Sunday, June 6, 2021

They All Laughed (1981)

IMDb plot summary: A mad cap private-eye caper about a team of detectives who are following, and are being followed by, a group of beautiful women.
Directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Starring Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, Patti Hansen, and John Ritter.

What this movie reminds me of most is those ambient Yule log or sidewalk cafe videos, but for surveillance. I feel like fully 60% of the film is just silently watching people walk around the city following each other. The other 40% is borderline nonsensical farcical romantic flings. The character dynamics here are so bizarre that I can't track who wants what - nobody behaves consistently from moment to moment. There are several moments that seem comedic, particularly John Ritter's scenes, but everything surrounding them is so incomprehensible that I'm not even entirely sure they ARE meant to be comedic. About halfway through I think I said out loud to myself, "What am I even watching?" It was especially disappointing considering some of my favorite comedies of all time are also directed by Peter Bogdanovich, so my response isn't angry or boredom so much as just the befuddled thought, "What happened?" A strange, messy, confusing movie that I'd have been just as happy not watching.

How it entered my Flickchart:
They All Laughed < The Misfits
They All Laughed < Deliverance
They All Laughed > Black Rose
They All Laughed < Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging
They All Laughed < Little Witch Academia
They All Laughed < The Passion of Joan of Arc
They All Laughed > The Monuments Men
They All Laughed > 1941
They All Laughed < Anastasia
They All Laughed > A Fistful of Dollars
They All Laughed < Repo! The Genetic Opera
Final spot: #2910 out of 3375, or 14%.

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