Now that testosterone-drenched movie comedies featuring the Judd Apatow gang (Seth Rogen in Knocked Up, Jonah Hill in Superbad) and the Frat Pack (Will Ferrell, Read the full post.
Aug 8
2007
10:00 AM ET
Where are the film vehicles for funny females?
- Comments 52
- Add comment
Latest News
- 'House' finale reaction? Vote in our poll
- 'Celeb Apprentice': Arsenio Hall on his win
- 'Game of Thrones': Blackwater battle dish
- 'Anchorman 2': U.S. and global teasers
- 'Grimm' prospects: Insiders talk season 2
- Kevin Smith: Hulu show for movie lovers
- Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy: Casting
- 'Dark Knight Rises': New rubble-strewn art
Most Commented
Top 5 Most Read
- ‘House’ series finale review: All’s well that ends musically
- ‘Celebrity Apprentice’: Arsenio Hall talks about Trump’s verdict, being reunited with Aubrey…
- ‘House’ series finale recap: ‘Everybody Dies’…did House?
- ‘Dancing With the Stars’: The finals are liiiiiiiiiiiiiive!
- 20 Best TV Series Finales Ever
sarah silverman is absolutely excruciating – a real disservice to women and comedy. i find wanda sykes (who i think should host the upcoming, currently hostless-Emmy awards), bonnie hunt and kathy griffin hilarious.
Sarah Silverman isn’t funny, so she resorts to being crude. Crude does not equal funny. Aisha Tyler, however, definitely deserves her own starring vehicle.
Other funny women include:
Amanda Bynes, Sarah Chalke, the brilliant Joan Cusack, Isla Fisher, & Rachel McAdams (who was great in “Mean Girls” & “The Family Stone”).
Until there are more female writers and directors – nothing will change. As well as more women in power positions at the studios. I am so sick of all these stupid frat guy comedies- they are all EXACTLY the same. While hugely talented female comedic actors are not getting any work – it is just a crime. Would brilliant women like Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Madeline Kahn be stars in today’s climate? I doubt it.
Well, Carole Burnett and Lucille Ball were stars in their preferred medium–television–where Mary Tyler Moore and Gilda Radner also thrived, and where Tina Fey, Ellen DeG, Amy Poehler, Kristin Wiig, and [ugh] Sarah Silverman are thriving today. So it’s not a matter of women not thriving… but finding great comedy vehicles for women.
Did anybody on this thread talk about Bette Midler? She, I believe, was the last great female big-screen comedian. And even she hard a hard go with it… until “Down and Out At Beverly Hills”. Her last success was definitely female-based: “The First Wives Club”… with Keaton and Goldie Hawn (another great one!)
I’m beginning to wonder if women are too complicated to have their comedy displayed in two-hour chunks, instead of an entire series’ run. Shelley Long was multi-faceted in CHEERS… but taking that character to the big screen made her shrill.
That’s the challenge women have today.
MAYA
RUDOLPH
This woman is a resplendent genius and the most underrated talent to ever pass through SNL. And I hear this was her last season, too. Too bad. She’ll be put out to pasture alongside Jan Hooks, Cheri Oteri and the rest of them who, despite being more talented than their male cohorts, go nowhere… sad.
Anyway – MAYA RUDOLPH IS AMAZING! That’s all.
I’d say the current perception is that, if a woman is starring in it, it must be a “chick flik” and, therefore, not going to do well because chick flicks have been so boring lately. Most have been formulaic romantic comedies based around self-centered, dryly funny, but miserable women. I love Debra Messing and actresses like her, but on the big screen they’re always playing the same character. And I hate that character. Women are as stupid and as geeky and as funny and as absurd as men. Just look at Charlie’s Angels! A woman can be beautiful AND be brassy and bright and brash. Gender shouldn’t matter to comedy, and I wish there were more comedies that played to both sides. Honestly, the main reason I didn’t like Knocked Up was because Katherine Hegl’s character was so plain (how does an entertainment journalist not get a Back to the Future reference? Come on). So, I guess this is a long way of saying, yes, please, let more women be funny idiots onscreen.
i’d say Leslie Mann and Jennifer Aniston belong on the list.