Average Joe Critics

I was reading some reviews the other day on the film "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang," one of my personal favorite comedies. One young man wrote a review, which was decent for the most part, but then toward the very end, he undid everything he previously wrote by saying, "I didn't get it." Now, I'll be honest, I get a little tired of people accusing others who dislike a movie they enjoyed of "not getting it," but for a person to actually be up-front and honest and actually state that they didn't understand the film? That's something entirely different.

It's one thing to not understand a David Lynch film, as sometimes, I wonder if he even understands them. I enjoy the films tremendously, and after viewing them a few times, gain a much clearer understanding of what all he was attempting to illustrate throughout the course of his films, but I have trouble understanding why some people have such difficulty in comprehending dark comedies and satires. It seems as though some individuals have an extremely difficult time in differentiating the serious from the comedic. Films such as "The Naked Gun" and more recently, "Hot Fuzz" are very comedic in nature. But, what is it they're attempting to depict or attempting to mock? American buddy cop films. My brother was confused by "Hot Fuzz," in not understanding why it was, as it stated, "so stupid." It's making fun of American buddy cop films. It's supposed to be "stupid." That was the creators' intention. These films are not to be taken seriously. The same is true of "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang." The film is attempting to make fun of James Bond-type flicks. Where in such a "serious" film would there be a character by the name of Gay Perry? Would a man accidentally urinate on a dead body, out of shock? Would a cop refer to his hidden weapon as his "faggot gun"? Would Abraham Lincoln and Elvis Presley come back from the dead? Give me a break. The same can be said of the other two films I mentioned. I don't know too many American cop films that feature a love-making scene where the cop and his partner are protected by full body condoms, where the cop burns a rich man's house/apartment/room and then appears to threaten a woman with a concrete dildo, etc. These are not serious films. They attempt to mock what is usually a serious genre with humor and stupidity.

While I get a tad agitated by those accusing others of "not getting it" when they dislike a film the other enjoys, I also find it rather sad when a person actually admits to not understanding a film, especially ones whose purpose is to make the viewers laugh. One doesn't have to like every film they view, but if they don't understand it, chances are, they're not going to like it.