Farce

Little Miss Sunshine

Take a hilarious ride with the Hoovers one of the most endearingly fractured families in comedy history.Father Richard (Greg Kinnear) is desperately trying to sell his motivational success program...with no success. Meanwhile "pro-honesty" mom Sheryl (Toni Collette) lends support to her eccentric family including her depressed brother (Steve Carell) fresh out of the hospital after being jilted by his lover. Then there are the younger Hoovers the seven-year-old would-be beauty queen Olive (Abigail Breslin) and Dwayne (Paul Dano) a Nietzsche-reading teen who has taken a vow of silence. Topping off the family is the foul-mouthed grandfather (Alan Arkin) whose outrageous behavior recently got him evicted from his retirement home.When Olive is invited to compete in the "Little Miss Sunshine" pageant in far-off California the family piles into their rusted-out VW bus to rally behind her with riotously funny results.Episodes-Bonus Features:Disc 1 Side A:**Full Screen Feature**Audio Commentary with directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and writer Michael Arndt**4 Alternate Endings with optional commentary by directors Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris**"Till the End of Time" performed by DeVotchka from the soundtrack**TrailersDisc 1 Side B:**Widescreen Feature**Audio Commentary with Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and Writer Michael Arndt**4 Alternate Endings with optional commentary by directors Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris**"Till the End of Time" performed by DeVotchka from the soundtrack**Forced Trailer Combo: Thank You For Smoking Confetti Trust the ManSystem Requirements:Running Time: 101 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 024543403319 Manufacturer No: 2240331

Pile together a blue-ribbon cast, a screenplay high in quirkiness, and the Sundance stamp of approval, and you've got yourself a crossover indie hit. That formula worked for Little Miss Sunshine, a frequently hilarious study of family dysfunction. Meet the Hoovers, an Albuquerque clan riddled with depression, hostility, and the tattered remnants of the American Dream; despite their flakiness, they manage to pile into a VW van for a weekend trek to L.A. in order to get moppet daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin) into the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Much of the pleasure of this journey comes from watching some skillful comic actors doing their thing: Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette as the parents (he's hoping to become a self-help authority), Alan Arkin as a grandfather all too willing to give uproariously inappropriate advice to a sullen teenage grandson (Paul Dano), and a subdued Steve Carell as a jilted gay professor on the verge of suicide. The film is a crowd-pleaser, and if anything is a little too eager to bend itself in the direction of quirk-loving Sundance audiences; it can feel forced. But the breezy momentum and the ingenious actors help push the material over any bumps in the road.-- Robert Horton

Beyond Little Miss Sunshine

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Stills from Little Miss Sunshine

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Special Edition)

Monty Python And The Holy Grail is a hilarious send-up of the Middle Ages as told through the story of King Arthur and framed by a modern-day murder investigation.This two-disc special edition includes a widescreen presentation of the film along with commentaries by directors Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones behind-the-scenes photos you've never seen before and much more!Bonus Features:Disc One: On-Screen Screenplay: Read The Screenplay While You Watch The Film Enlightening Commentaries by Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones Plus General Complaints and Back-Biting by John Cleese Eric Idle & Michael Palin Extraordinary Animated Menus Scene Selection Exciting "Follow The Killer Rabbit" FeatureDisc Two: Three Mindless Sing-Alongs Join Michael Palin and Terry Jones in their Special Documentary: The Quest For The Holy Grail Locations How To Use Your Coconuts (An Educational Film) Monty Python And The Holy Grail In Lego! "On Location with The Pythons" (18 min.) An Interactive Cast Directory Tons of Terry Gilliam's Original Sketches Plus Posters Behind-The-Scenes Photos A Load Of Rubbish - A Surprise Package of Mystery Items Specially Included for the Mentally Challenged. Unused Locations! How The Directors' Recce Used Up The Budget! Theatrical Trailers WeblinksSystem Requirements:Starring: Graham Chapman John Cleese Terry Gilliam Eric Idle Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Directed By: Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. Running Time: 89 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2001 Columbia TriStar.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 043396052765 Manufacturer No: 05276

Could this be the funniest movie ever made? By any rational measure of comedy, this medieval romp from the Monty Python troupe certainly belongs on the short list of candidates. According to Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide, it's "recommended for fans only," but we say hogwash to that--you could be a complete newcomer to the Python phenomenon and still find this send-up of the Arthurian legend to be wet-your-pants hilarious. It's basically a series of sketches woven together as King Arthur's quest for the Holy Grail, with Graham Chapman as the King, Terry Gilliam as his simpleton sidekick Patsy, and the rest of the Python gang filling out a variety of outrageous roles. The comedy highlights are too numerous to mention, but once you've seen Arthur's outrageously bloody encounter with the ominous Black Knight (John Cleese), you'll know that nothing's sacred in the Python school of comedy. From holy hand grenades to killer bunnies to the absurdity of the three-headed knights who say "Ni--!," this is the kind of movie that will strike you as fantastically funny or just plain silly, but why stop there? It's all over the map, and the pace lags a bit here and there, but for every throwaway gag the Pythons have invented, there's a bit of subtle business or grand-scale insanity that's utterly inspired. The sum of this madness is a movie that's beloved by anyone with a pulse and an irreverent sense of humor. If this movie doesn't make you laugh, you're almost certainly dead. --Jeff Shannon

The Birdcage

Lies and deception -- its all in the family when Robin Williams must convince conservative in-laws Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest that he is as upstanding and uptight as they are in this raucously funny comedy. Armand (Williams) and Albert (Nathan Lane) have built the perfect life for themselves tending to their successful and gaudy nightclub on the Miami strip. But their pastel tranquility is suddenly shaken by the arrival of Armands son... who is getting married to the daughter of ultra-conservative Senator Keeley (Hackman). Whats more the Senator and his wife (Wiest) are on the way over for dinner and expecting to meet Mr. and Mrs. Family Values!Starring: Robin Williams Gene Hackman Nathan Lane Diane Wiest Dan Futterman Calista Flockhart Hank AzariaDirector: Mike NicholsProduced by Mike Nichols Marcello Danon written by Elaine May; running time of 119 minutes; Closed Captioned. Copyright: 1996 MGM/UASystem Requirements:Interactive Menus Theatrical Trailer Video Format: Widescreen (no AR specified) Enhanced for 16x9 TVs Subtitles: English Spanish and French Track Info: English: Dolby Digital Surround Spanish: Dolby Digital Surround French: Dolby Digital SurroundFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 027616603395 Manufacturer No: M100538

The great improvisational comedy team of Mike Nichols and Elaine May reunited to (respectively) direct and write this update of the French comedy La Cage Aux Folles. Robin Williams stars as a gay Miami nightclub owner who is forced to play it straight and ask his drag-queen partner (Nathan Lane) to hide out when Williams's son invites his prospective--and highly conservative--in-laws and fiancée to a meet-and-greet dinner party. Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest play the straight-laced senator and his wife, and Calista Flockhart (from television's Ally McBeal) plays their daughter in a culture-clash with outrageous consequences. May's witty screenplay incorporates some pointed observations about the political landscape of the 1990s and takes a sensitive approach to the comedy's underlying drama. Topping off the action is Hank Azaria in a scene-stealing role as Williams's and Lane's flamboyant housekeeper, "Agador Spartacus." --Jeff Shannon

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Spencer Tracy heads a hilariously zany cast that stars Hollywood's greatest comedians (Milton Berle Sid Caesar Buddy Hackett Ethel Merman Mickey Rooney Dick Shawn Phil Silvers Terry-Thomas and Jonathan Winters) and features cameo appearances by every joker and jester in the business from Don Knotts and Jerry Lewis to The Three Stooges. Nominated* for 6 Oscars® It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World is "an explosive motion picture experience" (Variety)!On a winding desert highway eight vacation-bound motorists share an experience that alters their plans and their lives! After a mysterious stranger divulges the location of a stolen fortune they each speed off in a mind-bending car-bashing race for the loot and the most side-splitting laughfest in history.*1963: Sound Effects (won) Cinematography Sound Song Score Film Editing.System Requirements:Running Time: 154 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: G UPC: 027616902740 Manufacturer No: 1006051

Stanley Kramer's sprawling 1963 comedy about a search for buried treasure by at least a dozen people--all played by well-known entertainers of their day--is the kind of mass comedy that Hollywood hasn't made in many years. (Another example from around the same time is Blake Edwards's The Great Race.) After a number of strangers (including Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, and others) witness a dying stranger (Jimmy Durante) identify the location of hidden money, a conflict-ridden hunt begins, watched over carefully by a suspicious cop (Spencer Tracy). The ensuing two and a half hours of mayhem has its ups and downs--some bits and performers are certainly funnier than others. But Kramer, who is better known for socially conscious, serious cinema (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?), is in a mood for broad comic characterization, and some of his jokes are so intentionally obvious (Durante literally kicks a bucket when he dies), they'd have a place in Airplane! Watch for lots of cameo appearances, including Jerry Lewis (who had called Kramer and asked him why he hadn't been invited to participate). --Tom Keogh

Arsenic and Old Lace

Frank Capra made this film in 1941 before he went off to make films for America's war effort, but it wasn't released until 1944. Adapted from the hit play by Joseph Kesselring, this frantic black comedy shows Capra at his best as a master of mood and timing. Actresses Josephine Hull and Jean Adair reprise their Broadway performances as two gentle old ladies who poison men with elderberry wine to put them out of their misery. Cary Grant plays one nephew, a normal guy who just gets wind of their little hobby and tries to get them to stop, while Raymond Massey plays another, a villain just escaped from jail. Capra encourages the cast, especially Grant, to give a somewhat more outsized performance than one might expect. But made during the war years as it was, this overstated comic approach to killing was probably cathartic. --Tom Keogh

You'll die laughing! Frank Capra directs Cary Grant, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre and stellar cast in the hit Broadway farce about a nutcase family with well-intentioned homicidal tendencies.

Wedding Crashers - Unrated (Widescreen New Line Platinum Series)

The comedic adventures of a pair of seasoned wedding crashers comes to a halt when one of them falls in love.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: WILSON/VAUGHN/WALKEN
Title: WEDDING CRASHERS
Street Release Date: 08/29/2006
Domestic
Genre: COMEDY VIDEO

With Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as a pair of brazen wedding crashers, this buddy/romantic comedy milks a few big laughs from its foolproof premise. Under the direction of David Dobkin (who previously worked with Wilson on Shanghai Knights), the movie ranges from bawdy romp to mushy romance, and that tonal identity crisis curtails the overall hilarity. But when the well-teamed costars are firing on all pistons with fast-paced dialogue and manic situations, belly laughs are delivered at a steady clip. Things get complicated when the guys infiltrate the family of the Treasury Secretary (Christopher Walken), resulting in a romantic pair-off between Vaughn and the congressman's oversexed daughter Gloria (Isla Fisher) while Wilson sincerely woos another daughter, Claire (Rachel McAdams), who's unhappily engaged to an Ivy League cheater (Bradley Cooper). Walken is more or less wasted in his role, but Jane Seymour and Henry Gibson make amusing appearances, and a surprise guest arrives late in the game for some over-the-top scene-stealing. It's all a bit uneven, but McAdams (considered by some to be "the next Julia Roberts") is a pure delight, and with enough laughs to make it easily recommended, Wedding Crashers will likely find its place on DVD shelves alongside other flawed but enjoyable R-rated comedies that embrace a naughtier, nastier brand of humor with no need for apologies. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVD
The "Uncorked" edition of Wedding Crashers adds about 8 minutes of footage to the theatrical release. Of chief interest are extended beach and bathroom scenes between Vince Vaughn and Isla Fisher, and Vaughn's extended confession to Father O'Neil (Henry Gibson), but there are also new scenes featuring Keir O'Donnell as the eccentric Todd and Ellen Albertini Dow as the potty-mouthed grandmother. This edition is billed as unrated because it wasn't resubmitted to the MPAA, but the sexier bathroom scene and coarser confession aren't particularly raunchier than the original film, and there's no additional nudity. You can watch the Uncorked edition once to see the new footage, but for subsequent viewings you'll probably choose to stick with the theatrical release, which is also included on the DVD.

Bonus features consist of two very good commentary tracks, one by director David Dobkin and another by Vaughn and Owen Wilson. Dobkin's is more technically informative, and he specifically discusses why the added scenes were originally cut. Vaughn and Wilson are a little more subdued than might be expected, but they share some laughs, recall some material that was left out, and wander into irrelevant territory such as football and Wilson's dog. Other features include four deleted scenes with optional commentary by Dobkin, and two featurettes covering the making of the film (including the logistics of staging five different weddings, and interviews with the "magic and balloon consultant") and Vaughn and Wilson's meandering discussion of "the rules" of wedding crashing. For a more organized recap, there's a 24-screen text-only list of all the rules. The opening menu is clever, but slow to load after you've watched it the first time. --David Horiuchi

Vince Vaughn's Movies	Why We Love Rachel McAdams	Owen Wilson's Movies
The Soundtrack	The Return of Crass Comedy	The 40-Year-Old Virgin

Old School (Widescreen Unrated Edition)

Three men, bored with their lives, try to regain the joy of their college days by starting their own fraternity.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: UN
Release Date: 14-FEB-2006
Media Type: DVD

When three thirtysomething friends with woman troubles (Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, and Vince Vaughn) decide to form a fraternity, it's supposedly to save Wilson from losing his house, which the nearby college is trying to claim for academic purposes. But really, Ferrell and Vaughn are desperate to return to the reckless, feckless days of beer bongs and hot chicks, and they drag Wilson along with them as they throw themselves into gathering frat pledges of all ages. Old School could have been just another string of bad jokes hanging on a flimsy plot, but the script and the cast have a jovial energy and just enough grounding in reality--at least, up until the obligatory beat-the-system ending, but by that point you'll forgive the excesses of this silly, cheerful, and frequently funny movie. Featuring Jeremy Piven and Juliette Lewis, with cameos by Snoop Dog, Andy Dick, and others. --Bret Fetzer

Some Like It Hot

When Chicago musicians Joe and Jerry witness a gangland murder they realize that their only escape is to dress as women and join an all-girls band on the way to a tour of Florida.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: NR
Release Date: 22-MAY-2001
Media Type: DVD

Maybe "nobody's perfect," as one character in this masterpiece suggests. But some movies are perfect, and Some Like It Hot is one of them. In Chicago, during the Prohibition era, two skirt-chasing musicians, Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), inadvertently witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. In order to escape the wrath of gangland chief Spats Colombo (George Raft), the boys, in drag, join an all-woman band headed for Florida. They vie for the attention of the lead singer, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), a much-disappointed songbird who warbles "I'm Through with Love" but remains vulnerable to yet another unreliable saxophone player. (When Curtis courts her without his dress, he adopts the voice of Cary Grant--a spot-on impersonation.) The script by director Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is beautifully measured; everything works, like a flawless clock. Aspiring screenwriters would be well advised to throw away the how-to books and simply study this film. The bulk of the slapstick is handled by an unhinged Lemmon and the razor-sharp Joe E. Brown, who plays a horny retiree smitten by Jerry's feminine charms. For all the gags, the film is also wonderfully romantic, as Wilder indulges in just the right amounts of moonlight and the lilting melody of "Park Avenue Fantasy." Some Like It Hot is so delightfully fizzy, it's hard to believe the shooting of the film was a headache, with an unhappy Monroe on her worst behavior. The results, however, are sublime. --Robert Horton

Three Amigos

Three Western stars (Martin Short, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase) from Hollywood silent films go to Mexico for what they assume will be a publicity appearance, and find they've actually been summoned to fight a local bandit. John Landis directed this 1986 comedy with self-conscious artifice, and it's hard to get into his self-congratulatory joke. Even the three main stars, brilliant comics all, can't sustain anything funny in it. --Tom Keogh

Super Troopers

Always looking for action, five over-enthusiastic, but under-stimulated Vermont State Troopers raise hell on the highway, keeping motorists anxiously looking in their rear view mirrors. Between an ongoing feud with the local cops over whose you-know-what is bigger and the state government wanting to shut them down, the Super Troopers find themselves patrolling the boundaries of good taste as they hilariously and unwittingly skid towards solving the crime of their lives.