Are raunchy comedies a dying genre?

[Jayson1]

It seems to me that we are seeing fewer and fewer of these comedies in recent years and I thought I would ask if you think the genre is dying out? I'm trying to think of the last good one and that might be "This is the End." and maybe the "Neighbors" movies as being all that good. I was reading this Youtube video on the subject and that guys opinion was that they are dying because they are running out of ways to shock people, which makes sense. Combined with modern PC culture stuff it seems like they are no doubt harder to do today than even 5 to 10 years ago. I figure they will make a comeback at some point because everything seems to run in cycles except Westerns. They are pretty much dead and gone for good, except for the rare one from time to time.

Jason

 

[CorporalClegg]

I think they're dying because people are finally realizing they aren't funny and, besides the "shock" value (which in itself is a debatable thing) are usually terrible films.

There's really ever been one good one, but it had a great director, a legendary writer, and starred the funniest human being to ever walk the Earth.

And Kevin Bacon.

 

[Jayson1]

I think they're dying because people are finally realizing they aren't funny and, besides the "shock" value (which in itself is a debatable thing) are usually terrible films.

There's really ever been one good one, but it had a great director, a legendary writer, and starred the funniest human being to ever walk the Earth.

I think some are funny but they usually have to have some heart to them to work. I always felt it was actually the character bonding that made them work more than the gross out stuff.

Jason

 

[Tosk]

There are some great ones, but I reckon there were never that many released in the first place. It's a trickle subgenre, and you tend to get little clusters of them when one hits big, like Bridesmaids. And the Bad Moms movies seem to be doing okay for themselves. And do the Daddy's Home movies count? (Haven't seen them.)

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Seth McFarlane's been busy doing TV.

 

[Morpheus 02]

I hope they ARE dying

 

[Gov Kodos]

The genre will carry on somehow.

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[JirinPanthosa]

It's not about PC culture, just the nation's 13 year old boys have figured out how to get movies for free, so they lost their main audience.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

And Westerns aren't dead. They just moved their venue to outer space.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

I hope they ARE dying

I hope not-the prudes can stick to watching all of the corny outdated films of 'classic' Hollywood and the similar outdated sitcoms of TV's 'Golden Age' if they want to: the rest of us should be able to enjoy a good raunchy comedy on the big and small screens if we want to.

 

[Apparition B5]

I hope so. There hasn't been a good comedy movie since Rush Hour 2.

 

[Amaris]

I guess it depends upon what you'd call a raunchy comedy. I'd imagine in a day and age of heightened awareness around sexuality, and sexual harassment, blatant sexual raunchy comedies aren't as accepted as they once were. I mean, I can still get great pleasure out of watching Police Academy or Revenge of the Nerds, but the moments where the guys (and it's always the guys) engage in some kind of sexual prank (like the panty raid in ROTN), I feel uncomfortable watching it.

My raunchy comedy humor falls more on the side of verbal comedy, or sight gags. For example, I think Ted is hilarious. Same goes for National Lampoon's Vacation, though I think it teeters on the edge of raunchy without going over it. I'm also a huge fan of shows like Are You Being Served? and The IT Crowd, and some would consider those raunchy. I can say another favorite show, Benny Hill is raunchy, and I can't help but laugh when I watch him.

Still, that's all a matter of perspective. Some folks might not consider those raunchy comedies at all. Hell, if you check the IMDB list of raunchy comedies, they have Zoolander listed, and I don't even think that movie qualifies as one

So it's kind of difficult to say whether the genre is dying or not, because you kind of have to figure out just where the boundaries are when classifying films as raunchy comedies.

 

[Jayson1]

The thing about boundaries is that the raunchy comedy or even dark humor is that they tend to work by pushing past those boundaries and doing something your not suspose to do. I agree the sex stuff is the hardest thing to deal with, especially in modern times but in the past they sort of done this by focusing on high school or college aged types or when you do something were the lead and characters are older like "40-year old virgin" or "Anchorman" they focus on people who are kind of naive,not to bright or have some clear goodness in them. Also though I think the actors themselves also tend to make or break things. Will Ferrell or Seth Rogan can get away with something that more traditional good looking guys can't do.

Me I have also noticed that I really don't like them when they focus on kids in the high school setting but find it better in the college setting or even beyond that. I am trying to think of some good raunchy high school based movies and the only one I can think of that I liked is "Superbad."

Jason

 

[MacLeod]

Genre's can go in and out of fashion, comedy in't the easiest of genre's to do anyway as comedy doesn't always translate well and what might be considered funny in one country isn't in another so there is less incentive for studios to make it.

 

[Jayson1]

Genre's can go in and out of fashion, comedy in't the easiest of genre's to do anyway as comedy doesn't always translate well and what might be considered funny in one country isn't in another so there is less incentive for studios to make it.

Plus I think comedy is the hardest thing to do right. Anyone with even a decent amount of skill I think can at the very least make some solid drama or horror or action. Making people laugh is much harder. Raunchy comedies even without the PC angle have the problem, like mentioned above, in that we have seen so many it's hard to find new angles. There are only so many ways you can make a horny teenager,fart joke or drug bit all that funny in away that hasn't already been done.


Jason

 

[Mojochi]

I doubt it. I'm more worried about edgy comedians being smothered by political correctness

 

[Greg Cox]

"Girl Trip" made over $100 million this year, so I don't think raunchy comedies are dead.

 

[MacLeod]

"Girl Trip" made over $100 million this year, so I don't think raunchy comedies are dead.

Most of which came from the US box office it only managed a paltry US$24m in rest of the world. Comdey doesn't always translate easily. Sure the film easily made a profit.

But do some comedies work better than others? What is the key to getting a comedy that works in several countries

 

[Gov Kodos]

What is the key to getting a comedy that works in several countries

Slapstick, limited dialogue, and don't require cultural knowledge to get the jokes.

 

[1001001]

I love raunchy comedies.

They'll never go away. Girls Trip and Bad Mom's Christmas were #1 and #3 grossing comedies of 2017.

Nice to see the women fully involved now in this genre. I think the diarrhea scene in Bridesmaids was a seminal moment in comedy.

"DON'T YOU LOOK AT ME!"