Adam Devine has been making comedies for many years now, but he isn’t a superstar. He’s the kind of actor whose face you might recognize more than his name
His acting credits include “Modern Family.” “Workaholics,” the “Pitch Perfect” franchise, “Uncle Grandpa” and “The Intern.” Now, he’s the co-producer and star of “The Out-Laws,” a Netflix action comedy that’s been ranking in the streaming giant’s top 10 for weeks.
Devine, 39, is now expressing his frustration at the lack of comedy films in recent years. He spoke to comedian Theo Von on the latter’s podcast, “This Past Weekend”:
My theory? Marvel ruined it. You go to the theaters and you expect to watch something that cost $200 million to make. And comedy movies aren’t that. Why would I send the same amount of money to go watch a little comedy in a theater if I could spend the same amount for something that’s worth $200 million? And then they still make those [MCU] movies kind of funny.
Devine mentions how Hollywood used to release roughly 40 comedies a year, producing 6-8 hits in the process. Now, it’s gone to around 10 comedies a year, he claims.
This story, and Devine’s Marvel comments, has been reported on by a slew of outlets these last few hours, but what hasn’t been mentioned much is what Devine believes might be one of the bigger factors for the lack of big screen laughs:
I feel like nowadays, you get to the end of what you think is a comedy, and you’re like, ‘Is that about global warming? Is there some sort of deep hidden message that I’m supposed to recycle more? Whatever happened to, it’s just funny for funny’s sake?
“‘The Hangover.’ ‘Superbad.’ That was the last gasp of for-no-reason-at-all [comedies]. This is just f***ing funny because it’s funny,” Devine added.
This is something I haven’t even thought about: hidden messaging in today’s comedies. There wasn’t much of that in some of the better comedies of the last few years, such as in“Game Night,” “Dolemite is My Name” and “Palm Springs.”
Which actual films is Devine trying to pinpoint here? “Booksmart”? “Don’t Look Up”?
This past May, former Amazon Studios head Roy Price noticed some raw data regarding comedies and shared it via Twitter.
In 1997, comedies made up 20 percent of the total movie market. In 2003, comedies peaked at 21.4 percent — that year had “Old School,” “Bad Santa,” “The School of Rock,” “Elf,” “Freaky Friday” and “A Mighty Wind.”
By 2020, the comedic market share went down to a record low 3.8 percent. This year, we’re at around 6% and it’ll likely go down with not many comedies being released in the fall.
What the world needs right now is to laugh, but everything, including the movies, feel so self-serious. Don’t get me wrong, my way of church will always be serious, hard-nosed cinema, but there’s something great and freeing about watching a gut-busting comedy. Some of my best movie experiences have been watching a gut-busting hilarious comedies in a packed theater.
In 2019, director Todd Phillips complained that outrage culture killed the big screen comedy. The media attacked him for that. Others have shared Phillips’ sentiments, they’ve also been attacked.
Can you name any American comedy in the last five years that actually made you laugh out loud? I wholeheartedly can’t find more than one or two.