It's a good time as any to remind everyone that The Jerk is still one of the funniest movies ever made. It could never be made today, and I suggest you pick up a copy if you've never seen it.
My Cousin Vinnie is an example that holds up still. No current events, no racist jokes, just typical social interactions that are still relevant.
It's also in how you watch things. I sometimes catch old films in the theatre and the room is filled with laughter. I was belly laughing to The Palm Beach Story (Sturges, 1942). Heck, I've been to see Shakespeare where everyone's laughing.
Steve Martin's comedy in general isn't funny anymore for me. I listened to his 70s albums which I found hilarious when I was a kid. Nothing about them is funny anymore. The jokes themselves aren't funny. It's only the delivery that made them funny and that style of delivery doesn't work anymore. He's been in some great movies, some of which are comedies and still funny but his own stand up comedy isn't anymore, at least for me.
> Why not?
M. Emmett Walsh, Carl Reiner, Maurice Evans and Jackie Mason are all dead, for one reason.
> The Jerk (1979) "For Theater Owners Only" Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GZMbj8dt1o
It’s hard to be this bad intentionally, and it somehow wraps around to being good again, and that’s knowing it’s an ad and the premise is suspect. Steve Martin is that good.
It raises an interesting point that I’ll put to the projectionists of HN:
Were there really trailers intended for the theater owners only? It seems absurd on its face, but I’m willing to believe that it’s been tried before, and definitely has since. I mean, ad targeting already exists, but it was probably a bit harder to do back in the day.
That’s enough for this content hole.
OTOH it was a moderately-budgeted, somewhat clever comedy, those have trouble getting made today.