Geoffrey Rush holds the key...

Rating: 3/10 (31 May 1999)

After seeing this movie, and wondering for months upon months HOW people thought it was so funny, I finally got the answer. Geoffrey Rush, in the masterpiece Shakespeare In Love, explains that, for the inferior, banal common man, there needs to be "a bit with a dog". Aha! I thought to myself. There it is! The bit with the dog was the answer. And then I realized that there was more to it. Much like TV laugh- tracks, this type of movie is a conditioned type of humor. Everyone has seen the same trailers, over and over and over again. So, at the theater, they know when to laugh. There are enough of these conditioned scenes to run the laughter over into the scenes that have not been seen. By the middle of the movie, everyone is laughing. Since most people like to be part of a group, they figure they should be laughing as well. From conditioned trailers to the end, it seems that it is a very funny movie. I realize that this is not a conscious endeavor by the viewers : if it was, it wouldn't work. So if you found it funny, I understand that you will not believe me. But aren't you happy now that you can feel like you're part of this group, this little bit of community fun? I'm sure you do. It's your movie now, so you know whenever you want to laugh, you can rent it and be qued to laugh. Very convenient. Just for my sake : please don't laugh too many more times at the dog. It wasn't funny the first time, and after seeing it a dozen times on commercials, it COULD NOT be funny anymore.