It's Not Fucking Funny, You Stupid Syphilitic Bitches!

[QUENTIN]

**Very Mild SPOILERS for The Departed. I don't actually reveal anything, but if you want to remain completely blind about anything that occurs in the movie, don't read on. **

I've seen The Departed now three times, and every time I go to see it, I'm disgusted by the audience's reaction. For some reason, people laugh like they're at a screening of Borat any time a major character dies. I've previously experienced this in a lot of revival showings, when I saw A Clockwork Orange and The Exorcist in theaters, people laughed during rapes, beatings, murders, and the foulest of language. What is it that makes these intellectually devoid people just laugh? Do they not know any other way to react to surprise or shock?

Judging by the audiences I've seen The Departed with, you'd think the last ten minutes of the film contained the funniest gags since Mel Brooks' heyday, when I think it's fairly reasonable to call them the intense and important climax of an exceptional film. Even if you don't like the movie or think the ending is over done, I fail to see how it's humorous. I hate how my experience has to be ruined by people so numbed that laughing or screaming is the only reaction a movie can illicit from them.

Has anyone else had this experience, particularly during The Departed, or during any other inappopriate movies? What's up with this phenomenon?

[jaw2929]

Well I woulda been pissed off, had people laughed at the killings in The Departed... But I'm glad they didn't...

Though admittedly, I've laughed my ass off at some fucked up/gruesome horror movie deaths... Like whenever someone's head explodes (IE. Final Destination 3) or just a nasty impalement or something... But it's more outta sheer glee that I giggle like a motherfuckin' school girl, cuz I love what I'm seeing on-screen, and am glad the movie studio (or whoever) had the BALLS to show such a hilariously horrific/shocking way to bite it...

:D

[Cronos]

theres been a few times when ive gone to see a serious film or horror flick and people have laughed at things which arent even remotely funny

but having said that i laughed practically all the way through the Omen remake

[bankholdup]

Originally posted by QUENTIN
**Very Mild SPOILERS for The Departed. I don't actually reveal anything, but if you want to remain completely blind about anything that occurs in the movie, don't read on. **

I've seen The Departed now three times, and every time I go to see it, I'm disgusted by the audience's reaction. For some reason, people laugh like they're at a screening of Borat any time a major character dies. I've previously experienced this in a lot of revival showings, when I saw A Clockwork Orange and The Exorcist in theaters, people laughed during rapes, beatings, murders, and the foulest of language. What is it that makes these intellectually devoid people just laugh? Do they not know any other way to react to surprise or shock?

Judging by the audiences I've seen The Departed with, you'd think the last ten minutes of the film contained the funniest gags since Mel Brooks' heyday, when I think it's fairly reasonable to call them the intense and important climax of an exceptional film. Even if you don't like the movie or think the ending is over done, I fail to see how it's humorous. I hate how my experience has to be ruined by people so numbed that laughing or screaming is the only reaction a movie can illicit from them.

Has anyone else had this experience, particularly during The Departed, or during any other inappopriate movies? What's up with this phenomenon?

I've only seen it once, but the same exact thing happened to me opening night. It nearly ruined the experience. I need to see it again on a Tuesday morning or something when the idiots sleep in.

[Annie Hall]

I used to do a lot of theater, and this is a really common response to moments of shock or tension. During a run of a particularly intense show, the director just straight said "this is the most shocking moment of the show- it will get laughs". It was a MURDER MYSTERY.

The brain can't register shock sometimes, and the deaths in this movie are particularly startling for various reasons. It's a defense mechanism of some sort. I'd bet that 99% of the people who "laughed" were doing so to appease their own discomfort, rather than actually finding it to be funny.

If we laugh, it's not scary or upsetting or sad...etc.

[Tweek]

Laughing during the departed was okay with me, but the laughter during syriana bugged me.

[Derek237]

I didn't laugh during that part in The Departed, but I can understand why some people did (they did a little bit in my audience, too). At that point it reaches such a level of chaos that it's going to cause some laughs of disbelief. I really do think it is their own way with dealing with the shock of the entire narrative spiraling out of control, and I don't really think you shouldn't judge anybody for that, or look down your nose at them.

But then again, there likely are idiots who are just laughing because they're idiots. But still, these are people who probably just didn't feel like seeing Jackass or Trailer Park Boys for a third time, and decided to see this Dicaprio/Matt Damon/Guy-From-Anger-Managment cop flick cause it 'might be cool.' These are people who have no idea who Martin Scorsese is, or are unaware that it was a remake of an Asian film, and who are basically ignorant. In my experience, you just have to put up with those people. Getting pissed at them for laughing at a moment you think is inappropiate doesn't really help. I can see where you're coming from though, since if it really was the insane loud amount of laughter you described it as, it would take me out of the movie, too. But, hey, there's not much you can do.

As for Clockwork Orange, I can't really vouche for that, but I did go to see The Exorcist when The Version You've Never Seen was released in theatres. And, well, let me put it this way: If you expect to sit in a crowded movie theatre playing The Exorcist and not hear one single person laugh, you're a fool. A complete fool. :p

[Tyler_Durden_208]

*SPOILERS*
I laughed because of the ridiculous amount of headshots and the "twist" that wasn't clever but just out of nowhere and pissed me off. Good movie up until that end, it was.

[powersauce]

I saw Gandhi in my 5th period World History class in 10th grade a decade ago and I remember the teacher saying that a student in the 4th period class laughed during the assassination scene and that they got in BIG trouble for it.

[outsyder]

Nobody laughed during the screening I saw, in fact the theatre was dead silent.

But I think Derek237 has the right idea.

The violence in The Departed was incredibly realistic and very brutal. With so many of today's movies featuring violence that is very stylized, a realistic expression of violence can really blindside a lot of people, people who might use laughter as a way of reacting to something like that.

[The Heart Collector]

As Derek said, the chaotic nature of the movie causes a lot of uncontrollable, 'holy shit' laughs. It's like when you're shocked, and then after the initial shock you laugh a bit.

[Tony_Montana]

I thought it was intentional black humor? Well I laughed, all apologies if I wasn't supposed to...

[jolanar]

The whole theatre laughed during the 'elevator scene' in The Departed. It was so ridiculously bad I don't see how anyone can't laugh at it. There was an old couple in front of me who looked at eachother and said "Now that's just silly." And it was. Very very silly.

[Quigles]

Originally posted by The Heart Collector
As Derek said, the chaotic nature of the movie causes a lot of uncontrollable, 'holy shit' laughs. It's like when you're shocked, and then after the initial shock you laugh a bit.
Yeah, exactly. Personally, I didn't laugh, and I didn't really hear anybody else laughing either. But getting upset over people who do laugh seems like a waste of energy.

[Scorpio24]

I was laughing during The Departed. But that was because I remember some schome telling me it was the best movie of the year. I laughed real hard at that point.

[APzombie]

The two occations I viewed it in the theater the audience gasped with a brush of giggles with each "uncinematic" murder. It wasn't really a laughter as in the situation was funny, it was a type of physical acknowledgement that each murder was absolutely out of left field. I understood why but I don't think I can understand continual laughter during the film, or The Exorcist for that matter. Though I'd like to say its a way of people dealing with their fears/shocks or in public, that might not always be the case. Some are just assholes.

[LedZeppelin1114]

I didn't laugh, but I wouldn't have cared. It's a fictional movie, to far removed from me to take offense. Unless someone's laughing at shit that really happened and hurt someone (i.e. Schindler's List, Private Ryan), I just leave em the fuck alone.

[ParileseMonster]

Originally posted by Cronos
theres been a few times when ive gone to see a serious film or horror flick and people have laughed at things which arent even remotely funny

but having said that i laughed practically all the way through the Omen remake

I love you! :D

[SkyNet]

im sure it's been said but for me.. i saw Departed twice.. and the laughs that i heard when the ending arrived was laughs of

"oh shit.. ha ha.. wow... shit ha ha"

if that even makes the slightest bit of sense! Kind of like "fuck, he got me" kind of laugh

[Gian-Sergio]

Originally posted by QUENTIN
[B I saw A Clockwork Orange and The Exorcist in theaters [/B]

Lucky Bastard.

Staying on topic, I fucking hate it when dumb-ass audiences laugh at scenes when it's unintentional. They also laughed at the scene where the Chinese mob boss speaks Mandarin, and the whole goddamn audience roared with laughter. What the fuck was so funny about him? When I saw Brokeback Mountain, People fucking laughed at that one too, especially at the scene where Michelle Williams finds Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal kissing.

[Ki'esha Foxx]

The same thing happened when I saw WTC on opening day. I heard a few people (mind you, there was only about 20 or so people there) laughing throughout the whole thing. It annoyed the fuck out of me and messed with the emotional part of my brain since I was in tears through it all (and I am definitely not one to cry at movies). I was sorely tempted to smack the people or target them at the door when it was over.

Douches.

[KillBill]

Same thing happened to me...twice when I saw The Departed. Ditsy bitches behind me and my friends laughing at the most inopportune moments, and just generally being thick as pigshit, for example


*SPOILERS* when Leo finds the envelope that says Citizens, that slow camera movement of realisation....the girls behind us said, in a loud voice "OMG...I think he's found something..."
*END SPOILERS*



And, another laughing moment in the cinema when it didnt warrant a laugh was when I saw Little Miss Sunshine, now I loved this movie, I related to it in so many ways. But the part



*SPOILERS* when the grandad passes away, that tore me apart, my own grandfather had just passed away 2 weeks before and it still hurt, and these fucking kids erupt in laughter. Now, I know they arent meant to know that my grandfather had died, but shit, that was a pretty emotional scene, it doesnt warrant laughter from a bunch of prepubescent assholes.
*END SPOILERS*

[AWP82]

Originally posted by KillBill
And, another laughing moment in the cinema when it didnt warrant a laugh was when I saw Little Miss Sunshine, now I loved this movie, I related to it in so many ways. But the part



*SPOILERS* when the grandad passes away, that tore me apart, my own grandfather had just passed away 2 weeks before and it still hurt, and these fucking kids erupt in laughter. Now, I know they arent meant to know that my grandfather had died, but shit, that was a pretty emotional scene, it doesnt warrant laughter from a bunch of prepubescent assholes.
*END SPOILERS*

Was it the part when that doctor yelled out "LINDA!"?

[Quigles]

Originally posted by AWP82
Was it the part when that doctor yelled out "LINDA!"?
Yeah, I'm not sure which part of the scene that person is talking about, but there was a lot of humor to be found.

For example...
"Go hug mom."

:p

[Psychocandy]

Last year when I attended the Dead By Dawn film festival in Edinburgh there was a guy in the audience who would every so often let out an enormous "HA!!!" during scenes that were not in an shape or form funny. Something seriously creepy would happen in a movie and he'd go "HA!!!". Really loud. It happened a few times and the last time it did me and a friend creased up and couldn't stop laughing for about five solid minutes. Real uncontrollable, shoulders heaving, can't get control giggles. And any time one of us got it under control the other would set him off again.

BTW...the exclamation marks after the "HA" are no exaggeration.

[KillBill]

It was the part right up until "Go hug Mom", they were laughing at the ambulance and the speech that Sheryl gave. They laughed at the appropriate times after that, but it was totally uncalled for during that little speech.

[The Postmaster General]

Just for due props - I think Annie Hall called it first: uncomfortable laughter.

That being said, I was irked when watching THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU in the theater, because several people laughed during a very dramatic event in the film.

Then I watched the movie on DVD, and saw something that I didn't see in the theater - and it was pretty funny.

To each their own, but I don't think it's really something to take offense over - of course this statement comes from the guy who really liked Miami Vice, so it's not that I have much of a choice, as I don't want to walk around offended 24/7. ;)

[mutesaint]

I was watching the Fountain. I was totally diggin the movie and then these "stupid syphilitic Bitches" started laughing. Not loud enough to be truly disruptive, but I was close and could hear. I couldn't tell them to shutthefuckup becuase they were trying to be quiet but damn they made that movie a chore. I went and saw it again in the early ass morning just so I could see it alone(loved it btw).

[QUENTIN]

To those who've talked about a nervous titter, or laughing like "Oh shit!" at something unexpected, while that might annoy me too (because it takes you out of the movie) it really wasn't a brief chuckle that bothered me. I'd say about 40% of the theater erupted in the kind of extended laughing fit that occurs during Borat and Azamat's wrestling scene or the Superfreak finale of Little Miss Sunshine. People were really reacting to the elevator finale like it was out of a slapstick comedy and it took away from the gravitas of the events and the central characters who were being killed. That's what pissed me off so and it happened every time I saw the flick in theaters. Unfortunately, as I said, it's not relegated to this movie either. People treated the rapes in ACO and most of the exorcism in The Exorcist as some hilarious slapstick. The same thing happened too with the torture scenes when I saw Apocalypto.

I guess maybe it's uncomfortable laughter, people not knowing how to react so they laugh, but I think it's really inappropriate and just don't get why to so many people shock = funny;

[ilovemovies]

There was more gasps than laughs when I saw the movie.

Having said that, I don't blame them for laughing though because it was so over the top IMO. All the deaths piling up one after another after another. It just felt contrived and after a while I just kept waiting for the next one.

[Le_Big_Mac]

Originally posted by QUENTIN
I've seen The Departed now three times, and every time I go to see it, I'm disgusted by the audience's reaction. For some reason, people laugh like they're at a screening of Borat any time a major character dies. I've previously experienced this in a lot of revival showings, when I saw A Clockwork Orange and The Exorcist in theaters, people laughed during rapes, beatings, murders, and the foulest of language. What is it that makes these intellectually devoid people just laugh? Do they not know any other way to react to surprise or shock?

Well, I kind of found it funny in The Departed. All the deaths were so over the top and unexpected, it's hard not to laugh with a sort of twisted glee. I don't see a problem with The Exorcist. All that vulgarity coming from such a terrible, horrific biblical monstrosity, it was just so inappropriate and stupid. For A Clockwork Orange, there's really no excuse. Straight-up "ultraviolence" is nothing to be laughed at, even though the infamous rape scene isn't really as horrifying as people make it out to be.

Anyway, on a wider scale, it's the general flaunting of violence on TV and in general discussion these cautionless days that makes people so positively receptive to well-done violence that has absolutely no intention of being humorous. America has also not quite outgrown its many intolerances.

But generally, I go by the Tarantino philosophy. Violence is good as long as it doesn't influence you to committ it in real life and as long as it's not implicitly meant to be terrible.

[Danger^Cart]

I laughed myself to tears during the dramatic climax of The Guardian. I literally couldn't control myself. I just found that shit sooooo fucking funny.

It was cool though, cuz after a few minutes the audience started laughing with me. I think I single handedly brought down everyone's opinion of the film which, considering how shitty it was, gives me immense pleasure. I consider it my gift to the masses. Imagine all those people I saved from making complete douchebags out of themselves; "THE GUARDIAN TOTALLY ROXORS MAN! LOLZDLDlkdJroFL!" = douche. See what I mean.

Ah...the power of laughter.

Oh, and Quentin, personally I was physically incapable of laughter during The Departed's climax, because my jaw was hanging open. So, no worries; while I may find the "dramatic" musings of Kevin Costner and *chuckle* Ashton Kutcher particularly hilarious, I agree that anyone who laughed during the climax of The Departed is a complete jackass.

[AceD]

"I agree that anyone who laughed during the climax of The Departed is a complete jackass."

Well, I think anyone who laughed at THE GUARDIAN is a total "jackass," so THERE!

:D Kidding. But still, people HAVE A RIGHT TO AN OPINION. I'm sick of how people (and this is a lot of people, not just one, and I'm not saying this is what you meant, DangerCart) who act like we respect opinions on these boards when even though we mostly do, it's not off limits to rip on certain films and people who like them. Alas. Back to topic:

MAJOR DEPARTED SPOILERS:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

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:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::I must say that when Billy Costigan was killed my jaw dropped and I twinged a smile and maybe even chuckled at the ballsiness of killing off the character at that point. So yeah I can accept a bit of laughter there, but like Quentin said it shouldn't carry on.


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:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;END SPOILERS:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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[Danger^Cart]

Originally posted by AceD
"I agree that anyone who laughed during the climax of The Departed is a complete jackass."

Well, I think anyone who laughed at THE GUARDIAN is a total "jackass," so THERE!

:D Kidding. But still, people HAVE A RIGHT TO AN OPINION. I'm sick of how people (and this is a lot of people, not just one, and I'm not saying this is what you meant, DangerCart) who act like we respect opinions on these boards when even though we mostly do, it's not off limits to rip on certain films and people who like them. Alas. Back to topic:

Well, perhaps I should clarify; anyone who laughed hysterically at the Departed is a complete jackass. I agree that the situation did dictate a soft chuckle, in the same way that you commend an insightful or witty remark, as in "Bravo...bravo."

As for the Guardian...c'mon man, you can't deny that shit was hilarious.

"I WON'T LET GO!"

"...I know." ("But I will, so the jokes on you, bitch!")

*This is the point where my laughter starts easing into a deafening crescendo, peaking right around the "SUPERNATURAL COASTIE!" bit.*