Canadians like Lorne Michaels of "Saturday Night Live" and movies like "A Night at the Roxbury" and "Coneheads."
From "City Lights" to "Knocked Up", Austerlitz examines American film from the perspective of its unwanted stepbrother, the comedy, and puts the comic titans of the present in the context of their predecessors. The chapters and short essays follow the connections that link Mae West to Marilyn Monroe and W. C. Fields to Will Ferrell.
I wish the author had included Madeline Kahn and Gilda Radner -- two supremely talented comediennes who died much too soon of the same disease, ovarian cancer -- in his survey, but nitpicking like this could go on forever: Every reader will have a list of people who SHOULD have been included. Speaking of nits to pick, Jerry Lewis, rightly covered in a full chapter (his sidekick, the late Dino Paul Crocetti, the pride of Steubenville, Ohio, AKA Dean Martin, gets a short entry) was born Joseph Levitch, not Jerome. Also, Alexander Payne's "Sideways" was set in Southern California's Santa Barbara County, not the Napa Valley of Northern California.
I looked in vain for an entry on Bob Clark (1939-2007) the writer/director of the two "Porky's" movies. He deserved at least a short essay.
All in all, Austerlitz offers excellent insights into comedians and directors such as Buster Keaton, Christopher Guest, Eddie Murphy, and Ben Stiller. He examines masters of the past who've influenced many filmmakers, especially Ernst Lubitsch, Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder. Laurel and Hardy, Marilyn Monroe, Peter Sellers, Mel Brooks, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, and the Coen Brothers are among others profiled, while a list of the top-100 American film comedies is also included.
Charlie Chaplin. Buster Keaton. The Marx Brothers. Billy Wilder. Woody Allen. The Coen brothers. Where would the American film be without them? Yet the cinematic genre these artists represent--comedy--has perennially received short shrift from critics, film buffs, and the Academy Awards.
Speaking of the Academy Awards, about the only time comedians get to go to the Oscars with is as hosts, and the hosts of the Oscar show next February -- James Franco and Anne Hathaway -- aren't even considered comedians. They're both outstanding actors and have been picked to represent the younger generation.
I have a category of books that I like to have in the bathroom for my sit-down sessions. "Another Fine Mess" is a great bathroom book and that's no joke!
About the Author
Saul Austerlitz is a writer living in New York City. His work has been published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Slate, the Boston Globe, and other publications. He is the author of Money for Nothing: A History of the Music Video from the Beatles to the White Stripes.
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