Guys who write for movie blogs can be such humourless pricks (sorry, guys!) – at least when it comes to recognizing funny female performers. The latest outrage?
Just three (!) comic roles featuring women were deemed memorable enough to make the grade in The Screengrab’s recent list of the 35 funniest movie characters of all time: Alyson Hannigan as Michelle Flaherty in American Pie, which I haven’t seen (but the clip they’ve included is awful), Chloris Leachman as Frau Blucher in Young Frankenstein, and Parker Posey (Darla) in Dazed and Confused. Just these three were deemed for-the-ages funny and Leachman had to share the distinction with the decidedly Y-chromosome-bearing Gene Hackman.
Really, Screengrab? Really? Those are the funniest movie characters of all time who happen to be women? Nobody else springs to mind?To be honest, they’ve run this weekly best-of-movie-lists-with-clips feature every week for a long time now, and it’s likely they’re just running out of inspiration. Their hard-working writers have mined their collective movie-going memory-banks too many times in order to feed the beast, and understandably the well’s getting dry.
But still. This time, it’s as if they drew up the initial list of 35 and realized there weren’t any female characters on it, then quickly cobbled together a couple of female names, expanding it to 38 rather than cut any previous choices to bring it down to 35 again – who could be bothered?
At least I hope that’s the reason. Otherwise, I’m forced to conclude that most of the movie blog writers out there are utterly tone deaf when it comes to funny women.
As with their previous best lists, Screengrab writers overwhelmingly turned to male characters, choosing to single out Bill Murray (Jeff Slater) in Tootsie, Steve Martin in The Jerk and a host of other movie men. Without doubt, there are worthy names on the list, from twice-listed Peter Sellers as Hrundi V. Bakshi, the lead character in The Party and as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau in 1964’s A Shot in the Dark.And nobody can argue with the classic John Belushi role as Bluto in the beloved frat-boy farce, Animal House, or Paul Reubens as the chirping, skinny-suited, apple-cheeked child-man, Pee Wee Herman in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, and the ultimate high school stoner, Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Other funny characters include Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen), Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski/Bridges and the psychopathic, Neiztche-quoting diamond thief Otto (Kevin Kline) in A Fish Called Wanda. (Without Jamie Lee Curtis as the title character and his capable comic foil, it’s hard to imagine Kline’s character having the same staying power. Just saying.)
But the inclusion of “Michael”, Jeff Goldblum’s bespectacled, pervy People Magazine flack in The Big Chill is a real head-scratcher – hello: he’s the only male college pal Mary Kay Place’s needy, Yuppie, baby-lusting single careerwoman doesn’t hit up for sperm – as is the decision to single out Will Farrell’s unlikable starring role as the egotistical title character in the disappointing Taledega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby.
Good, But Are They Classic? entries include Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider (specifically, was his character “funny?”), Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation – not the more worthy Vacation, for some reason – and Albert Brooks in Real Life.
The seven-part list ventures into the Golden Age of cinema, where there’s lots of worthy characters to consider, such as various Marx Brothers contributions, but includes just one mention of Cary Grant – for Walter Burns in His Girl Friday.
It’s here that it becomes painfully clear the list-makers have have somehow failed to include a single one of Grant’s many female co-stars, not even Irene Dunne (My Favourite Wife, The Awful Truth) or, uh, the “girl” in His Girl Friday, Rosalind Russell (Hildy).
Ok, so maybe they were thinking of iconic characters, not merely memorable performances. I can get behind that. But how to separate the actor from the role? Isn’t the hallmark of an iconic role the fact that it’s impossible to imagine anyone else playing the part, no matter how talented?
At any rate, I can think of plenty of funny female characters in Movieland who have earned iconic status – people who will be remembered long after the Ricky Bobbies and (sorry, man) Jeff Slaters of the screen might well be consigned to the dustbin of movie history.
(In no particular order:)
Jamie Lee Curtis, Wanda, in A Fish Called Wanda
Holly Hunter, Ed, in Raising Arizona.
Tatum O’Neal, Addie Loggins, in Paper Moon
Diane Keaton, Annie, in Annie Hall, (also good in mommy-track send-up Baby Boom)
Meryl Streep, Miranda Priestley, the Devil Wears Prada
Susan Sarandon, Annie, Bull Durham
Goldie Hawn, Judy Benjamin, Private Benjamin
Melinda Dillon, Ralphie’s mom (Mrs. Parker) in A Christmas Story
Reese Witherspoon, Tracy Flick, Election
Renee Zellweger, Bridget, Bridget Jones’s Diary
Drew Barrymore, Julia, The Wedding Singer. (Remember her crying after trying out her potential married name, “Mrs. Julia Gulia”? Come to think of it, they left Adam Sandler off this list. My god. What kind of people write for this Screengrab anyway?
Thora Birch, Enid, Ghost World
Ellen Page, Juno
Laura Dern, Ruth Stoops, Citizen Ruth
Etc.
On a related note, I came across this blog post about women’s roles in general and how they’ve changed from the ’70s and ’80s.
One thing I really noticed about the comedy is that Hollywood seems to have taken a giant step back in time when relating to today’s young women. Where are the strong dames like the ones Meryl played? Or Sally Field in Norma Rae and Places in the Heart… Diane Keaton in Annie Hall and Reds… Holly Hunter in Raising Arizona and Broadcast News… Sigourney Weaver in Aliens and Working Girl… Faye Dunaway in Chinatown and Network?
You get the idea. In the last couple of years, a lot of films claiming to promote “Girl Power” were really updated Cinderella stories with the happy ending coming when she gets the cute guy and new wardrobe.
– Letters From Bobby, posting June 06
Granted, when you think of the types of comedies that are getting made lately, you realize they’re overpopulated by lots of lovable schlubs with bong-guts and the nagging harpies who criticize them. But god help anyone who questions that winning formula. Remember the furor that erupted when Knocked Up’s Katherine Heigl found the movie “a little sexist”?
And it doesn’t help when rom coms and other movies written purposely as vehicles for female comic stars are so unbelievably bad and unfunny. Jane Fonda’s long-awaited return to the silver screen was in the truly repugnant Monster-in-Law, a movie that was so unfunny and such a waste of talent it should be classified as a crime against humanity. I didn’t really care for Sex in the City’s big screen debut, either, although it was refreshing to see so many women in a movie for a change: the characters were reduced to harsh, cartoonish stereotype versions of the women we knew and had once laughed so knowingly with. Such a betrayal!
Of course, well-written, funny, memorable female characters rule on television in sketch comedies, sitcoms, and shows. That’s a whole new topic. Meanwhile, here’s an item by Alex Remington in the HuffPo: The Funniest Woman in the World.
It’s about Catherine O’Hara – a wonderful actress who’s created dozens of memorable characters on film and TV, although my favourite might be her frazzled housewife in the SCTV detergent commercial. “I…like…Sunbright.”
