MovieChat Forums > Funny Man (1994) Discussion > Funnyman.. the most important film ever....

Funnyman.. the most important film ever..

posted 19 years ago by judahverrecke-1
18 replies | jump to latest

i've never told this story before (well before noon anyway [sorry bruce]).. but it's about how i discovered 'funnyman'..

back in november of 2000, i was at the flea market on highway 17 near little river, right outside of myrtle beach, south carolina.. my roommate and i used to head there all the time just to look around and i'd wind up buying horror movies from a guy that had a room there.. i bought many quality flicks from him and wound up trusting his judgement..

one day i go up there in the rain, knowing i have a cold coming on, and decide that i want to buy something.. i see a promo copy of 'funnyman' he had on the shelf.. i had never heard of it and was hesitant to give it a try.. the guy working told me that i would love it and he guaranteed it: if i didn't enjoy it i could bring it back and he'd let me have two other movies instead.. i couldn't pass that up..

(side note: this man was a quality man.. he had videotaped footage of his daughter's best friend flashing the camcorder, while in the flea market, that he showed to me one day.. quality man.. for the record, i'm being VERY serious about calling him quality..)

i took the flick home and put it in the vcr.. i saw the poker footage at the beginning and wound up letting my cold take over.. i fell asleep and woke up and it was over.. i rewound and this process kept happening.. i would wake up during different parts of the movie and watch for a bit and doze back off.. i likely laid through about 7 subconscious viewing of 'funnyman' that first day..

it hadn't sunk in yet what had happened..

somehow, the movie was living inside my head.. i hadn't even watched it from beginning to end yet and i knew something was going on.. a few days later i gave it another watch and saw it all..

and my eyes were openned.. my life was about to change..

it's been 5 years now and no movie has even come close to topping it for me.. it replaced 'blood diner' on my list of 'favorite' horror movies ever (which had held that spot for about 12 years itself).. so many elements that i love about 'funnyman', a few i'll mention here, with no spoilers:

the funnyman theme song
the cokeslide (note my signature)
PSYCHEDLIC WIGS!!
the gnomes banter (no spoilers)
the thumps up.. my god, the thumbs up..
the dancing/prancing
'i know *beep* all about art.. but i know what i like'
'cheer up love.. there is SOME good news.. i brought ya this!' WHACK!!

and, what certainly has to be the greatest exchange of dialouge in film history starts with this immortal line:

funnyman: but you don't get THE point

i have no reservations when telling people this is my favorite movie of all-time.. nothing is even close to it.. i have roughly 3000+ movies in the living room and every copy of 'funnyman' i own is more precious to me than anything else..

do yourself a favor: find this and love it..

-------------------------------
'eh.. dark out here, itn't it?' - funnyman

[–] aelthric 18 years ago

Hi judahverrecke-1, it is so good to see an American enjoying this film as much as you did, others have said they couldn't understand the accents nice to see you could :D

I remember a friend recommending this film to me and after some hesitation saw it in a video rental shop and decided to take the plunge and rent it out to give it a look.

The tape was pretty worn, it had obviously been played a lot of times and with my own repeated viewings the tape became a little more worn. I LOVED THE FILM!!!

The slightly snowy quality did not detract from the hillarious gore fest.

For years I tried to get hold of a copy without success and one day whilst bumming around on the internet decided to try and track down a copy, believe it or not I am a citizen of the UK (yes with one of those Northern English accents) and had to order a copy from somewhere in Chicago on DVD (They just are not available here despite being a British film) so after waiting all those years to find it and the 14 days for shipping from the US the DVD finally came and I wasted no time at all in putting it into the DVD player.

As I watched I was horrified to see that most of the best bits had been censored out leaving a pale and shambolic shell of a story, I was rightly disgusted and indignant at the rape of this trully wonderful film.

Immediately I went to my computer again and started to google around and found an ex-rental VHS copy being sold on E-bay ...I HAD TO HAVE IT!!! I put in my bid.... My bid was outbid.... I bid again.... again my bid was outbid.... I decided to leave my last bid till 2 minutews before the end of the auction and put in my final bid ...BINGO I got a legitimate copy of the original VHS and never looked back...

Whenever I feel depressed funnyman goes on, it is like some wonderful anti depressant it neither takes itself seriously nor asks you to take it seriously and with that understanding achieves its aim to entertain.

I am so glad to find someone else who recognises this film as the treasure it really is, I am surprised to find out that you are American given many of the American reactions to this film and the comments that the accents are beyond their comprehension glad to see an American can understand the accents, the humour and the genius :D .

I am seriously considering getting up a fansite for this film (Something I have never considered for any other film) Simon Sprackling is a genius and with a budget that wouldn't even cover the catering costs for Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds he created pure magic.

Thats me sorted... I'm off for a toss ;)

Will put up a URL if I go ahead with the fansite :)

[–] deanjcrawford 18 years ago

just a quickie. saw this movie about 6 years ago and i pissed myself! yet, at the same time the ending left me feeling really uncomfortable, which a good horror film should do in my opinion.

this movie will never have a long lasting legacy, "cult" is about as good as it will get. you will either love it or hate it, and thats fine. i personally love it.

as judahverrecke-1 said, "but do you get, THE point". classic.