What about the comedies?! A look at Psycho Beach Party and Drop Dead Gorgeous
When it comes to comedies, "Drop Dead Gorgeous" and "Psycho Beach Party" are the epitome of my taste. They are campy, heavy handed, often inappropriate and uber queer. "Psycho Beach Party" was the movie I used to delight in showing to my friends when I first moved to New York City. Almost no one had ever heard of it, and if you were going to be my friend, you were going to come over to my first NYC apartment in Woodside for a screening.
I was pretty nervous showing it to people for the first time. Part of me thought that if you didn't like the film, you weren't really going to like me either. Sometimes I still take it very personally when people don't like the films I do, because the connections that I have to certain films are so visceral.
Interestingly enough, even though I have seen both of these moves many, many times they weren't on the initial Best Films Rewatch list. No comedies were. I decided to add them as well as "Shag" and "A Walk to Remember" right before I published. "La La Land" is a musical. A musical comedy? I guess...we'll see when we get there.
There is almost no way that "A Walk to Remember" is going to be one of my top 10 films of all time, but it had a major impact on my life when it initially came out in theaters. I had considered taking it off the list, but when I think about those few months it was playing and the potential of processing that here at Awards Wiz after watching it again, I can't pass up the opportunity.
First up, "Drop Dead Gorgeous."
From wikipedia:
Shot in a mockumentary format, it follows the contestants in a beauty pageant called the Sarah Rose Cosmetics Mount Rose American Teen Princess Pageant, held in the small fictional town of Mount Rose, Minnesota, in which various contestants die in suspicious ways.
The film is written by Minnesotan Lona Williams and directed by Michael Patrick Jann. Both of which have mostly worked in television since.
The film is still absolutely, laugh out loud funny. Although there are a few missteps with comic timing. Mostly with Kirstie Alley. Where Allison Janney, Ellen Barkin, Denise Richards, Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Murphy, and Amy Adams nail almost every single line, Alley struggles with much of the comedy, particularly in the beginning of the film. I don't remember that being such a problem back in the day, partly because the writing was so cutting and hilarious that you almost don't notice some of the delivery.
More than likely, "Drop Dead Gorgeous" probably couldn't get made today. It has Asian jokes, pedophilia jokes, makes fun of the intellectually challenged, anorexia, Jesus! You name it, it's there. But it is all very, very funny. The closest thing I can think of today that would come close would be "South Park," but I'm not sure it would even get made today if it wasn't already an established entity.
Check these out, for just a taste:
Watching "Psycho Beach Party" after "Drop Dead Gorgeous" took a bit of an adjustment. Both are really funny...and both have Amy Adams being slutty...but "Psycho Beach Party," though completely over the top, isn't constructed with jokes in the way "Drop Dead Gorgeous" is.
It is based on a play written by Charles Busch, who stars in the film as Captain Monica Stark. He originally played Chicklet (Lauren Ambrose) in the stage version, but created a new role for the film as he didn't believe he would be as convincing as another actor to play 16.
"Psycho Beach Party" is "parody of 1950s psychodramas, 1960s beach movies and 1980s slasher films.[2] It (sadly) has a rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes (as does "Drop Dead Gorgeous), but did receive some good reviews, including a positive one at the New York Times.
The acting is spot on. Charles Busch, Lauren Ambrose, Nicholas Brendan, Matt Keesler, Beth Broderick, Amy Adams...all fantastic.
The costumes are absolutely incredible as well as the cinematography. For the most part. Arturo Smith did some miraculous things with camera filters and natural light, but a couple of times there are some big mistakes with lighting and sound. Which is too bad. Particularly when you are considering the best films of all time.
Some of the actors seem to have retired or moved on. Andrew Levitas (Provoloney) has recently started directing film, Kimberly Davies (Bettina Barnes) hasn't been in a film in 8 years (although if the internet is to be believed, she is happily married with 3 children)..and Nathan Bexton, who was also in "Go" and "Nowhere" seemed to have disappeared as well. I would check in on his page every time I watched "Psycho Beach Party" hoping that he might return, and believe it or not, he has a couple of new credits on IMDB. We shall see.
The director, Robert Lee King, took 11 years between "Psycho Beach Party" and his next film, "Bad Actress" which stars a couple of "PBP" alums, Beth Broderick and Andrew Levitas. Might need to check that out. Here's hoping he doesn't wait another 11 years for the next one.
When I finished this comedy double feature I was left a bit disappointed because I had really hoped I could put one of these films in my top 10. "Shag" didn't quite make it, and there aren't any other comedies on the list. The only other films I can think of that might come close to being one of my favorites would be "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion," or "Clue," but am I seriously going to add two other films to the list? Even though I am enjoying this process quite a bit, Oscar season is looming, just around the corner.
Which makes me wonder, am I missing something?
If I look at some of the "greatest comedies of all time" nothing really strikes me. I liked "Annie Hall," but it didn't floor me. Not after watching its many copy cats over the years before viewing the original. "Blazing Saddles," "Brazil," "Young Frankenstein," "Princess Bride," "The Hangover," "Blues Brothers," "When Harry Met Sally," "Airplane," "A Fish Called Wanda..." NOTHING. I feel nothing for these films. As I mentioned earlier, my taste in comedy is broad, campy and queer.
So, what do I do? I go on vacation, and I think about it.