The classic comedy duo bored me to sleep, not once, not twice, but four times.
I had great intentions of starting off Horrorthon 2012, nice and strong with a long list of mummy movies. Oct 1st, however, I found myself bending to my inner biddy and starting my mummy-tastic list with the least scary option Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. A&C are in Egypt with missing professors, mistaken identities, trading burgers until Costello eats the medallion hidden in his, and of course the mummy (mummies at some point). Now I don't know about you guys, but I have this thing sometimes where I need to finish what I start before moving on to the next thing, in this case horrorthon flicks. I told myself I would finish this flick before moving on with my mummy list. It took me four attempts to make it through the movie. At least I'm pretty sure I made it through the movie, so many repeating gags and jokes mixed with falling asleep, it became a little hard to tell when I was repeating portions or jumped ahead but found the same gag re-used. This flick changed my plan for a thon year dedicated to all the monsters A&C have met (I think it includes Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, the Invisible Man, the Mummy, Dr. Jekyll, and Mr Hyde). I guess I just don't have a penchant for slapstick, especially not this overly predictable version. My grandmother hitting me in the theater for not enjoying a predictable slapstick scene in Small Time Crooks was in contrast surprising and hilarious. I tend to remember that moment and smile every time I see slapstick, which means that the while the classic comedy duo bored me to sleep multiple times, I did fall asleep smiling each time.
8 comments:
Ha, totally agree about these guys. I've never ever been able to make it through a full scene from A&C, much less a whole feature film. Fucking snore.
I so loved A&C when I was a kid, couldn't get enough of them. I've since tried rewatching some of their films and find them boring as well, what a shame that they wore out their welcome, yet the Stooges still crack me up to this day.
Abbott and Costello are none of my business. It's a shame they halted your mummy momentum. I was thinking of going through the old Boris Karloff movies this month but got sidetracked.
I completely agree with your review, here's what I said about it,
"Abbott and Costello made 37 films together and although ‘Abbott and Costello Meets the Mummy’ is only the second film I’ve ever seen featuring the famous duo, I’m already tired of their humor. I can’t imagine watching 35 additional films that use the same routines over and over again. In this film, for example, there are only so many times Costello can see the mummy, scream, run into Abbott and get berated for imagining things (see Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein for the same repetitive gag). There are only so many times that Costello can lean up against a wall that spins him into a secret lair while Abbott keeps talking unaware that Costello has disappeared (see Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein for the same repetitive gag). And so on. I must admit that Costello’s expression of fear (think deer in the headlights) never gets old for me, but the rest of the film is amateurish, poorly acted, rarely funny, and entirely predictable. Even at 80 minutes it felt overlong. This is the second to last film the two ever made together."
That picture angers me so much that I kinda want to see it now.
Slapstick has no business acquainting itself with horror.
Tami! You made it! So sorry those two jerks kept knocking you out!
Oddly enough I have a counterexample to Crystal's point about slapstick and horror, and that's Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers. However, it is a completely different kind of slapstick; weird funny moments that unexpectedly pop in to certain scenes and then never come back.
4 attempts! Thats dedication Tami. I like that you were going to do a mummy theme since you were wrapped up for most of the month too.
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