I think that this is indeed a very good movie, but it is NOT a comedy. It's 100% a drama. The speech that Greg helds in his bedroom is the climax of the movie, and it expresses perfectly what this movie is about. Anyone who can laugh about that is sick.
Comedies don't have to funny all the way through. They can perfectly cater for emotional effect if they are done well, which this was. No, the bedroom speech wasn't funny, it was very moving. But that scene comes 95% of the way through the film. You seem to be saying that because that scene is there it can't be a comedy, but does that mean you didn't laugh at the film before that? Or even after that? Even at the destruction of the Auntie's cake?!? I don't think one pathos-heavy scene means you can't categorise a film as a comedy, especially one with so many good lines as this one.
shareThats the wonderful thing about British Comedy - they dont rely on laughs every minute of the film.
Most contemporary British films are about serious issues but have little snipits of comedy to lighten the mood a bit.
for example, see - East is East, Full Monty, Brassed Off, Inside I'm Dancing, Trainspotting, Shaun of the dead (in a way as it got serious toward the end), can't think of many on the top of my head...
Dont get me wrong though, i don't think people are laughing at the serious bits - Bernie's speech to himself brought a tear to my eye.
I agree that it's a bit of both. I laughed at a lot of it, but there were touching moments as well. I was very moved by Bernie's observations that part of being a man means accepting that your father is not perfect, but realizing that you can love him despite that. Things like this are the reason why I prefer British comedies (and to a lesser extent, Canadian comedies as well) to American ones. They don't have the "in-your-face, trying-too-hard" aspect of American laugh tracts.
But when the funny bits are there, they ARE very funny. Bernie and his dad driving home with the dog still on the hood of the car, Bernie writing to the Kray twins asking if they can supply a couple of "heavies" to act as bouncers at his bar mitzvah, trying to persuade a Scottish policeman to let Manny escape getting a speeding ticket because they're speeding "for England".
I wonder, though, if there were two levels of humour. I am of British descent, but not Jewish and I saw the film during a Jewish film festival. I noticed that at some points (i.e. when Bernie writes to the Krays) there were only a handful of people laughing. Everyone else laughed a few moments later, when the camera panned to the headline in the paper about the Krays escaping justice again. I think it was because most people did not realize that the Krays were on the wrong side of the law. There were other instances where I think you had to be familiar with Britain to get the humour. I'm thinking there must also have been parts where you have to be Jewish to get the joke, and I wonder how much of the humour I missed.
What?! Clearly you didn't pay enough attention to the film. It's certianly got a lot of drama, but there are a lot of funny parts of the film and funny quirky little character traits throughout so you can't say it's not a comedy at all!
The bedroom scene at the end is moving, and isn't funny. But you can't really say that scene makes it 100% drama.
I wouldn't even try to argue that you watched it properly given that one of the first lines of the film is the main character saying 'my name is Bernie Reubens' and throughout they call him Bernie, and yet you called him Greg.
i agree that it is more drama than comedy, but there were funny bits in it. i cant remember the exact line but when one of the kids says something about "the rabbi chopping off your tonka in front of everyone" and gregg says "it's not called a tonka, it's called your c**k and ive already had that bit chopped off". i thought that was really funny. that and when he was looking for words in the spanish dictionary and he was like
"b*ll**ks isnt in here"
"how about nuts?"
"brazil or hazelnut"
"testicles you idiot!"
and then when he writes w**ker in spanish on the photo
i cant remember the exact lines, but it went something like that.
edit: to the previous poster, people are calling him gregg because that's the actors name, not everyone thinks of him as bernie, a character, but as gregg, the actor
comedy and tragedy are not mutally exclusive. Everyone knows how quickly and easily one can move from tears to laughter. Yes this movie is heart-wrenching at times and that speech by bernie had me in tears, but there are also many funny parts about his families quirks which balance out the movie quite well.
shareI sobbed and giggled all the way through this film. It's great - any movie that can make you feel for the characters, enough to laugh or cry is definitely worth watching. As Fooligan said, comedy and tragedy aren't mutually exclusive.
Shakespeare's tragedies often have comic relief - Porter from Macbeth, Mercutio, Nurse and various other characters from Romeo and Juliet. His comedies aren't all full of laughs either, Twelfth Night has many bittersweet moments between Viola and Duke Orsino.
Brilliant film. The funniest scene for me was when they go to the park and Eddie Marsan kicks the ball.
shareOld thread, but I was thinking the same thing OP. This film was extremely depressing for me up until the last 10 minutes!! Of course there were funny bits in it (like the Scotsman pulling over Bernie and his dad) but to call it a comedy is a bit much. There were funny bits in Platoon too but we certainly don't categorize it as comedy.
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