Stupid ain't the same as Funny...

Rating: 8/10 (21 October 2014)

We were en route to see ARMY OF DARKNESS when a former friend and I spotted Sam Raimi on a local side street shooting second unit footage for THE HUDSUCKER PROXY. It was cold and raining and my buddy thought I was full of s--- when I yelled at him to stop. He shot me a quizzical look and asked me why. "Back there," I said: "It's Sam Raimi- the guy who made ARMY OF DARKNESS." Whereupon he informed me that I was full of s---. "Just let me out and go around the block and pick me up," I begged: "I just want to see him in person." And he did. And I did. Then we went and saw ARMY OF DARKNESS. I warned him going in that it wouldn't be half as good as EVIL DEAD II (which we'd both loved); afterward, he thanked me for the heads up: he was better able to accept the movie for what it was (and wasn't). I've been a Raimi fan since first I laid eyes on THE EVIL DEAD, but I've often wondered if he really GETS the difference between Stupid and Funny. They can sometimes go hand in hand, but the truly FUNNY things in Life aren't usually the STUPID things (which tend to infuriate rather than please us).