I think this is going to be one of the harder blogs to write, considering I can't really take much of this movie seriously.
Seeing movies like this with Steve Martin in them make me really sad because he has the ability to be a very funny, talented man, but he's in so many bad movies (ie Father of the Bride, Father of the Bride II, Young at Heart, LA Story, the list is endless). Chevy Chase is generally in this sort of mishugas slapstick comedy, so this wasn't much of a deviation from the norm for him. Steve Martin, on the other hand, was once a very funny young white-haired man who did great gags on Saturday Night Live, and was in the only movie I've ever liked him in, "Parenthood."
The point being, seeing him in such a stupid movie was, as it usually is, difficult for me to watch. I don't like raining on others' parades, but this movie was really stupid. Aside from maybe one or two gags, I just wasn't into the humor at all. Granted I don't find slapstick that funny usually (aside from Woody Allen slapstick movies), I still had a really hard time sitting through this. I expect I was probably the only kid in the class with this issue.
It's hard to say too much about this film as any sort of Mexican commentary, as Jon called this a self-reflective "meta-film," so I'm not sure what I can say that won't just go back to the argument that it was meant to be stereotypical and stupid, a spoof of all those old westerns. If the plot line weren't so ridiculous and the whole script didn't wreak of trying to be funny, maybe I would've enjoyed it as it is more.
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3 comments:
I agree that there's not much to take out of this film other than the fact that it purposely had a stereotypical atmosphere. There's not much in it that you can really take apart and analyse.
I agree that it is difficult to analyze this film in terms of Mexico... it is a representation (parody) of another representation (the Western) of Mexico, and further, the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico.
The comedy is also something I didn't appreciate very much, though some of the slapstick was entertaining. I was bothered by the existence of the singing bush and the invisible swordsman. But then if you think about it, that is exactly the type of thing you see in comedies like Princess Bride, which parodies fairy tales in which a brave suitor saves the damsel in distress. In this movie, Carmen is the damsel in distress whom they are trying to save.
So, this adds another type of film (in addition to the Western) to those that this movie parodies, which involves even more layers than the Western: in this part of the film, The three amigos makes a parody of films that make a parody of films that represent idealist romantic fairy tale type stories...
It's definitely hard to see the purpose/aim of this film because it's so hard to take it seriously. It's lighthearted enough that it doesn't seem to have a purpose other than entertaining the audience, yet a lot can be drawn from it.
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