Comedy is apparently dead

Rating: 3/10 (14 November 2005)

It appears that comedy is a lost art to Hollywood. Watching Ferrell and the rest of the cast flounder their way through this scriptless mess, it's hard to believe that this same Hollywood produced Blazing Saddles, My Favorite Year, Roxanne and a long list of laughers that weren't really made all that long ago.
This film tries, tries, tries so hard, but it's obvious that no one really had any ideas for humor before they went before the cameras. The basic premise is 'act stupid and the jokes will create themselves,' but, alas, they don't. Characters that are beyond caricatures are not a good place to start-- the only person who comes out of this mess with a measure of dignity is Christina Applegate, who at least has a character that seems slightly real at least part of the time. The rest of the 'characters' are just wigs and costumes and so horribly written that the actors can't do anything to fill the time, other than make faces and try to say things that show desperation rather than inspiration. The entire world depicted in this film is so senseless and ungrounded in reality that nothing CAN be funny, it's just Bizzaroland, and an unamusing one at that.
Funniest recent movie? Kung Fu Hustle. Maybe the Chinese can take over our comedy industry along with manufacturing. Hollywood apparently is no longer up to the job...