Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Measuring Comedy.

In response to sleepy e's question about the maximum length for comedies, I post the following list. It appears that the ceiling is about 2 hours, though there are some that balloon to gargantuan proportions. Counterintuitive, signifying nothing, and I sat around and did this research together, arguing all the while if a lengthier film correlated with flabby pacing (I say yes, counterintuitive isn't so sure). The list:

Annie Hall 93 min.
Rushmore 93 min.
The Opposite of Sex 105 min.
There’s Something About Mary 119 min.
Me, Myself, and Irene 116 min.
The Wedding Crashers 119 min.
Bowfinger 97 min.
I Heart Huckabees 106 min.
Heathers 102 min.
Lost in Translation 102 min.
Groundhog Day 101 min.
Raising Arizona 94 min.
Young Frankenstein 106 min.
Bringing Up Baby 102 min.
Some Like It Hot 120 min.
A Night at the Opera 93 min.
Duck Soup 68 min.
Royal Tenenbaums 109 min.
Bottle Rocket 93 min.
Blazing Saddles 93 min.
Dumb & Dumber 107 min.
Kingpin 113 min.
Lost in America 91 min.
Tampopo 114 min.
Pink Panther Returns 113 min.
Dr. Strangelove 93 min.
The Jerk 94 min.
As Good as it Gets 139 min.
Airplane! 88 min.
Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Forum 99 min.
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World 192 min.
The Producers (Mel Brooks version) 88 min.
The Producers (2005 version) 138 min.
The Gold Rush 88 min. (24 fps)
Home Alone 103 min.
Sixteen Candles 93 min.
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles 93 min.
Tommy Boy 97 min.
Uncle Buck 100 min.
Midnight Run 126 min.
What about Bob? 99 min.
Ghostbusters 107 min.
Shaun of the Dead 99 min.
The Van 100 min.
Full Monty 91 min.
Millions 98 min.
The Snapper 87 min.
Goodbye, Lenin! 121 min.

5 comments:

  1. So it seems like under 2 hours or over 3 is the deal...Thanks for the incredible research!

    ReplyDelete
  2. maybe over three hours the audience gets delirious to the point that anything is funny?

    ReplyDelete
  3. yeah I was rolling in the isles when I saw Schindler's list.

    Wait three beats.

    Laugh.

    (It really is ok if you laugh.)

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails