The other day, an ad came on TV for the DVD/Blu-ray release of The Hangover. Near the end of the ad, the commercial referred to the movie as the “Biggest Comedy Ever.”
At first, I was appalled by this statement. I saw The Hangover in the theater, and I liked it and laughed a lot, but by no means did I think it came close to being the biggest comedy ever.
I balked at this commercial’s statement, and I then started to wonder out loud what I thought the biggest comedy ever was. Before I could even come up with a challenger to the title, my wife says, “That’s not even quantifiable.”
My thoughts stopped before I could mention recent comedies like Old School or Wedding Crashers because she was right. Calling it the biggest comedy ever is just marketing fluff to try to get you to buy the movie. The statement is illogical on two counts.
First, the idea of the biggest comedy ever is completely subjective. My opinions on comedies are certainly not the same as everyone else’s, so if I didn’t think the latest Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler movie was as hilarious as you, to each their own. The commercial could claim that The Hangover was “the best movie my friend’s 16-year-old brother had ever seen,” and it would mean about as much as calling it the biggest comedy ever.
Secondly, what does biggest comedy ever even mean? What does “biggest” refer to? Highest ticket sales, largest budget, most cast members? Without even researching the numbers, I can make a good assumption that none of those are true of The Hangover. Maybe the advertisement was trying to make me believe that The Hangover would provide the biggest laughs of any comedy, but once again, that’s pure opinion.
So instead of starting my internal debate over what was the biggest comedy ever, this commercial made me upset at the inherently poor choices made by generic advertising. Neither option led me to the purpose of the advertisement, which was to want to buy the movie.
All that being said, what do you think is the biggest comedy ever? 🙂
My “Biggest Comedies Ever” in no particular order:
– “Spaceballs” (I loved it when I was a kid, and I still know all the lines.)
– “Zoolander” (I didn’t see this one coming, but it’s hysterical!)
– “Starsky & Hutch” (Neck and neck with “Zoolander”)
Honorable Mention: “UHF” (Watch it again to see all of the stars before they were stars.)
It’s not necessarily my favorite, but probably the Most-Often-Quoted Comedy ever is:
– “Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail”
So The Hangover won the Golden Globe over Julie & Julia? Has this movie pulled the shade over everyone’s eyes?