''This was a laugh-out-loud film!''

Reading your comment made me remember taking my teen children to see
"Zoolander" in a small west Texas town, to a packed theatre, and we were
the ONLY ones laughing out loud. Still can't believe the rest of that
audience didnt see the humor in that one....we still find it hilarious.
p.s. LOL :)

That's because there are a lot of films now which are labelled comedy but aren't laughable at. So laughing at a comedy these days has become a happy exception.

Also, you said you've laughed so hard that you didn't make any sound. Nice. Lots of laughter, and considerate ones, too. Hope you weren't choking. Or perhaps you were laughing on the inside (that's a line, but I don't remember the movie now).

Just for the laughs.

We can't be lost; we don't know where we're going.
All that matters is that we're going.

Haven't you ever laughed where you started out normally and then doubled over until you were still laughing but went silent until you inhaled?



"There will be blood. Oh, yes! There will be blood."-Jigsaw; "Saw II"

I'm doing it now.
Anyway, yours is a very technical view on laughing. First, I don't laugh to be heard, and second, not every comedy makes you ROFL, there are subtler ones, too. So you may smirk, grin and so on, and that would still be a comedy.

We can't be lost; we don't know where we're going.
All that matters is that we're going.

But why point out that it's "laugh out loud funny"? To me, it's either funny or not. Decibels of laughter shouldn't enter into it.



"There will be blood. Oh, yes! There will be blood."-Jigsaw; "Saw II"

I am of the opinion that laugh out loud funny should only apply if you are alone...no one in the room but yourself..and you laugh out loud period. It cannot be measured properly with a crowd. Laughter can be contagious in a group. This is why older TV sit-com's (MASH for example) contain canned laugh tracks to cue the viewer. Newer sit-com's use a live studio audience to achieve the same result for the viewer at home on the couch. This is my barometer.

The most recent movie to make me laugh out loud was Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa. The only caveat is my wife watched it with me. My litmus test applies from above because she laughs at almost nothing. It is like I am alone in the room. I will watch something and laugh while she will say "this is stupid" or just stay quiet and mute. She is damned near humorless......but not with this one. Remarkably, couldn't catch her breath at times.

No, nuh-uh. Oh wait... was she a great big fat person?

Canned laugh has the opposite effect on me. What are they thinking, we needed to be told when to laugh?

We can't be lost; we don't know where we're going.
All that matters is that we're going.

I don't need a laugh track or studio audience to cue me to laugh. Not that I have anything against them, but I'm glad there are now so many sitcoms that have no audible laughs.



"There will be blood. Oh, yes! There will be blood."-Jigsaw; "Saw II"