Laughter, The Best Medicine:
2016 Comedies That You Might Have Missed
By Mikhail Lecaros
Between all the horrible headlines and the obnoxious guy from The Apprentice holding (Oval) office in the White House, one could be forgiven for thinking we’ve either entered the tenth level of Hell or just the real-life version of a tragically unfunny joke. At any rate, there’s no denying that many of us need a good laugh now more than ever, so without further ado, here are eight recent comedy gems that you may have overlooked:
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
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To be honest, this is probably the most well-known entry on this list, but that doesn’t stop it from being one that was criminally underseen by the majority of local filmgoers, having been crowded out by the likes of Finding Dory (great), Me Before You (good), Now You See Me 2 (weak) and the entirely unnecessary Independence Day: Resurgence (ugh). In it, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays a formerly-bullied fat kid who grows up into a CIA superspy whose world of explosions and gunfights collides with his upcoming high school reunion. Johnson and co-star Kevin Hart’s comedic rapport sell the traditional mismatched buddy action movie premise, making for a rollicking good time at the movies.
THE GOOD PLACE
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Not a film, but a TV series well worth binging, The Good Place features around Kristen Bell (the erstwhile Veronica Mars) as a woman who dies and is sent to a nice suburban neighborhood standing in for Heaven. locale. The series follows her attempts to adjust to the Afterlife under the watchful eye of Michael (Cheers’ and CSI’s Ted Dansen) and her designated soulmate, Chidi. What could very well have been a run-of-the-mill comedy about life in Heaven soon grows into a hilarious character study on ethics, belief, and the nature of faith, expertly played out by the talented cast. When you get to the finale, believe us when we say you’ll be praying for the next season to get here sooner.
KEANU
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Keanu, the first big screen outing from comedic super duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peel (of Key and Peel fame) wasn’t the breakout hit everyone had hoped for, despite garnering stellar reviews. And it wasn’t hard to see why: between the title and the action romp plot centered around the titular cat, way too many people thought it was a low budget spoof of the Keanu Reeves-starrer John Wick (which has a legitimate sequel coming this year). Give this one a try, and you’ll see that the demented minds behind such sketches as Obama’s anger translator and the Metta World News haven’t lost a step on their way to the big screen.
SWISS ARMY MAN
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Yes, the Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) farting corpse movie. Now, before you balk, just give it a chance. This is a movie that, loopy premise notwithstanding, has a lot of heart for something that could very easily have been a mere gross-out farce. Think of this one as a more intelligent (yet no less ludicrous) version of Weekend at Bernie’s, as Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood) plays a man at the end of his rope who comes across a corpse (Radcliffe), with which he establishes a fast friendship. The corpse proves to have a number of inventive uses, eventually developing (just go with it) the ability to speak in addition to providing drinking water and erections that serve as navigational aids. Despite a plot conceit that never should have worked, Swiss Army Man manages to warm the heart even as it disturbs. We don’t know what the heck the filmmakers were drinking when they came up with this, but we sure would like some.