MovieChat Forums > The Apartment (1960) Discussion > I mean, top 100, really??

I mean, top 100, really??

posted 11 years ago by marax-4
64 replies | jump to latest

Please explain what is so funny about this film, cause I didnt find it hilarious at all.

I mean, top 100, really??

Some people said that it is not possible to do a remake of this "brilliant" film. Well I've got news for you folks: it has been done. A lot of them. Starring Owen Wilson or Adam Sandler in the main role, and you'll probably catch it on a saturday afternoon in the generalist channels.

I mean, come on!! It just isnt funny, it's just a predictable romance film!

that's it.

[–] ecarle 11 years ago

Who ever said it was a comedy?

The reason there are so many like it(plot-wise, at least) with Wilson and Sandler is that it was the template for them.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] haldurgz 9 years ago

There's a fine line between drama and melodrama, and one way to avoid it is to break up the darkness with occasional lighter moments. It's a keystone of drama -- the best writers do not let their stories descend into melodrama.

BTW, the reason I came to this movie on IMDB this evening is because I just read this article -- you may want to read it to at least get another point of view. Obviously, you didn't get much out of this movie, so you may want to read it to see what others see in it: http://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/30-minutes-on-the-apartment

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] JasonIK75 8 years ago

ecarle typed:

Who ever said it was a comedy?

THIS WEBSITE said it was a comedy. It isn't.

"May the Force be with you."

http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/jasonsite/gsteele.html

[–] ecarle 8 years ago

ecarle typed:

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Who ever said it was a comedy?
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THIS WEBSITE said it was a comedy.

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Well then this website is wrong. But certainly parts of it are a comedy. The "Grand Hotel on TV" scene. The long bit where Baxter has to keep moving around all the "apartment sex bookings" of his various bosses in one long phone call to all of them. Etc.

--

It isn't.

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Nope. Its a "dramaedy," I guess. But my theory is that some of the greatest movies mix their genres. Psycho, for instance is a mix of horror movie/thriller/noir/black comedy. Jaws is a mix of horror movie/thriller/seafaring adventure/buddy movie/comedy. The Apartment is a social satire/drama/comedy/love story. With an air of melancholy -- it is not a tragedy, but it skirts with that.

And so forth and so on.

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"May the Force be with you."

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And with you!

[–] westal_sage 11 years ago

OK, ummm, name me one movie with that wilson goof or sandler that holds a candle to The Apartment. Here's a hint - this is a trick question.

[–] zhu_bernard 10 years ago

I think he meant Jack-wise Jill-wise or whatever Sandler-wise

[–] paul_cowsill 9 years ago

Yes, that's true, but he was good besides himself in Punch Drunk Love (for which P.T. Anderson won best director at the Cannes Film Festival).

I'm sorry the Coen brothers don't direct the porn I watch. They're hard to get ahold of, okay?

[–] landrynumbertwo 11 years ago

Writing, acting and directing is far superior to everything Sandler and Wilson have done.

My website
www.themoviedistrict.com

[–] ecarle 11 years ago

Really!

[–] KTope 11 years ago

I believe you're forgetting 'Punch-Drunk Love', but your point remains valid.

[–] Tristan_Carter44 10 years ago

Punch Drunk Love is by far Adam Sandler's best movie. Owen Wilson has also had some great movies with Wes Anderson. Royal Tenenbaums, Bottle Rocket, Grand Budapest, etc.

[–] Strazdamonas 8 years ago

Yes, but then a peace of cow turn is far superior to everything Sandler and Wilson have done, so thats hardly a compliment.

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Resistance is impolite, Friendship is mandatory.

[–] heyuactor 11 years ago

...I didnt find it hilarious at all.

Because it's more a drama than a comedy. You need to care about what the characters are going through in order to appreciate it. If you find it 'predictable' you certainly can't think of it as excellent, as many of us do.

It's a special mixture of fun, romance, dramatic complications and a stellar Lemmon performance. Maybe you would find Some Like it Hot more hilarious (although that has a similar mixture). Try it.

"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne.

[–] amolad-1 10 years ago

My god, you must be twelve.

The fact that this movie won five of the ten Oscars it was nominated for should have clued you in to something.

When you win for Best Picture, Best Director, and especially Best Screenplay, you should know that you're dealing with something of rare quality here.

[–] JacintoCupboard 9 years ago

So if someone has a different take on something to yourself you infantilise them?

I also think the movie is less than ordinary. Imo it isn't funny. The treatment of gender issues is offensive to modern minds, and is cringeworthy regardless. The entire plot is insensible. The ethnic stereotypes, appalling.

There is no shortage of Oscar wins that leave people wondering how it happened. Not that one needs to have ones tastes validated by awards.

At heart this is a film about people hurting each other, and presents this to an audience for laughs. Comedy for mature people? I think not. As drama it falls flat as well, because no one seems to learn anything here. The principals survive their own idiocy and that's about it. But neither of them has a job or a place to live, which, amazingly, is where the film delivers us at the end. Satisfying drama it is not.

All of which might be forgiven if this movie had the sparkling dialogue or sprightly storytelling we see in Ernst Lubitsch's catalog. But it doesn't. I thought it was tedious, and, like the OP, I am perfectly entitled to say so.

[–] Strazdamonas 8 years ago

The twelve year old one here is you - thinking a group of old men is a measure of everyone's taste in movies.

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Resistance is impolite, Friendship is mandatory.

[–] DracTarashV 10 years ago

Yes, really.

Hey there, Johnny Boy, I hope you fry!

[–] fanslayer 10 years ago

I agree, it shouldn't be in top 100. Good directing and performance but nothing special. Nothing funny either. In fact, I found it dissapointing whenever there was a suppossed act of suicide but it turned out to be something else ... they made it look like that sufferings throughout this movie weren't sufficient enough for suicide. Typical romance film.

I exist.

[–] Acg8 10 years ago

Any one who starts a sentence with "I mean," and ends it with "really" isn't worth taking seriously. You know what's REALLY not funny? Using the inquisitive form of really as a punchline. Your entire post is just one long stream of verbal cliches.
Disgusting.