Underrated Movie Comedy Franchises

[Orang Utan]

I love all the National Lampoon Vacation movies. i don't believe the critics did though and another poster on here doesn't think much of them.
i think they're perfect comedy vehicle - they have a genial family with a hapless dad with very convincing characters. they have a lot of unsophisticated slapstick and the road movie format leads to all sorts of absurd situations that are comedy gold. they also have the odd titillating moment that is warranted in these kind of comedies. tis like a warmer, less cynical american pie, but family centred instead of based on a bunch of mates.
i think the american pie series is underrated too, but it suffers from the law of diminishing returns.
many people don't have much of a tolerance for these kinds of films, but they make me laugh and they're nearly always sweet-natured, which makes a change from the grim, sarcastic, glib humour of a lot of recent films.

 

[Orang Utan]

i also like the naked gun and airplane franchises but i guess the latter is not underrated.
the characters in smoky and the bandit made it to 3 films, so i guess that's a franchise as well. i doubt these films are well rated but i still love watching them when they're on the telly.

 

[DotCommunist]

Porky's had a few shit sequels iirc

 

[Orang Utan]

oops c&ped a title i found on wiki by mistake

 

[Orang Utan]

i also am fond of the deuce bigalow movies, though i wouldn't say they were underrated, just underappreciated.
all movies starring rob schneider are almost a franchise, as they tend to follow a format as south park so brilliantly parodies in the biggest douchebag in the world eg rob schneider in the stapler as well as the carrot, and da a derp de derp da teetley derpee derpee dumb.

 

[DotCommunist]

Police Academy

 

[butchersapron]

It's a cliche, but there's so many good things in the carry on series form the late 50s to early 70s. Some brilliant writing and characters.

Even Mutiny on the buses and Holiday on the buses had stuff.

 

[Orang Utan]

Porky's had a few shit sequels iirc

were they wrongly rated though? were they funny? did most people think they were shit? the original doesn't stand up these days. i watched it again on film4 recently and it was crap - only mildly titillating but unfortunately the jokes aren't funny anymore so the overt chauvinism is unrelieved and you realise how morally bankrupt it is.

 

[DotCommunist]

were they wrongly rated though? were they funny? did most people think they were shit? the original doesn't stand up these days. i watched it again on film4 recently and it was crap - only mildly titillating but unfortunately the jokes aren't funny anymore so the overt chauvinism is unrelieved and you realise how morally bankrupt it is.

I laughed when the horny teenager stuck his cock through the spy hole into the girls shower and got it near tore off by the ugly matron. Which is odd cos I despise frat-boy comedy shit that this was heir to.

 

[Orang Utan]

It's a cliche, but there's so many good things in the carry on series form the late 50s to early 70s. Some brilliant writing and characters.

Even Mutiny on the buses and Holiday on the buses had stuff.

i liked watching those. my parents disapproved though, so we had to resort to clandestine means to watch them. up the khyber is brilliant. you could even call it a work of satire if you felt the need to 'elevate' it from a merey funny film. you could call all of them satires i suppose, though they are not regarded as so, are they?


i never watched on the buses. probably cos it was on itv and it stoked my parents' fear of and bafflement with the working classes and their humour. they were always a bit snobby about that sort of thing, with the exception of steptoe and son. maybe it reassured them that the working classes were as disgusting as they thought, reduced to selfish wanton and cruel animals by the daily grind.

 

[Orang Utan]

Police Academy

funny at first but they got proper shit. way too chauvinist for modern tastes too. the homophobia and racism grates too much now, so they'll never be timeless classics

 

[Orang Utan]

i've never seen a pauly shore movie. he looks like he may be a predecessor to rob schneider in the low rent douchebaggetshimselfintoanimplausiblecrasshighconceptsituationthengetsunobtainablewomanbypretendingtobejustatinybitlessofadouchebag comedy subgenre.
anyone seen any of his films? i suspect even i would find much to enjoy in them, but i thought that about rob schneider.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I saw Jury Duty which wasn't that bad for that sort of thing.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Oh, and I liked the first two NL Vacation movies, but really wasn't so keen after that. The first two are really good, though.

As for Porky's, I do really like the first one, but only recently saw the two sequels. Neither struck me as being much cop. The second film doesn't even feature Porky or Porky's in any way at all, and could have been set at any high school. The third one could was dire too.

 

[Orang Utan]

anyone care/dare to praise the pink panther franchise? the steve martin one that is.
and has anyone actually watched a non-scary movie movie such as epic movie, date movie, dance movie?

 

[DotCommunist]

Meet the Fockers was pretty dire.

 

[Orang Utan]

Oh, and I liked the first two NL Vacation movies, but really wasn't so keen after that. The first two are really good, though.

As for Porky's, I do really like the first one, but only recently saw the two sequels. Neither struck me as being much cop. The second film doesn't even feature Porky or Porky's in any way at all, and could have been set at any high school. The third one could was dire too.

i have vague memories of a porky's rip off called lemon popsicle but can only vaguely remember a spot of brief voyeuristic nudity, which i guess is the kind of nudity that a teenage boy is most used to. which i guess is why it's so common in those kind of films.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

as epic movie, date movie, dance movie?

Nanker Jnr watches these - I find it hard to forgive.

He may have to leave home soon

On the other hand, he did write a review of the Godfather in his English Class recently.

He's 12.

 

[Orang Utan]

Meet the Fockers was pretty dire.

they had good characters but not enough funny moments - a wasted opportunity, esp for dustin hoffman's character. there's a comedy goldmine in there somewhere

 

[Orang Utan]

I saw Jury Duty which wasn't that bad for that sort of thing.

you can guess the plot from the title.

 

[DaveCinzano]

you can guess the plot from the title.

Which, TBH, is something I rather miss in too many of today's films.

 

[DJ Squelch]

It's a cliche, but there's so many good things in the carry on series form the late 50s to early 70s. Some brilliant writing and characters.

Even Mutiny on the buses and Holiday on the buses had stuff.

I like the Doctor In.. UK series from the 50s , Doctor In Trouble, Doctor In Clover, Doctor In Love etc. Kind of of a sub Carry On films with James Robertson-Justice, Leslie Philips etc. Good british fun.

 

[marty21]

I like the American Pie movies, I think they've made about 6, 3 with the original cast, now beibng made with 'relatives' of the originals, can't help watching them when they are on the telly

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I like the American Pie movies, I think they've made about 6, 3 with the original cast, now beibng made with 'relatives' of the originals, can't help watching them when they are on the telly

You just wanna see young pert boobies.

 

[butchersapron]

I like the American Pie movies, I think they've made about 6, 3 with the original cast, now beibng made with 'relatives' of the originals, can't help watching them when they are on the telly

Cheers for that Confessions Of box set. Send back soon.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Cheers for that Confessions Of box set. Send back soon.

A fine array of British Actresses disrobed for those films.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

....and then there was old Barry Evans in the Adventures of... films

 

[butchersapron]

The's an Italian analogue with the character fantozzi -it makes Robin Asquith an olivier.

edit: sorry for trying to say analogue, ideas above my station

 

[Nanker Phelge]

On IMBD under Adventures of a Taxi Driver someone has rated the film 10 stars with the comments:

This is far better than the inferior 'Taxi Driver' film, also made in 1976, with which it is often unfortunately confused.

 

[marty21]

You just wanna see young pert boobies.

nothing wrong with that