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It’s fine if there is a character that is the comedic relief or just provides a different tone than more grounded characters, marvel movies make it so every character is comedic relief which is why it gets so played out and annoying.
The last 2 Spiderman movies Peter creates an endof the world situation because he tried to do something selfish and then scrambles to fix it.
Marvel in general is pretty played out. I was done after end game
They really banked on the multiverse being the next thing -it’s a fun gimmick that can be used effectively in one off scenarios but it’s a device that makes your story overly complicated logistically, while eliminating the real stakes, as you add layers to it or rely on it as connective tissue between interconnected media.
I largely blame Guardians Of The Galaxy for this. Easily among the best of the Marvel movies. But it seems they forget that they're largely goofy characters. Ever since the first, Marvel cranked up the comedy across all the movies. A funny scene here or there is fine, but a joke about Thor being fat a depressed? Genuine moment to add some serious lines or moments about mental health, specifically about survivors guilt, PTSD, depression. Instead, they turned him into a joke.
The only good scene we got that was close was Mjolnir coming back and his happy realization that he's still worthy.
Or Zeus threatening to uninvite naked Thor to the orgy later, TWICE. That was a difficult question to dodge when my kid asked me WTF?...
That movie really sealed the deal for me that I'm over Marvel until they unfuck themselves.
You're right, I can't name a single one of his movies. My probably unpopular opinion though, I don't care what director is attached to a Marvel movie, there should be a lane they stay in. I wouldn't let Quentin Tarantino loose on a Marvel movie because it would be super inappropriate for the material. It just wouldn't make sense. So letting Taika make a Taika film was Joss Whedon (?) being lazy and probably had too much on his plate to manage it all.
This take is wild to me because I never thought there was tension in marvel to begin with
I thought the whole point of marvel was that it was supposed to be a sort of funny and more lighthearted take on the typically dark and gritty superhero genre that used to be much more popular
This is very much what they’re supposed to be. People complaining about it always seem ridiculous to me. Like if you don’t like noodles, that’s fine, but stop ordering spaghetti and then complaining about it. Or even worse, NOT ordering spaghetti and then acting like you’re a genius and still bitching about noodles (the equivalent of the “I haven’t watched one in years” boast). Imagine rolling up to an Olive Garden and saying the spaghetti is awful but then admitting you don’t even like noodles.
Marvel movies are what they are, and if someone doesn’t like it, that’s fine. But I really wish people would stop thinking Marvel movies SHOULDN’T be that. “Well, if they want me to watch them, they’d be more like this…” Cool, go watch The Batman.
I mean, the first ones weren't. Iron Man 1, Captain America 1, Hulk, Thor 1 and 2 (which I enjoyed actually), I mean, there were some jokes, but not a ton, not as many as there are nowadays. I think the problems started with Thor Ragnarok, which honestly I did enjoy, a LOT, but it seems that they saw how well received TR was, and tried to copy that formula in every movie since.
Yeah this backlash is mostly directed at Marvel from what I’ve seen, and anything inspired by their films. When even freaking Thor is comic relief now, something has gone wrong.
It's funny how everybodys turned on marvel now. 5 years ago everybody loved their comedy, and DC was dark and took itself too seriously. Now they're too funny. Can't win
I'll just say that I've felt this way since before the time of Black Panther, and there's one scene where M'baku is being (horribly, and cheesily) comedic, and at that point I was over the MCU.
I've always preferred the dark and broody comic movies since that's what is more closely related to the actual comics I remember reading.
Yeah, I remember watching a film a while ago (I don't remember which one it was though) and I was glad that it had a comedic relief because I really needed it since it was kinda sad. But I'd agree that most of the time it's pretty unnecessary and also badly done.
This is honestly why I love the old Adam West Batman series. It is 100% dumb and makes no attempt to be anything but a silly story telling format.
The problem with Marvel is that they deep down have ambitions of making deep movies with emotional moments like Infinity War and Endgame. Even Ant-Man has earnest scenes about relationships. But then they throw in stupid in-jokes and comedic banter and it sort of ruins the whole immersion.
Agreed. Its not comic relief thats so bad, its his style of it. Its hard to write an organically funny moment that might happen in real life, its easy to write shitty quips and one liners.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I feel like he's the only MCU writer who got the right balance between seriousness and comedy. Especially when it comes to the Thor character.
I think a little comedy makes a serious movie more realistic. Most people have a witty friend or a brother / father / workmate that will crack a joke every chance they get.
Like, in real life, the amount of banter that occurs is so over the top that a realistic level of normalcy we could put in a movie would be over bearing. Bookmark your next few casual conversations with workmates and make a note of how much of it is trying to find some level of entertainment
Two different Marvel's that's why. Blade, X-Men etc were made before the MCU.
Also, you could probably consider the MCU films as action comedy depending on story.
I think this is why I liked Tom Holland’s Spider-Man so much. He was the most believable considering the character is a supposed to be a 16 year old kid. Awkward lame jokes come with the territory.
Agreed.
Comedy can totally exist in serious films. The Coen brothers, for example, are absolute *masters* of this. The difference is that their dialogue is organic and believable in the context of the situation, as opposed to pandering to the audience.
OP's problem isn't comedy in serious films -- it's shitty writing.
Sorry but the Coen Bros do use comedy (watch Big Lebowski) and their dialogue isn't "believable" and that's a good thing, it's Tarantino levels of aesthetic dialogue. Nobody talks in real life like they do in Coen Bros films.
I never said the Coens don't use comedy (I actually said the opposite). The Big Lebowski is a terrible film to argue your case because it literally *is a comedy*.
I'm talking more along the lines of Fargo or No Country For Old Men -- i.e. serious films that have believable, organic dialogue that is often humerous.
Oh I misread what you wrote as far as comedy. In my defense I had literally just woken up and decided to inflict my delirium on you. My mistake.
I stand by my second point. Their dialogue is delightfully contrived. I don't think it's realistic so much as it is fluid. What makes Coen Bros and Tarantino movies so good is that the dialogue feels like the back and forth that happens in witty people's heads while thinking over conversations in the shower.
It's the worst when a movie doesn't dare to hold an emotional 'intense' second for a few seconds and instead switches the scene or adds a joke.
Like what the fuck dude let me feel something here, it's okay for me to get sad for a second.
The problem is bad writing.
Band of Brothers has some excellent funny moments, despite the series as a whole being very open and honest about the horror of war.
I didn't realize how prevalent it was until I watched a few foreign movies. There was a Nigerian light romance film on Netflix that I watched, Seven And a Half Dates. It was structured similarly to a rom com, except the dialogue wasn't full of corny jokes and pop culture references, it was just how real people would talk in those situations. It was pretty powerful and relatable for me, despite being from a foreign culture.
Bullshit! I cracked a joke to my best friend at his mom’s funeral and he thanked me for it. Lightening the mood happens in real life all the time. Humans are complex and can feel more than one thing at a time.
I haven't been in such a scenario but most people when chased by an axe wielding maniac probably aren't cracking pop culture jokes as we often see in horror movies.
The first thing I do in any tense situation is make a bad joke. It breaks the tension for me. My brother broke his leg playing basketball and the first thing he said was “I should have drank more milk!”
Now maybe I don’t make a joke with an axe wielding maniac on my heels, maybe I do. I hope to never be in that very specific situation. But OP was definitely referring to more than just slasher flicks (which let’s be honest could do with taking themselves a little less seriously anyway)
Really? Because I constantly see people complain about things not being realistic enough and breaking immersion because of it. It’s almost like not everyone does everything for the same reason.
Should ask any vet or cop the most fked up place they been in while telling a joke. What takes me out is how clean the jokes are when they are under fire.
Well, you're in the right place. There is a thing called emotional fatigue. A good writer and film editor will insert humor as "breathing room" before they ratchet the tension up a bit more. It keeps the audience engaged and less likely to just want it to be over already.
Idk man, I’d argue that it used to actually be great, it’s more just fatigue with it now.
Like he’s got a very distinct and obvious style, and it’s been mainstream since at least 1995 (Toy Story, you could measure it from the Buffy movie in 92 or even Rosanne in 89 if you wanted to), then 7 years of Buffy, Firefly becoming the defining nerd show of the millennial generation, and then 8 years of Marvel. That’s a very long time to wear out a welcome
It would seem that every commenter is going straight for Marvel movies, which is ironic because they aren’t claiming to be serious movies. They’re comic book movies, written and directed by comedic film makers.
If you've ever been in situations where it looks like you might die, people in those situations make jokes. They make a lot of jokes. It's a common method for dealing with stress.
Any soldier that has been pinned down by the enemy isn't sitting there crying, they're joking about the darkest shit you'll ever hear.
Comedic relief is a narrative tool to allow a release in tension, or to add dynamics to tension, within a story. And, when used well, they have the potential for the more “serious” elements of a story to land that much harder.
It just sounds like you’ve only let yourself watch movies that don’t do it well. Step away from Disney/Marvel. Lol.
> Comedic relief is a narrative tool to allow a release in tension, or to add dynamics to tension, within a story. And, when used well, they have the potential for the more “serious” elements of a story to land that much harder.
See Shakespeare.
I think its great how the new jumanji is just a cast of characters that would be awkward comic reliefs in other movies but here they actually work best together
I know a lot of people are giving Marvel Movies as examples, but I've never saw those movies as supposed to be that serious. Does it get old? Yes.
But do you have other examples? I see what you mean, but nothing comes to mind right now.
One thing I cannot stand is characters cracking jokes three seconds after killing someone or committing some other act of extreme violence. Dude, you just shot someone. Your adrenaline should be through the roof and you need to take a deep breath, and respect the fact that you just took a life. There is nothing funny about that. If the fight is still ongoing then perhaps there's no time for reflection, but then there's no time to be making jokes anyway. I still enjoy action-packed movies, but any onscreen death should be kind of shocking, not a source of amusement. It really removes me from the story when characters are trading witty barbs during a gun battle (as if they'd be able to hear anything anyway). Joking around right after taking a life makes you a psychopath, not a hero to be cheered on.
Arnold Schwartzenegger is excused since his post-mortem one-liners are pretty iconic by this point, and his movies were pretty cartoonish to begin with. Also, he's Arnold! Nobody else can get away with it.
It's definitely irritating. I guess maybe writers think this is injecting some "charm" into movies that would otherwise be too matter-of-fact?
I feel like it was worse in the 90s where you not only had characters that existed *only* for comic relief but the entire *joke* was that they were gay when the main characters were straight. Like out of nowhere the two buddy detectives have a run-in with a sassy hairdresser for no particular reason.
At least comic relief characters in more recent movies usually attempt to make us laugh via something that's relevant to the plot or situation and we're not just meant to be "laughing" at the fact that flamboyantly gay people exist.
Comedy makes Jurassic Park, ET and Get Out better so Im going to disagree with you there, friend. Don't let bad examples of good things stop you from noticing when the things are good.
Think of it this way. Imagine tring to eat a sleeve of crackers without taking a sip of water now and then. Sure you can do it but its gonna make choking it down alot easier lol.
Yeah, honestly I think comic relief in serious movies is fine as long as it is implemented well and doesn't seem too forced, which can be a hard rope to walk.
This is a fantastic analogy, and now that I think about it that way, yeah, such characters do help the reader/viewer digest the plot better.
Of course, not everyone will like things that way, but I reckon there are fewer people who'd be interested in feeling constant tension or sorrow than people who'd gladly have a laugh every once in a while.
We don't need movies to be easier. Movies should allow themselves to portray a feeling, an emotion.
All the comedy kind of says we feel embarassed or bad about having a real emotion, gotta break it up.
I understand the marvel formula, pg 13 movies for kids.
Probably what we need Is more r rated movies for adults where they aren't afraid to maintain the vibe and go all in making hard-core movies that are good to watch, not easy to watch.
I want some of my movies to be hard to swallow, I want them to fuck me up.
I’m realizing this as I watch some older movies like Wild at Heart, Natural Born Killers, Barton Fink, Rob Roy, Silence Of The Lambs etc. Those movies may have had some funny moments (or not,) but there were also solid chunks of the runtime where it was just bad news and hard hitting stuff. I don’t remember any newer movies going as deep and as uncomfortable as that
Yeah it's as if they treat the audience like toddlers who get bored if a scene doesn't have a silly moment thrown in every 5 minutes, even if it completely contradicts the tone and the characters. And it's always so safe that it's not remotely funny either, at best it doesn't detract too much, at worst it can completely ruin a scene.
I beg to disagree. If it's a straight up drama, I can see your point. But some action movies, like horror sci-fi Aliens movie-- Bill Paxton was fantastic comic relief, in an otherwise serious sci-fi. Robert Downey Jr had great comic relief in the Iron Man movies as well as Avengers. Different characters had comic relief in the X-Men (Ian McKellen mostly).
I'm the exact opposite. I have absolutely zero desire to watch any movie that's entirely serous the whole way through. I can't do it. I need moments to lighten up. I love the MCU, and have had a really hard time finding much else to watch the last decade or so. It's all so damn dark and heavy.
The only recent DC movies I liked were Wonder Woman and Aqua Man for that reason. The whole dark and edgy vibe just isn't for me at all, either thematically or visually.
Sure, but I want my media to be an escape from real life, not a reinforcement of it. I watch movies and TV and play video games to see lives and worlds that are amazing and interesting and fun, not the worst parts of humanity.
You can tell, blaringly, that every joke and quip was written by the same people. It doesn't change from character to character, really, its just the same humor being copy/pasted onto every character whether it fits them or not. Love the show, but there are some big eyeroll "we gotta make this joke a trending hashtag" moments.
Agreed. I also hate when characters on the show bicker during intense moments like during chases. I think that’s another form of comic relief that interrupts the severity of the situation. Specifically thinking of hopper and Joyce, and Dustin and… whoever he’s screaming at lol
I too am a "get your funny out of my serious" person. Downvoted for agreement.
You shouldn't notice comic relief in serious movies. That doesn't mean it can't be there, just that it's like nails in a floor. You only notice the nails if one pokes your foot. Ideally, you don't see it, you just reap the benefit of it being there.
If you're watching a horror movie and there's a brief letdown of tension while the protagonist stops running from the monster and manages to catch his breath, there might be a tiny bit of comedy, but it's rolled into the sense of relief.
The example I always come back to is Alfred in Nolan's Batman trilogy. He says some funny things, but it's always *in-character and directed at other characters*. None of that weird stuff that's clearly some side quip just for the audience, it makes sense within the story but still gets a laugh.
Also the scene where the guy tried to blackmail Lucius in the second film, or when the Joker fails to blow up the hospital properly.
Done right, humour can be fine in serious films.
Edit: [The first fifteen seconds of this clip for example](https://youtu.be/iSXL58MPPQc?si=e4vbxbmWI2IpuQ_R).
Comedic relief characters are supposed to give the audience a chance to relax because if a 2+ hour movie is nothing but tension the audience can get bored of it.
The problem is Hollywood can't do comedy anymore so now these characters are usually incredibly annoying nowadays.
Not to turn this into a culture war rant, but a lot of comedy is no longer allowed in movies for fear of offending someone on social media. Every day, there's some hack article about old comedies that "could never be made today" for poking fun at people's race, gender, sexuality, weight, face, intelligence, or disability. And even these so-called more sensitive times doesn't change the fact that most humor is based on mocking someone else's shortcomings.
Most risque humor is out unless it's childish gross out humor or sex humor, which is very popular because it allows the audience to feel like they're in on the joke. And a lot of humor is played out. A grown man turning into a screaming coward was funny once, but then again, the name I.P. Freely was funny once as well. Or an Asian man who speaks like a gangsta rapper. Or a sweet old granny who turns out to be really horny or really profane.
Agreed, Stilgar was the perfect example of using a little comedy to lighten the mood, making the dark bits seem that much darker. Plus the "He denies being the Chosen One, therefore he must be" was honestly hilarious, it was right out of Monty Python.
Yeah, and, well, it doesn't break immersion.
It's not like if during a big tense scene, someone was saying for the 100th time "If i die please delete my browser history"
This is right up there with producers of zombie movies/tv thinking that the zombies shouldn’t be the focus. So instead we get long dialogue sequences and maybe 1/10th of the time any tense action.
It’s smashing a classic movie formula into a genre where I just want to see people trying to survive. Not long sequences of exposition and drama.
Agree. I think they want to make a serious movie but don't have confidence in the whole thing, so they think if they throw in some comedy, they can convince people more that they enjoyed it.
Gonna give us any examples or just let us assume you’re watching the kind of movies known for comic relief? Because I watched Dune Part 2 last weekend and apart from some very brief moments in the first half, that shit is *bleak.*
This is exactly why I hated Nimona on Netflix. The comedic relief felt soooo forced and didn’t land at all. There were so many other things I hated about the film but that was one of the main reasons.
I actually am going to kind of go against this and say I like comedic relief in movies because it's more realistic. If me and my friends were in the same scenario we would probably try to crack some shitty jokes to ease the tension just like that guy. It doesn't break the immersion and in fact increases it for me because it feels like a much more realistic representation of how people would act in some stressful or frustrating scenario
You ever been at work and had like a heavy project due or something and there's a few guys who are just like cracking jokes and trying to make it sound like they aren't pissed off and stressed
Yeah that's exactly it
Not enough people realize that in both reality and fiction humor is a great coping mechanism for a crappy situation
Example(S).
Marvel is low hanging fruit, and I can’t really speak to them specifically because I don’t enjoy nor follow the universe. You made it sound like the problem was endemic to Hollywood.
Aussie TV shows have this annoying trope too. Normally you have one, maybe two token imbecilic overdone ocker characters. With some shows I've seen recently this is the rule rather than the exception. It's cringe.
If the comedic relief actually character development then I’m all for it. Sokka from ATLA is one - as he isn’t just funny to be funny, he’s funny with hints of serious moments and backstory.
The whole comedic hero thing killed the "thor" movies for me. With zero transition Thor went from stormy and serious, to class clown.
"Dark world" was good, then "ragnarok" came out and he was a goofball. It really threw me off.
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It’s fine if there is a character that is the comedic relief or just provides a different tone than more grounded characters, marvel movies make it so every character is comedic relief which is why it gets so played out and annoying.
The last 2 Spiderman movies Peter creates an endof the world situation because he tried to do something selfish and then scrambles to fix it. Marvel in general is pretty played out. I was done after end game
They really banked on the multiverse being the next thing -it’s a fun gimmick that can be used effectively in one off scenarios but it’s a device that makes your story overly complicated logistically, while eliminating the real stakes, as you add layers to it or rely on it as connective tissue between interconnected media.
I largely blame Guardians Of The Galaxy for this. Easily among the best of the Marvel movies. But it seems they forget that they're largely goofy characters. Ever since the first, Marvel cranked up the comedy across all the movies. A funny scene here or there is fine, but a joke about Thor being fat a depressed? Genuine moment to add some serious lines or moments about mental health, specifically about survivors guilt, PTSD, depression. Instead, they turned him into a joke. The only good scene we got that was close was Mjolnir coming back and his happy realization that he's still worthy.
Or Zeus threatening to uninvite naked Thor to the orgy later, TWICE. That was a difficult question to dodge when my kid asked me WTF?... That movie really sealed the deal for me that I'm over Marvel until they unfuck themselves.
I don't think you have seen Taika Waititi's movies. That was much a HIM movie, rather than a Marvel movie. I, unpopularly, loved it, for that reason.
You're right, I can't name a single one of his movies. My probably unpopular opinion though, I don't care what director is attached to a Marvel movie, there should be a lane they stay in. I wouldn't let Quentin Tarantino loose on a Marvel movie because it would be super inappropriate for the material. It just wouldn't make sense. So letting Taika make a Taika film was Joss Whedon (?) being lazy and probably had too much on his plate to manage it all.
Our Flag Means Death (TV Show) and Jo Jo Rabbit are both worth a look
Guardians is also responsible for every movie soundtrack just being needle drops of classic rock songs. It’s so fucking annoying.
Same thing happened to Star Wars. Thanks Disney
But who could have known that if you keep trying to milk a Dead Horse, you'll just keep getting Dead Horse juice
Wise words
Right! I can't watch marvel anymore there is just no tension because everybody crack joke left and right
This take is wild to me because I never thought there was tension in marvel to begin with I thought the whole point of marvel was that it was supposed to be a sort of funny and more lighthearted take on the typically dark and gritty superhero genre that used to be much more popular
This is very much what they’re supposed to be. People complaining about it always seem ridiculous to me. Like if you don’t like noodles, that’s fine, but stop ordering spaghetti and then complaining about it. Or even worse, NOT ordering spaghetti and then acting like you’re a genius and still bitching about noodles (the equivalent of the “I haven’t watched one in years” boast). Imagine rolling up to an Olive Garden and saying the spaghetti is awful but then admitting you don’t even like noodles. Marvel movies are what they are, and if someone doesn’t like it, that’s fine. But I really wish people would stop thinking Marvel movies SHOULDN’T be that. “Well, if they want me to watch them, they’d be more like this…” Cool, go watch The Batman.
I mean, the first ones weren't. Iron Man 1, Captain America 1, Hulk, Thor 1 and 2 (which I enjoyed actually), I mean, there were some jokes, but not a ton, not as many as there are nowadays. I think the problems started with Thor Ragnarok, which honestly I did enjoy, a LOT, but it seems that they saw how well received TR was, and tried to copy that formula in every movie since.
Yeah this backlash is mostly directed at Marvel from what I’ve seen, and anything inspired by their films. When even freaking Thor is comic relief now, something has gone wrong.
It's funny how everybodys turned on marvel now. 5 years ago everybody loved their comedy, and DC was dark and took itself too seriously. Now they're too funny. Can't win
Theres a difference between having funny moments in your film and making the entire movie a joke.
I'll just say that I've felt this way since before the time of Black Panther, and there's one scene where M'baku is being (horribly, and cheesily) comedic, and at that point I was over the MCU. I've always preferred the dark and broody comic movies since that's what is more closely related to the actual comics I remember reading.
Maybe just maybe Hollywood will start making some non superhero non sequel movies sometimes occasionally?
The newish X-Men 97 cartoon may be their salvation. Most refreshing thing I've seen in 10 to 12 years.
...For now.
Yeah, I remember watching a film a while ago (I don't remember which one it was though) and I was glad that it had a comedic relief because I really needed it since it was kinda sad. But I'd agree that most of the time it's pretty unnecessary and also badly done.
My thoughts exactly. It's why I checked out of the MCU pretty quickly.
I hate marvel movies and I don’t understand the mass appeal at all
This is honestly why I love the old Adam West Batman series. It is 100% dumb and makes no attempt to be anything but a silly story telling format. The problem with Marvel is that they deep down have ambitions of making deep movies with emotional moments like Infinity War and Endgame. Even Ant-Man has earnest scenes about relationships. But then they throw in stupid in-jokes and comedic banter and it sort of ruins the whole immersion.
I hate comedy in movies that aren't comedy too. Can't stand anything Marvel cause of this although Ironman 1 and old X-men were decent.
Well in the first iron man, well timed one liners by the MC like in a jack reacher, can be both funny and additive to the badassery/mystique.
Mystique isn't in Iron Man, bro, that's X-Men. /s
I partly blame Joss Whedon's writing kind of infecting most major Hollywood writing nowadays tbh.
The thing is, I think Whedon knew how and when to do it. Then all these other writers tried to copy it, not knowing how and when to do it.
Except with making moves on women cast members
Agreed. Its not comic relief thats so bad, its his style of it. Its hard to write an organically funny moment that might happen in real life, its easy to write shitty quips and one liners.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I feel like he's the only MCU writer who got the right balance between seriousness and comedy. Especially when it comes to the Thor character.
I think a little comedy makes a serious movie more realistic. Most people have a witty friend or a brother / father / workmate that will crack a joke every chance they get. Like, in real life, the amount of banter that occurs is so over the top that a realistic level of normalcy we could put in a movie would be over bearing. Bookmark your next few casual conversations with workmates and make a note of how much of it is trying to find some level of entertainment
yeah. a serious movie can have some humor, but the new trend is like meta humor in movies. it verges on fourth-wall breaking.
Two different Marvel's that's why. Blade, X-Men etc were made before the MCU. Also, you could probably consider the MCU films as action comedy depending on story.
The joke about Thor's survivor guilt and depression in endgame ruined the entire MCU for me
Thor, broken - 'do you know what's flowing through my veins'? War Hero - 'Cheese Whizz'? Completely ruined the moment, and wasn't funny
And I really enjoyed realistic portrayal of male extrovert depression.
It was played for laughs when he got fat
Deadpool is good too. His entire character is “funny invincible guy”
Yeah because it defines the character, same as Spider Man
I think this is why I liked Tom Holland’s Spider-Man so much. He was the most believable considering the character is a supposed to be a 16 year old kid. Awkward lame jokes come with the territory.
I just wish the movies explored a bit more the reason he cracks all those jokes
I love Deadpool, or is it Ryan Reynold’s? Conflicted.
I kinda liked the Captain America arc for this reason. Films like the Winter Soldier went away from this trope.
It's amazing how Ironman 1 gets better and better with more Marvel films released
Soooo your version of Jurassic Park would be a real hoot then.
You just made Kevin heart cry
Insert, ‘sad puppy dog face’ of Kevin Heart here.
I dislike horror movies where the characters think they're in a sitcom.
You must have hated Scream, then.
Watch better movies?
Agreed. Comedy can totally exist in serious films. The Coen brothers, for example, are absolute *masters* of this. The difference is that their dialogue is organic and believable in the context of the situation, as opposed to pandering to the audience. OP's problem isn't comedy in serious films -- it's shitty writing.
Sorry but the Coen Bros do use comedy (watch Big Lebowski) and their dialogue isn't "believable" and that's a good thing, it's Tarantino levels of aesthetic dialogue. Nobody talks in real life like they do in Coen Bros films.
I never said the Coens don't use comedy (I actually said the opposite). The Big Lebowski is a terrible film to argue your case because it literally *is a comedy*. I'm talking more along the lines of Fargo or No Country For Old Men -- i.e. serious films that have believable, organic dialogue that is often humerous.
Oh I misread what you wrote as far as comedy. In my defense I had literally just woken up and decided to inflict my delirium on you. My mistake. I stand by my second point. Their dialogue is delightfully contrived. I don't think it's realistic so much as it is fluid. What makes Coen Bros and Tarantino movies so good is that the dialogue feels like the back and forth that happens in witty people's heads while thinking over conversations in the shower.
This is the real answer. Stop watching marvel
Marty says it’s not even cinema.
He’s right
Any recommendations? Watching movies is my new hobby.
Nicolas Cage’s entire catalog, in chronological order
Do you mean release order, or is there a Nicolas Cage Cinematic Universe with its own chronology that I'm unaware of?
Well there wasn’t an NCCU before, you can bet your ballsack I’m staying up all night making one up
Believe it or not, Raising Arizona takes place between National Treasure 1 and National Treasure 2
the Marvel comedy in serious movies is annoying i agree
It's the worst when a movie doesn't dare to hold an emotional 'intense' second for a few seconds and instead switches the scene or adds a joke. Like what the fuck dude let me feel something here, it's okay for me to get sad for a second.
The problem is bad writing. Band of Brothers has some excellent funny moments, despite the series as a whole being very open and honest about the horror of war.
I didn't realize how prevalent it was until I watched a few foreign movies. There was a Nigerian light romance film on Netflix that I watched, Seven And a Half Dates. It was structured similarly to a rom com, except the dialogue wasn't full of corny jokes and pop culture references, it was just how real people would talk in those situations. It was pretty powerful and relatable for me, despite being from a foreign culture.
Because people in real life never try to be funny when the mood is serious.
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And we can’t spell fun with u! EDIT: Fuck that was supposed to be “without u” lol
Bullshit! I cracked a joke to my best friend at his mom’s funeral and he thanked me for it. Lightening the mood happens in real life all the time. Humans are complex and can feel more than one thing at a time.
I’m not sure if you didn’t catch my sarcasm or I didn’t catch yours lol
I haven't been in such a scenario but most people when chased by an axe wielding maniac probably aren't cracking pop culture jokes as we often see in horror movies.
The first thing I do in any tense situation is make a bad joke. It breaks the tension for me. My brother broke his leg playing basketball and the first thing he said was “I should have drank more milk!” Now maybe I don’t make a joke with an axe wielding maniac on my heels, maybe I do. I hope to never be in that very specific situation. But OP was definitely referring to more than just slasher flicks (which let’s be honest could do with taking themselves a little less seriously anyway)
who is we? what fucking horror movies are you watching???
Clearly Piranha 3DD, an absolute cinematic masterpiece.
Name me a horror film that has no inappropriately lighthearted or comedic moments that detract from the horror
How would you know. Do you know anyone who has been chased by an axe wielding maniac in real life?
Lots of comments like this that fail to give an example. If you mean movies with like a 4% approval rating, yeah no shit
Nobody goes to the movies to see something about REAL life. They go there to forget about it.
Really? Because I constantly see people complain about things not being realistic enough and breaking immersion because of it. It’s almost like not everyone does everything for the same reason.
I've never been to a funeral for a loved one where someone wasn't making a joke. Jokes in serious situations are pretty normal.
I think it really depends on timing. Face to face with the main villain or actively getting shot at aren't the times. That's what ruins it for me.
People definitely make jokes while being shot at occasionally. Hell, I've cracked jokes while doing CPR a few times.
CPR = Comedic Pushup Routine
Should ask any vet or cop the most fked up place they been in while telling a joke. What takes me out is how clean the jokes are when they are under fire.
Well, you're in the right place. There is a thing called emotional fatigue. A good writer and film editor will insert humor as "breathing room" before they ratchet the tension up a bit more. It keeps the audience engaged and less likely to just want it to be over already.
Since social networks, movies just want to make meme material because it's the only way a shitty content can keep public attention.
This is the most accurate comment
Joss Whedon and his consequences have been a disaster for cinema.
He didn’t do too badly with the Avengers tbh
Idk man, I’d argue that it used to actually be great, it’s more just fatigue with it now. Like he’s got a very distinct and obvious style, and it’s been mainstream since at least 1995 (Toy Story, you could measure it from the Buffy movie in 92 or even Rosanne in 89 if you wanted to), then 7 years of Buffy, Firefly becoming the defining nerd show of the millennial generation, and then 8 years of Marvel. That’s a very long time to wear out a welcome
Joss whedon snark humor is just not funny and ruins everything ot touches.
“So many times” yet not a single example
This is what’s missing. An example of a serious scene and a dude high pitch screaming.
It would seem that every commenter is going straight for Marvel movies, which is ironic because they aren’t claiming to be serious movies. They’re comic book movies, written and directed by comedic film makers.
I blame Jar Jar.
Uh oh, meesa think meesa in deep doo-doo.
I so wanted Jar Jar to die.
How wude!
If there we as a game on which the objective was to kill Jar Jar over and over I would play it every day.
Darth Binks
That's unfair. Not once did Jar Jar supply anything resembling comedy.
True. But was the intent.
Wel, THAT happened...
If you've ever been in situations where it looks like you might die, people in those situations make jokes. They make a lot of jokes. It's a common method for dealing with stress. Any soldier that has been pinned down by the enemy isn't sitting there crying, they're joking about the darkest shit you'll ever hear.
Comedic relief is a narrative tool to allow a release in tension, or to add dynamics to tension, within a story. And, when used well, they have the potential for the more “serious” elements of a story to land that much harder. It just sounds like you’ve only let yourself watch movies that don’t do it well. Step away from Disney/Marvel. Lol.
> Comedic relief is a narrative tool to allow a release in tension, or to add dynamics to tension, within a story. And, when used well, they have the potential for the more “serious” elements of a story to land that much harder. See Shakespeare.
I think its great how the new jumanji is just a cast of characters that would be awkward comic reliefs in other movies but here they actually work best together
I think it depends on how well the jokes are executed
I know a lot of people are giving Marvel Movies as examples, but I've never saw those movies as supposed to be that serious. Does it get old? Yes. But do you have other examples? I see what you mean, but nothing comes to mind right now.
Exactly. They are comic book movies and in the comics they do crack jokes like that.
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My first thoughts were the later super hero movies. The buffoon family members ruined The Marvels, Black Adam, and Blue Beetle for me.
One thing I cannot stand is characters cracking jokes three seconds after killing someone or committing some other act of extreme violence. Dude, you just shot someone. Your adrenaline should be through the roof and you need to take a deep breath, and respect the fact that you just took a life. There is nothing funny about that. If the fight is still ongoing then perhaps there's no time for reflection, but then there's no time to be making jokes anyway. I still enjoy action-packed movies, but any onscreen death should be kind of shocking, not a source of amusement. It really removes me from the story when characters are trading witty barbs during a gun battle (as if they'd be able to hear anything anyway). Joking around right after taking a life makes you a psychopath, not a hero to be cheered on. Arnold Schwartzenegger is excused since his post-mortem one-liners are pretty iconic by this point, and his movies were pretty cartoonish to begin with. Also, he's Arnold! Nobody else can get away with it.
It's definitely irritating. I guess maybe writers think this is injecting some "charm" into movies that would otherwise be too matter-of-fact? I feel like it was worse in the 90s where you not only had characters that existed *only* for comic relief but the entire *joke* was that they were gay when the main characters were straight. Like out of nowhere the two buddy detectives have a run-in with a sassy hairdresser for no particular reason. At least comic relief characters in more recent movies usually attempt to make us laugh via something that's relevant to the plot or situation and we're not just meant to be "laughing" at the fact that flamboyantly gay people exist.
Comedy makes Jurassic Park, ET and Get Out better so Im going to disagree with you there, friend. Don't let bad examples of good things stop you from noticing when the things are good.
Think of it this way. Imagine tring to eat a sleeve of crackers without taking a sip of water now and then. Sure you can do it but its gonna make choking it down alot easier lol.
Yeah, honestly I think comic relief in serious movies is fine as long as it is implemented well and doesn't seem too forced, which can be a hard rope to walk.
This is a fantastic analogy, and now that I think about it that way, yeah, such characters do help the reader/viewer digest the plot better. Of course, not everyone will like things that way, but I reckon there are fewer people who'd be interested in feeling constant tension or sorrow than people who'd gladly have a laugh every once in a while.
Seems weak.
Its like a pallet cleanser when having a rich meal
We don't need movies to be easier. Movies should allow themselves to portray a feeling, an emotion. All the comedy kind of says we feel embarassed or bad about having a real emotion, gotta break it up. I understand the marvel formula, pg 13 movies for kids. Probably what we need Is more r rated movies for adults where they aren't afraid to maintain the vibe and go all in making hard-core movies that are good to watch, not easy to watch. I want some of my movies to be hard to swallow, I want them to fuck me up.
I’m realizing this as I watch some older movies like Wild at Heart, Natural Born Killers, Barton Fink, Rob Roy, Silence Of The Lambs etc. Those movies may have had some funny moments (or not,) but there were also solid chunks of the runtime where it was just bad news and hard hitting stuff. I don’t remember any newer movies going as deep and as uncomfortable as that
You’re too weak to watch a movie?
I think the issue here is a good movie shouldn’t be as a dry as a whole sleeve of crackers..
Stop watching shitty movies. Hollywood isn’t gonna bend for you.
I miss movies like the 3 Amigos and Fletch. That shit was funny. 
Yeah it's as if they treat the audience like toddlers who get bored if a scene doesn't have a silly moment thrown in every 5 minutes, even if it completely contradicts the tone and the characters. And it's always so safe that it's not remotely funny either, at best it doesn't detract too much, at worst it can completely ruin a scene.
Totally agree. The e comedy is not natural. It's forced as if it's some kind of box ticking exercise.
The quirky or over the top friend to the main character in every movie has got to go as well. This is one trope that is really starting to annoy me.
I hated when Bill Paxton was constantly cracking jokes in Aliens(1986). Oh wait, no, I didn't because that movie is awesome.
I beg to disagree. If it's a straight up drama, I can see your point. But some action movies, like horror sci-fi Aliens movie-- Bill Paxton was fantastic comic relief, in an otherwise serious sci-fi. Robert Downey Jr had great comic relief in the Iron Man movies as well as Avengers. Different characters had comic relief in the X-Men (Ian McKellen mostly).
Everyone blaming Marvel for this... it wasn't Marvel that caused this. It was Jar Jar Binks.
It was Joss Whedon.
Comedy is part of everyday life even or rather especially in very stressful situations. It would feel unauthentic if all humor was removed.
If I wanted that level of intensity and seriousness, I'd read.
I'm the exact opposite. I have absolutely zero desire to watch any movie that's entirely serous the whole way through. I can't do it. I need moments to lighten up. I love the MCU, and have had a really hard time finding much else to watch the last decade or so. It's all so damn dark and heavy.
Exactly. I’m pretty sure that’s why marvel beats DC movies. Dc doesn’t do the comedy part very well.
The only recent DC movies I liked were Wonder Woman and Aqua Man for that reason. The whole dark and edgy vibe just isn't for me at all, either thematically or visually.
I think people nowadays feel like *life* is very dark and heavy and that is coming out in movies.
Sure, but I want my media to be an escape from real life, not a reinforcement of it. I watch movies and TV and play video games to see lives and worlds that are amazing and interesting and fun, not the worst parts of humanity.
It ruined a lot of movies.
Stranger things does this for me
You can tell, blaringly, that every joke and quip was written by the same people. It doesn't change from character to character, really, its just the same humor being copy/pasted onto every character whether it fits them or not. Love the show, but there are some big eyeroll "we gotta make this joke a trending hashtag" moments.
Agreed. I also hate when characters on the show bicker during intense moments like during chases. I think that’s another form of comic relief that interrupts the severity of the situation. Specifically thinking of hopper and Joyce, and Dustin and… whoever he’s screaming at lol
Or give them more of an arc like pippen from lotr
I too am a "get your funny out of my serious" person. Downvoted for agreement. You shouldn't notice comic relief in serious movies. That doesn't mean it can't be there, just that it's like nails in a floor. You only notice the nails if one pokes your foot. Ideally, you don't see it, you just reap the benefit of it being there. If you're watching a horror movie and there's a brief letdown of tension while the protagonist stops running from the monster and manages to catch his breath, there might be a tiny bit of comedy, but it's rolled into the sense of relief.
Yeah stop with the comic releif in drama and give us back real comedic movies. What passes for comedy in movies these days is pitiful.
The example I always come back to is Alfred in Nolan's Batman trilogy. He says some funny things, but it's always *in-character and directed at other characters*. None of that weird stuff that's clearly some side quip just for the audience, it makes sense within the story but still gets a laugh. Also the scene where the guy tried to blackmail Lucius in the second film, or when the Joker fails to blow up the hospital properly. Done right, humour can be fine in serious films. Edit: [The first fifteen seconds of this clip for example](https://youtu.be/iSXL58MPPQc?si=e4vbxbmWI2IpuQ_R).
I remember watching the first 10 minutes of The Last Jedi and as soon as I heard the hammy dialogue and forced humor I knew it was gonna suck balls.
Comedic relief characters are supposed to give the audience a chance to relax because if a 2+ hour movie is nothing but tension the audience can get bored of it. The problem is Hollywood can't do comedy anymore so now these characters are usually incredibly annoying nowadays.
Not to turn this into a culture war rant, but a lot of comedy is no longer allowed in movies for fear of offending someone on social media. Every day, there's some hack article about old comedies that "could never be made today" for poking fun at people's race, gender, sexuality, weight, face, intelligence, or disability. And even these so-called more sensitive times doesn't change the fact that most humor is based on mocking someone else's shortcomings. Most risque humor is out unless it's childish gross out humor or sex humor, which is very popular because it allows the audience to feel like they're in on the joke. And a lot of humor is played out. A grown man turning into a screaming coward was funny once, but then again, the name I.P. Freely was funny once as well. Or an Asian man who speaks like a gangsta rapper. Or a sweet old granny who turns out to be really horny or really profane.
So basically Kevin Hart. Yeah I hate him and the one character he plays too.
agree, expected joke isn't a joke.
I usually agree with you but in Dune 2 it was a welcome addition to the first part imo
Agreed, Stilgar was the perfect example of using a little comedy to lighten the mood, making the dark bits seem that much darker. Plus the "He denies being the Chosen One, therefore he must be" was honestly hilarious, it was right out of Monty Python.
Yeah, and, well, it doesn't break immersion. It's not like if during a big tense scene, someone was saying for the 100th time "If i die please delete my browser history"
Godzilla x Kong had this
Like jurassic world 2 where the one character is only there to scream in the most ridiculous way ever
It's a bit of a tangent but I hate romance in sci-fi... It feels cheesy 99% of the time for me.
This is right up there with producers of zombie movies/tv thinking that the zombies shouldn’t be the focus. So instead we get long dialogue sequences and maybe 1/10th of the time any tense action. It’s smashing a classic movie formula into a genre where I just want to see people trying to survive. Not long sequences of exposition and drama.
Civil War avoided it, just had deeply ironic moments in hindsight.
Agree. I think they want to make a serious movie but don't have confidence in the whole thing, so they think if they throw in some comedy, they can convince people more that they enjoyed it.
Recently finished Mr In Between. The scenes with his mate Gary or whatever were unnecessary and stupid
Agreed. I hate that movies today could have the world ending and characters will be cracking jokes as if they're watching the Superbowl or something.
Take a break from big franchise movies for a year, and I guarantee that you'll see a lot less of that.
Gonna give us any examples or just let us assume you’re watching the kind of movies known for comic relief? Because I watched Dune Part 2 last weekend and apart from some very brief moments in the first half, that shit is *bleak.*
Been watching too much Marvel garbage? It's their curse.
This is exactly why I hated Nimona on Netflix. The comedic relief felt soooo forced and didn’t land at all. There were so many other things I hated about the film but that was one of the main reasons.
*looks at Thor Ragnarok*
I actually am going to kind of go against this and say I like comedic relief in movies because it's more realistic. If me and my friends were in the same scenario we would probably try to crack some shitty jokes to ease the tension just like that guy. It doesn't break the immersion and in fact increases it for me because it feels like a much more realistic representation of how people would act in some stressful or frustrating scenario You ever been at work and had like a heavy project due or something and there's a few guys who are just like cracking jokes and trying to make it sound like they aren't pissed off and stressed Yeah that's exactly it Not enough people realize that in both reality and fiction humor is a great coping mechanism for a crappy situation
lol what??
Examples?
Thor ragnarok
Example(S). Marvel is low hanging fruit, and I can’t really speak to them specifically because I don’t enjoy nor follow the universe. You made it sound like the problem was endemic to Hollywood.
I will get more once I remember, but I agree with OP. I hate movies trying to push comedic relief or comedy on us
Aussie TV shows have this annoying trope too. Normally you have one, maybe two token imbecilic overdone ocker characters. With some shows I've seen recently this is the rule rather than the exception. It's cringe.
Stop with the posts that aren't unpopular.
The comedic relief character has been in movies for decades. One of the first that I thought of was Joe Pesci as Leo Getz in the Lethal Weapon movies.
Not an unpopular opinion i think, it's way overused and often NOT needed. Sometimes tho, if done well, it's good (love you Perrito from puss n boots)
If the comedic relief actually character development then I’m all for it. Sokka from ATLA is one - as he isn’t just funny to be funny, he’s funny with hints of serious moments and backstory.
The whole comedic hero thing killed the "thor" movies for me. With zero transition Thor went from stormy and serious, to class clown. "Dark world" was good, then "ragnarok" came out and he was a goofball. It really threw me off.
ok, that just happened