‘Last Laugh’ A Controversial Comedy At Chicago Film Festival
NOTE: Nationally known film critic Connie Corcoran Wilson is providing coverage of this year’s Chicago International Film Festival for QuadCities.com.
The Last Laugh by Director Ferne Pearlstein provoked crowds at the Chicago International Film Festival by mining tragedy for comedy with one of the most infamous tragedies of the 20th century.
Director Ferne Pearlstein
Can the Holocaust be funny? Is “Springtime for Hitler” in bad taste, and, if it is, should we not have laughed at it in Mel Brooks’ “The Producers”?
It’s a great concept. At times, the documentary is funny and witty. It discusses decades of humor interviewing well-known comics like Mel Brooks, Sarah Silverman, Gilbert Gottfried, Rob Reiner and others.
It’s “the others” who slow things down. By all means, stick with the likes of Rob and Carl Reiner, David Steinberg, David Cross, Sarah Silverman and Larry Charles, The comics interviewed discuss why and how they joke about subjects like the genocide of the Jews.
Meanwhile, Holocaust survivors and Jewish community leaders are shown trying to decide whether it is okay to laugh or whether they should draw some sort of line about tasteless humor.
The pacing made the 85 minutes seem like 185 minutes. There were approximately 5 too many talking comedic heads. Which 5? How about removing Alan Zweibel, Judy Gold, Abraham Foxman, Lisa Lampanelli (who isn’t Jewish) and Deb Filler, for openers. Then, I’d remove 5 more talking academics: Eitgar Keret, Shalom Auslander, Jake Ehrenreich, Hanala Sagal and Aaron Breitbart, all in the interests of pacing and lenth.
The documentary seems like 2 documentaries condensed into one overlong one featuring many people (see paragraph above) that very few audience members will know. On the one hand, you have the riveting and worthwhile story of Renee Firestone, an Auschwitz survivor. On the other hand, you have famous comedians giving their views on whether there is a comedic line a comic should not cross, including Holocaust humor.
Great idea, but underline the word “famous” and lighten up on the academics weighing in.
To paraphrase a better writer: “To laugh or not to laugh, that is the question.”
Some jokes are told (one line by one comic; one by another) but they failed to save this documentary, for me. A great idea gone awry for the reasons stated.
