I've been covering some really dark and somewhat depressing movies lately and I think it's beginning to get to me. Also tomorrow I'm doing another reader request which will be Requiem for a Dream, although I haven't seen it before, I know it ain't no comedy. So it's time to watch something a little more lighthearted, something to tickle the so-called 'funny-bone'. I decided to watch Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein.
Young Frankenstein is the tale of Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced Fruhnk-ehn-steen, Gene Wilder) is the grandson of the infamous Dr. Victor von Frankenstein. After trying to avoid living in the shadow of his grandfather his whole life, Frederick inherits the castle in which the original Dr. Frankenstein carried out his well-known experiments. After finding the secret laboratory and the key to bringing a reanimating the dead, Fredrick finds himself trying to recreate the work of his grandfather with quite humorous results.
This is a spoof of all those old-fashioned horror movies we used to love and it i
s hilarious unlike its' modern equivalent (I'm talking about you, Scary Movie franchise). It really is a case of 'they don't make them like they used to' syndrome. The difference between the two is that Young Frankenstein is actually kind of clever, whereas Scary Movie is equal parts popular culture and toilet humour (not that that's not funny, it's just that style has been so over-used). The dialogue is quite witty too, obviously some of it is going to date but the majority of the jokes remain sharp.
It beautifully references the 30s horror movies that it sends up, it has those black and white misty settings and wonderful castles full of cobwebs and European villages that are so common in the films of this genre. While Gene Wilder is terrific as Frederick Frankenstein, it is Igor (Marty Feldman) that easily steals the show and is my favourite character. He's perfectly insane and really hams it up as this bug-eyed lab assistant, you can't help but find him both ridiculous and hilarious.
I'm happy to admit it has dated a little, some of the jokes have become a bit corny and at times it's a little over-acted. But the corny-ness is what makes it so loveable, they're like dad-jokes you know, so bad that they're kind of good in a backwards way.
And that's all folks, see you some time in the near future, most likely tomorrow night
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