The 1980 comedy Paul Thomas Anderson called the greatest of all time: “That never gets old”
The great thing about Paul Thomas Anderson is that he isn’t afraid to bring comedy into an otherwise serious narrative. It’s surely no easy task to bring humour to heavy themes, but it’s something he has always excelled at, like when he cast Adam Sandler in the tragicomedy Punch-Drunk Love.
Who’d have thought that Sandler would be capable of such a sad and lonely character? Only under Anderson’s direction could he bring out another side of the actor that no one had seen before, yet still retain the comedic charm that made him so popular in the first place.
And then there’s Boogie Nights, which really propelled Anderson to fame with its ensemble cast of characters who find themselves at the heart of the Golden Age of Porn during the 1970s. It really took skill to blend the innate humour of Mark Wahlberg playing a man with a massive penis called Dirk Diggler with themes of substance abuse and violence – even a tragic murder-suicide takes place.
You could argue that comedy forms the basis of everything Anderson does – because really, there’s something so funny about the innate absurdity and unpredictability of life. Whether it’s an outright comedy like Licorice Pizza or something much darker like There Will Be Blood, Anderson is always finding an astute way to bring humour into his worlds.
This is no doubt something to do with his long-standing appreciation for the comedy genre, no matter how traditionally high or low-brow the picture. The director isn’t particularly snobbish about the kinds of comedies he watches, although there’s one classic that he cites as a specific favourite.
Released in 1980, when Anderson was just ten years old, Airplane! has remained a favourite of his ever since, and it’s not hard to see why. The film has long been beloved since it was released several decades ago, with its use of bizarre humour and slapstick instantly becoming popular, grossing $171million. Directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker, the film became an instant comedy classic and one of the most influential works of humour ever made for the silver screen.
“I’d like to make a film like Airplane!. That never gets old,” Anderson once told MovieHole. It’s hard to imagine Anderson making something as slapstick and so rooted in parody as Airplane!, but you never know what the filmmaker’s got up his sleeves.
In fact, in the same interview, Anderson even revealed his love for the questionable Wahlberg comedy Ted, so perhaps a talking teddy bear with a penchant for drinking and even having sex (using parsnips, no less), wouldn’t be off limits for Anderson. If anyone could get Wahlberg back for Ted 3, surely it would be Anderson, who gave him his big acting break with Boogie Nights back in 1997?
All jokes aside, Anderson’s passionate interest in comedy certainly makes a lot of sense when you assess his approach to filmmaking. He might not ever make something like Ted – and he’ll probably never make an outright parody movie like Airplane! – but Anderson can certainly appreciate the importance of humour within cinema, no matter the subject matter.
