"MASH" is my least favorite Robert Altman film, so far at least. It's not a bad movie by any means; it moves quickly and has some great acting, noticably because you can tell how much fun the guys are having. This is strictly a guys' movie--the entire thing is one sexist prank after another, with Altman's trademark claustrophobia-inducing zoom shots and overlapping dialogue being introduced here for the first time.
But the problem with "MASH" is that it's not very funny, and, unlike the other Altman movies I've seen, it hasn't revealed any deeper meanings or undertones several hours after watching it. Both of which are due to my narrow appreciation and knowledge of comedy and war psychology, respectively, and have nothing to do with the merit of the movie itself. But it doesn't matter, because I can say whatever the hell I want.
You know, one problem I have with people (ahem, AFI) labelling some movies as "one of the funniest ever made" is because what people find funny is completely subjective. Like, say, the people who never tuned into the TV show "Arrested Development" and watched "The War At Home" instead, letting a critically acclaimed series die a humble death. Personally, I think "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" comes close to being the comedy movie masterpiece, but who am I to judge something like that? No other movie this year made me laugh harder than "Beerfest".
But regardless of whether "MASH" is as hilarious as some people say it is, it's still a riot of sorts, and it's understandable why it was loved back in the day and why it will always be Altman's most commercially successful film. Simply put, it's not as weird as his other 70's films. But personally speaking, I just find those ones a whole lot more interesting.
Grade: B
3 comments:
It's been weeks since your last post. I was hoping that with a pretentious title such as "micah, movies, etc." I would get some more of micah or etc. but I barely get the movies. Not right. I was hoping to at least read a review of DreamCrap since you saw it early or a review of the Queen or to read sterling praise of the most transcending picture of the year (The "f O Untain).
Good night and good luck, blogger.
Dreamgirls wasn't crap.
And I just haven't had the time, or the inspiration, to write a review of anything. I'll do it sometime soon.
Okay...so I read your review of MASH and while I haven't actually seen it, only a few episodes of the TV show (I am not sure of the relation), it's a bit outrageous that you'd think that beerfest was one of the funniest movies you've ever seen. Does it have some funny parts? Yes. Was the Jew funny? Yes. But it was slow, predictable to the point of mundane, and besides one scene (you know which one) didn't even got that far for an 'R' rating. "Say it isn't So" went farther. I do understand your bigger point about the subjectivity of comedy and I am not sure there's really highbrow or extremely intellegent comedy, I seem to prefer the opposite (as many others). There's not much intelligence in the Naked Gun movies or Mafia! or even Borat (even though it's being compared to Touqueville's writings, excuse the spelling). Perhaps that's why the comedy category in the Golden Globes is usually swamped with Annett Bening movies because the intellegent ones are the dark, depressing ones (think Running with Scissors, American Beauty even though they called it a drama, or even Little Miss Sunshine)
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