Open Forum Friday: Are R-Rated Comedies Funnier?
The recent box office discrepancy between The Ruins (an R-rated horror flick) and Prom Night (a PG-13 one) has renewed the age old debate over the problem of producing edgy films that are aimed at audiences too young to view them. But with Forgetting Sarah Marshall opening in theatres today, I also thought it was a good time to pose the same question with regards to comedies.
Last year we saw a resurgence of successful R-rated comedies, helped largely by Judd Apatow productions like Superbad, and this is helping a lot more of these films get away with potty mouth dialogue and crass jokes. But is this actually a good thing? When it comes to horror films, there is always an argument that a movie simply can’t be sufficiently horrific if there is a restriction on the amount of gore that can be shown on screen. (I don’t necessarily think this applies in all cases, but an R-rating certainly helps the cause.) On the other hand, is an R-rated comedy automatically funnier because it pushes the envelope and sometimes even risks offending its audience?
I know some people thought one of the few redeeming qualities of the recent Will Ferrell movie Semi-Pro was the fact that it dropped a fair number of F-bombs, but personally I don’t often find excessive swearing funny. It also didn’t help much in terms of ticket sales, for either Semi-Pro or Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story when it came out last December. What do you think, will Forgetting Sarah Marshall be more successful than these films? More importantly, will it be funnier because it is rated “R”? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.
Comments (14)
Sadly I think the Apatow train is starting to falter in terms of popularity, not in terms of quality mind you. There are just too many of them too fast. I fear that Pineapple Express will have the same fate as Dewy Cox, no matter how funny they are.
Swearing doesn’t make jokes funnier, unless they’re dirty jokes and Superbad was 90 minutes of dirty jokes, well performed by skill full actors. It all depends on the writing and the performance.
I like a fart joke just as the other guy but I don’t think that throwing in a speck of turd in there makes it more funny (although the birth giving scene in the Tenacious D sketch topped it all off with a sloppy turd). Sure you could have the turd land in the face of someone and that might be mildly amusing but having someone accidentally swallow it like a bug is comedy gold.
Posted by Swarez on April 18th, 2008I don’t know if that makes any sense or not.
Cussin’ don’t make a movie funnier…….bare boobs do!
Posted by Lord Dungbeetle on April 18th, 2008R-Rated comedies aren’t inherently funnier, but an R-rating will simply give a film more options than a lesser rating will.
Also, R-rated material can give a sharper edge to satire. George Carlin would be funny in a G-rated enviroment, but when he has complete freedom the edges are sharper.
Posted by The Movie Vampire on April 18th, 2008I don’t think that extra vulgarity means a movie will be funny. R-rated comedies and non-R-rated comedies can both be funny, usually for different reasons. It all comes down to personal preference in my mind. I guess if someone only thinks jokes are funny if they’re about nasty sex or include the word fuck, they’ll prefer a movie with an R rating. For me, I find some of those types of jokes funny, but I can also have a blast laughing my ass off at Monsters Inc. or any other non-R movie.
Posted by Rian on April 18th, 2008R rated movies do really well because there are these people in the world called douchebags, which believe a movie like Monsters Inc. couldn’t possibly be funny, and if you watch it and laugh you must be a faggot.
Posted by Itchy-Finger on April 18th, 2008Comedy is often about confronting taboos. Obviously you can do more and go further with an R rating.
Posted by Rusty James on April 18th, 2008Depends on how good the comedy is, shock value for shock sake is pretty pointless if its not funny in the 1st place, although ’suppose everyone has their own idea of what it & isn’t funny.
If anyone can make a comedy as good as Animal House their onto a winning streak!
Posted by Nemesis on April 18th, 2008Ratings are arbitrary. Considering wether something is funny or not based on an american grade system is pointless Sean. Sorry.
Posted by Henrik on April 18th, 2008I think it totally depends on the script and the characters. I mean, would Lebowski be as funny if it was totally cleaned up and given a PG-13 rating? No way. But I think movies like Johnny Dangerously (PG-13), Airplane! (PG) and Monty Python and Holy Grail (PG) are some of the funniest of all time and do just fine without 10 “fuck yous”. So it just depends.
So in answer to the headline question. Not necessarily.
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