Reeling with Laughter: American Film Comedies: From Anarchy to Mockumentary
Tueth (communication and media studies, Fordham Univ.) analyzes 12 US comedies as representative of 11 genres.Duck Soupis clearly anarchic comedy;It Happened One Night, romantic;Singin' in the Rain, musical;Some Like It Hot, sex farce;Dr. Strangelove, satire;Young Frankenstein, parody;Annie Hall, neurotic;Animal House, Dionysian;Waiting for Guffman, mockumentary; andSouth Park, feature animation. For screwball,Bringing Up Babyis joined by its undervalued remake,What's Up, Doc?. Each chapter provides an excellent introduction to its film(s). The author nods to the literary antecedents, chats about production details, cites other critics effectively, and moves easily between the film's general significance and close readings of important scenes. With all the quoted jokes and recollections, this makes for a delightful read, especially as Tueth prefers the subject texts over any imported theory. This excellent book would be valuable as a textbook and a solid basis for more extensive explorations of less examined genres (neurotic, Dionysian, mockumentary, and animation).Summing Up:Highly recommended.(CHOICE)This is an important work for film buffs that will probably be most used in the circulating collection.(American Reference Books Annual)