T/S: John Hughes vs. Judd Apatow

glad ilx wasnt around when john candy died so you can still have all your teeth motherfucker

yr hard-on for John Candy notwithstanding

this phrase will be in my head for the rest of the day. internal rhyme!

Yes, in five years John Hughes will be the new Jean-Pierre Melville.

btw f&g is ok but not very funny sorry

(I love John Candy, fwiw)

anybody who thinks wonder years for the dot com era is somehow WAAAAY FUNNIER than planes trains & automobiles can suck my fucking dick

you're serious about this, obv

yeah its my posting to vagina threads about dildo repair

everybody needs a hook

Here you were being all articulate n shit and I was wondering when you would start having a tantrum x

The John Huges movies reflect their era: deliberately naive, awkward & unsophisticated. Lots of bright colors and simple characters - not much layering or irony. They're historical artifacts, in a time capsule, with all the distancing that goes along. Main thing is, we're not there anymore.

So it's unfair to stack 'em against Apatow's stuff, which is so contemporary. Maybe in 20 years I'll have enough perspective to see Apatow's movies as timebound relics, but right now, they seem perfectly in synch with the moment. Thus smart, knowing. And that's just how the JH movies seemed in the 80s.

I didn't think this was a fight about which one was funnier. If anything, the fact that F&G is more than just a funny TV show is why it's great.

That's because you know that Freaks and Geeks is THE BEST TV show about teens ever.

The John Huges movies reflect their era: deliberately naive, awkward & unsophisticated. Lots of bright colors and simple characters - not much layering or irony.

Oh, there's lots of irony in great eighties pop. But Hughes films weren't great pop.

I think they come from different vantages at adolescence. Apatow and crew come from an adult's perspective and asks us to remember high school, whereas Hughes comes from a middle-schooler's perspective and asks us to fantasize about high school.

there is definitely more of a fantasy element to Hughes' conception of high school - goes hand-in-hand with the simplified character archetypes ("the burnout, the geek, the jock, the princess, the weirdo" etc)

Keenan OTM. There's a fantasy element in Hughes, but it seems much more targeted at kids. Apatow's stuff seems targeted at adults.

comparing F&G to the Wonder Years is woefully unfair - Wonder Years was completely hobbled by its shitty voice-over and perpetual "I knew things would never be the same again" conclusions

But that's completely fair. It's part of the show.

just like the crappy half-hour sitcom formula writing and completely loathsome lead actor

I mean Freaks and Geeks NEVER did that "oh the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia" shit

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Events/5038/JohnFranci_Cohen_9856648_400.jpg?

Yeah me too.

I think they come from different vantages at adolescence. Apatow and crew come from an adult's perspective and asks us to remember high school, whereas Hughes comes from a middle-schooler's perspective and asks us to fantasize about high school.

I really like this.

Maybe in 20 years I'll have enough perspective to see Apatow's movies as timebound relics, but right now, they seem perfectly in synch with the moment. Thus smart, knowing. And that's just how the JH movies seemed in the 80s.

No Ferris Bueller, no It's Garry Shandling's Show.

well having just seen a bit of a Wonder Years episode last night let me give you an example - Kevin's gazing wistfully at his old playground. He sees three kids that look just like Paul and Winnie and him playing happily. Voiceover muses to himself how "things had changed, and they would never be the same again" - cut to him getting picked up by his hot teacher in her VW bug.

F&G never did any of this "oh my youth, where has it gone, I was so innocent then" kind of framing - it is much more conflicted about adolescence and none of the characters are ever given over to, or put in the service of, such nauseating faux-nostalgia. I defy anyone to name me a single episode where the main characters are wistfully depicted as innocent and happy.

x-post

ah, now I see what you mean by 'unfair' - Wonder is totally outclassed. You'd be right.

being unfunny & depressing = greatness

Kevin never had to run naked through the school. He never really learned what life is all about.

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:Z8K3FcXJVGBCfM:http://volcanocom.com/redskelton-gallerycom/ushop/images/IT71_CVisioneerDocumentsSadWhtFCln.jpg
comedy comes from pain ethan

and_what I'm beginning to see that you simply don't like life.

TS: "The Wonder Years" vs "Doogie Howser, MD"

does that include the pain of me having to watch ben stiller mug through his annoying self-help character on freaks & geeks?

Apatow and crew come from an adult's perspective and asks us to remember high school, whereas Hughes comes from a middle-schooler's perspective and asks us to fantasize about high school.

pls

Doogie. re Wonder: Shit was meaningful in the 60s. I get it. Get Cancer.

who wouldve thought a bunch of dudes who were young in the 80s would like a show about being young in the 80s more than being young in the 60s

"cancer" is the new "pwned"

Kenan - don't steal that from me. I'm living in a cardboard box and I need my own internet meme to feed my kids. Get Cancer.

who wouldve thought a bunch of dudes who were young in the 80s would like a show about being young in the 80s more than being young in the 60s

I was like 1 year old when Freaks and Geeks was supposed to have taken place.

Seth Rogen, well-informed adult, recommends 10 bourbon and oj's to a sick David Letterman - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG6nMfWkvI4&NR=1

I never actually saw "Freaks and Geeks" because the ad campaigns made it seem like the new standard bearer of the self-satisfied Joss Whedon template of storytelling without any of the fantasy elements that make the Whedon stories bearable/enjoyable.

who wouldve thought a bunch of dudes who were young in the 80s would like a show about being young in the 80s more than being young in the 60s

F&G takes place in 1980 (I was all of 7 years old). High school was '87-'91 for me, and trust me no one was driving around listening to Alice Cooper and Cheap Trick.

I think Harold And Kumar should have ended with Doogie coming home, going upstairs, and typing a nice little journal entry on what he did that day and what he learned.

Actually I haven't seen any Apatow movies either, now that I think about it. "Superbad" is the first one that I've really, REALLY wanted to see.

does that include the pain of me having to watch ben stiller mug through his annoying self-help character on freaks & geeks?

Ben Stiller played a Secret Service agent. Did you actually see this show?

lol, xxp

I was one in 1980 but shit was meaningful then.

uncle buck is great!

ferris is a smarmy asshole--that's why the movie is so fun. we get to identify with a smarmy asshole...it's cathartic. no one is supposed to go out and BE LIKE ferris.

Thank you ryan. See the rest of you? You know what I'm going to say.

i mean, film morality != real world morality.