I managed to see two films in the theatre two weekends ago. When my boyfriend suggested we see FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (because, as he said, it was a "chick flick"), I declined. Not just because it was actually more of a dick flick, or at least a hermaphrodite flick, but because I wasn't in the mood for another KNOCKED UP, especially one whose keywords on IMDB include "blow job."
"No," I told my boyfriend, "I want to see HAROLD & KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY." This may seem like an odd choice, but I wanted something that wouldn't have so much forced romance amid the gross stuff. I wanted something with a little more Neil Patrick Harris. I had been pleasantly surprised by HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE. Why not spend a little time with them in a cold theatre on a Saturday afternoon?
Of course, there was another low comedy coming out that weekend: BABY MAMA. Most of the people I knew were relatively excited about HAROLD & KUMAR, but were reticent about BABY MAMA. I found myself feeling the same way, although I'm fond of both Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. As a comedian, I was particularly struck when one of my friends said she hoped BABY MAMA did well, if only for the fight to prove that women are funny.
So we put together a group and went to see BABY MAMA on Sunday. The juxtaposition of the two films got me thinking about comedy and gender and gross out humor.
Now, I'm biased. I am a comedian. So when people say women aren't funny, it's a personal insult. This idea is ingrained in today's culture. Christopher Hitchens, who has said some intriguing things about religion (with which I mostly agree), has also said that women simply aren't funny. I'm not sure if he's sexist or if he has a warped sense of humor or if he just doesn't know any funny women, but he's wrong.
Part of the problem, of course, is that some men don't actually want women to be funny. As Margaret Atwood has noted, 
Fey doesn't get to pretend she's too nerdy to be hot anymore |
|
female humor is vaguely threatening to men. If we are perceived as capable of making fun of things effectively, mightn't we turn that power against the men, their penises, and their sexual prowess? The most effective weapon against the attentions of an unwanted penis is laughter, after all.
It has also been my experience that men want to be the funny one in a relationship. While women often cite a sense of humor as a requirement in a sexy man, men rarely cite that requirement for women. In fact, men who do request a woman with a sense of humor usually want a woman who can appreciate their humor, not a woman who makes her own jokes. In other words, men want women who will laugh at their fart jokes, but not women who expect the same. Farting women are not mysterious, and not sexy.
Sarah Silverman goes against the common stereotype that funny women can't be sexy. Or at least her boyfriend, Jimmy Kimmel, must think so. She has succeeded where many women have failed—she is sometimes gross and uses the type of embodied humor usually reserved for men. I can't say that I've done as well. Two male friends in the same week suggested I didn't do a joke about a mole on my back. They told me that since I was pretty, I shouldn't talk about moles—that men didn't want the female body to be discussed this way. "A guy could tell that joke," they said.
In terms of low humor, HAROLD & KUMAR and BABY MAMA are similar (spoilers follow). Both films are about quests. Harold and Kumar are in search of pot/girls; Kate (Tina Fey) is in search of a baby. Obstacles are thrown in their way. Both films are primarily buddy films, though both see fit to attempt romance as well. In fact, HAROLD & KUMAR is more invested in romance, as it ends with both leads getting a girl, whereas the end of BABY MAMA only has Kate paired up. It wisely leaves Angie (Amy Poehler) single, because her romantic interest in the film is a 
This is what the whole movie is really about |
|
bad idea.
Ultimately, both of these films are THE ODD COUPLE all over again. Harold wants to kill Kumar, rightly, through most of the film. He is uptight; Kumar is overly loose (this is all relative; Harold's uptightness comes in knowing when it's appropriate to smoke pot and when it's not). The first few scenes set it all up—Harold believes in bathroom privacy; his room is neat. Kumar, in the first five minutes, treats us to a messy room, violent diarrhea, a cum shot (on his own face), a spit take, and shoe sludge.
Kate and Angie are also opposites (who also come to live together), though we don't meet Angie right away. Instead, we see Kate discussing her "choices"—to succeed in business rather than love and family (this somewhat contradicts her later statement that when she was a young professional, she didn't want children—which would have negated part of the choice) and learn that her uterus is unlikable.
Both of the films manage to undermine stereotypes while simultaneously using those stereotypes for comic effect. In HAROLD & KUMAR, stereotypes of race and culture (including white trash/Southern culture) are beautifully explored as the boys are both victims and perpetrators of stereotyping. Unfortunately, the homophobic jokes so popular in this type of film (prison rape, etc) go largely unexamined, with the exception of a moment in which a man demanding sexual servicing complains about the "homosexuality" of the unwilling servicers.
Similarly, BABY MAMA looks at issues of class. While Kate is unwilling to rent the womb of a poor, foreign woman of color, she does not balk at using the services of a poor, white American. Much of the comedy centers around the difference in behaviors and tastes between classes. So does much of the angst. One character reminds us that Kate is wrong to call Angie white trash, no matter what Angie has done. Ageism is alive and well, though, as Kate and Angie 
I love them both |
|
are united in their disgust of Chaffee's (Sigourney Weaver) pregnancy.
The lack of homophobia in BABY MAMA is exemplified in one moment when Kate and Angie, who go to birthing classes together, are mistaken for a lesbian couple. Their quick denial is not about homophobia—they just don't like each other, and don't want to be considered the "partner" of the other. The fact that they don't push the issue illustrates that they aren't overly sensitive to being marked as homosexual.
Part of the reason I avoided BABY MAMA for a day was that I'm not invested in texts on motherhood. Comedies that focus on the trials of getting pregnant and being pregnant are often clichéd. And I am so sick of the stay-at-home/working mother "choices" fight that I avoid it as much as I avoid getting pregnant (1).
The supporting cast made up for my reservations about the subject matter. Sigourney Weaver's comic timing and delivery are amazing; she steals every scene she's in. Steve Martin's character ranks among his very best. You can actually picture him running barefoot through the Toronto Airport when he talks about it. Maura Tierney, Dax Shepard, Greg Kinnear, and Romany Malco are vibrant.
On the other hand, HAROLD & KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY has Neil Patrick Harris and . . . um . . . it has Neil Patrick Harris. And a guy who sounds like, but does not look like, George Bush.
Overall, the films aren't that different. "Toilet" is one of the keywords for BABY MAMA; "Toilet Paper" will take you to HAROLD & KUMAR. I saw more pubic hair, vaginas, tits, penises in HAROLD & KUMAR. It was gross and it was funny. But the final score is that I cringed more during HAROLD & KUMAR; I laughed more during BABY MAMA.
If any character in HAROLD & KUMAR had asked, "Is that chocolate or poop?" and then done a taste test, it would have been poop. But I can do without that. I prefer chocolate.
(1) I wear an IUD for both.
 email this column to a friend
|
| Comedies with Dr. Karma |
Every other Wednesday
Dr. Karma discusses all things comic, from the classics to what may become classics. Laugh with, but not at, her, please.
|
| Karma Waltonen |
Dr. Karma is a silly, nerdy know-it-all, but in a good way. She brings all her overeducation to discuss that which truly matters: comedy. As some famous guy once said: “And if I laugh at any mortal thing, ‘tis that I may not weep.” Or something like that.
|
| Contact |
If you have a comment, question, or suggestion, you can send a message to Karma Waltonen by clicking here.
|
|
