Good, mature audience comedy, with sly social humor.
357517
Funny, it is like Castanza from Seinfeld if he were a little more successful financially, demonstrating you can still be a failure socially even with money!
1308225
Ever heard the old saying stating, "a film for all ages."  Well, Big Fat Liar is one of very few films that has a serious shot at making everyone in the family laugh. I was a skeptic at first but I soon found myself laughing at a consistant rate - and I'm sometimes hard to please in the humor department.
We see two teens, one with a habitual liar, and their attempt to get back at a egocentric movie producer who's stolen a story from one of the teens. They set out to make the producer's life a mess and succeed in some very humerous and comical ways.
The plot is a bit simple, but the acting, humor, and deployment of humerous lines works at a fantastic rate. If you're a fan of clean, yet outrageous humor, this film will be right up your alley.
This film will work if you're trying to create some laughs at a large group function while still maintaining a clean atmosphere. Two thumbs up!
Enjoy.
3122140
I am writing this review after only recently seeing this film in the theatre and having read no other reviews or history of it.  I was not sure whether the setting was in Great Britain or Ireland although it does appear to have been filmed almost entirely on location in the British isles, with the exception of the Hollywood, California scenes towards the end of the movie.  The scripting of the film is not typical Hollywood fare.  It has all the sense of British writing and humor, which helps make this film an immense success in my book.  It is laced with a balance of sophisticated wit and cheap humor.  The plot is slow but well justified since it gives way to excellent development of the main characters.  The audience, even an American one, can identify with each of them and with the small-town issues they face.
In a nutshell, a women's club is gathering to discuss what will be the promotional thrust of their organization for the coming year.  The husband of one of the main characters is near death with cancer.  While in the waiting room of a rural hospital the women notice how run-down the waiting room furniture is and the overall condition of the hospital.  They decide to raise funds for new hospital furniture by finding sponsors for a homemade calendar.  But there's a wild twist...twelve of the women, all middle-aged or elderly, decide to pose nude for the calendar.  This sends the head of their organization and many of its members into outrage, but the women press forward and do it anyway.  What follows is unexpected success and popularity not only in England, but also in the United States where the women are invited to meet with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show.  Alas success does come with a price and the women are faced with moral and family dilemas which are not easily put to rest.
Calendar Girls is a fun romantic celebration of middle aged women, their contirbutions as wives, mothers, and vital contributing members of their communities, and also a celebration of their beauty.  This film is not for everyone!  Not because of graphic depictions (there really are none) but because of the mature adult subject matter which is not likely to intrigue anyone but mature, cultured adults with a few years under their belt.  Younger audiences who are interested in foreign films and artful dramas are also likely to enjoy Calendar Girls.  If, however, you are looking for a nudie-movie look somewhere else.  You will be sorely disappointed.  I, however, will grab this disc quick and store it next to my treasured "Amelie" disc.  Mature ladies, be proud of who you are and of your timeless beauty.  This mid-thirties male appreciates you and I think you will appreciate this movie!
4266461
Would you believe that it's a pretty funny movie for a casual evening's entertainment? If you like Mel Brooks style slapstick, that's exactly what it is.

These folks took a page from the Mission:Impossible crew on how to translate an old TV show to a decent movie:

1. Have a decent budget for a good script and good effects.

2. Hire some A-list actors.

3. Respect the things that made the original special.

4. If the theme song is a recognizable, well-composed classic, keep it.

I'm not really a fan of Steve Carell, but he's pitch-perfect as Maxwell Smart. His deadpan delivery is spot on.

I am fans of Anne Hathaway and Alan Arkin, and they both turn in good efforts. I've like Anne since The Princess Diaries, and Alan since he captured the enigmatic Yossarian in Catch 22 (forty years ago!).

Ex-athlete actors can be a risk for pushing the cheesiness factor too far, but Dwayne Johnson does reasonably well here. His entrance is quite funny, and even though his character is supposed to be a prima donna type, he never hogs the spotlight.

Terrence Stamp is an underappreciated talent - the Christopher Lee of his generation, as far as I'm concerned. He's the ideal choice for the super-villian Siegfried, and has the line in the movie that made me laugh hardest:

Siegfried's assistant: Too bad about all the dead movie stars.
Siegfried: Yes. What will we do without their razor-sharp political advice.

The original series was created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, and they were brought in as consultants on this effort. I think this helped get the right feel for the characters, not to mention the running jokes from the original series ("Would you believe...", "Sorry about that, Chief.", "Missed it by that much.", Etc.), which are not overdone and generally integrated nicely into the dialog without being too forced.

There are some flaws. A few scenes do go on too long. The "get past the criss-crossing lasers" scene and the chase scenes at the end are the best examples.

Seriously, this isn't a top-ten all time comedy. But it was funny. I'm sure some don't like the slapstick, and it is quite easy for slapstick to slip over into cheesy and boring. But I don't think that happens here.
3816388
Mexican comedian Cantinflas is an incredibly youthful-looking 65 in this, his next-to-last movie. This is a comedy with a lot of heart and goodwill. The diminutive Cantinflas, playing a cop, can't pull a Dirty Harry on the preppy rich kids parking on the sidewalk, can't lasso a suicidal husband off a high ledge, but uses his wits and wit to resolve the problems. Naturally, he gets off his share of great one-liners and sight gags, too.
Not surprisingly (due to his age and build), the only scene that doesn't work is when he singlehandedly beats up four burly mafiosos. The main plot centers on his battles with these thugs, who also keep a stable of hookers. Perhaps the movie's greatest accomplishment was portraying the prostitutes as complicated humans, without romanticizing them a la "Payback" or "Pretty Woman."
Cantinflas also battles his bribe-demanding superiors and colleagues in a frank airing of the problem, which unfortunately has only worsened. The movie's idealism is admirable and almost poignant in light of the deterioration of Mexico City's police department since the movie's 1977 release.
1252616
This charming romantic comedy may be too original for some tastes, but if you like subtle comic acting, characters that are quirky but not cliche, a loose British shooting/editing style, and a story with no bad guys or even unsympathetic characters, this gently funny love story makes a fine movie for two on a sofa on a cool evening.
1560108
If you are in the baby boomer generation you  will laugh alot at this movie.  The movie is a good comedy.
1250031
Good pic without violence, nude sex, foul language.  An amusing story, well acted.
1277747
There is something very appealing to me about the humor that comes from the British Isles. Its comedies often do not seem as self-conscious as American ones sometimes do, and what they find amusing often comes from the unlikeliest sources. I realize that some people are loathe to watch a movie of any type from England, Scotland or Ireland because they have difficulty understanding the dialects. I admit I've seen some which I wish had had subtitles. I did not find Waking Ned Devine, which is Irish, hard to understand, but then I've seen a heck of a lot of movies in my time.
Clever and quite charming, Waking Ned Devine is a simple tale about a tiny village whose residents suddenly find themselves faced with a very big event. A small article in a Dublin newspaper states that the week's winning national lottery ticket was purchased in their fair county. Since the village is the only one in the county, life-long friends Jackie O'Shay [Ian Bannen] and Michael O'Sullivan [David Kelly] decide to find out who won by getting a list of names of people who bought a ticket. They reason that the winner will want to share in his or her good fortune. The list contains 52 names. They to throw a dinner party for the ticket holders, ply them with good Irish whiskey and try find out who got lucky. No one seems to have won, but afterwards, they realize that one person, Ned Devine, did not show up. Jackie decides to visit the elderly man, and upon entering his house, quickly finds out that Ned has died from shock. The winning ticket is still clutched in one hand. Ned still has a smile on his face.
What follows is a madcap plan to claim the prize, which is worth nearly $10,000,000. The money cannot be paid to a dead man, and Ned had no living relatives. You will have to see the video to discover who, if anyone, gets the money. It is certainly a merry pursuit.
The cast is uniformly excellent. The village is peopled with folks who appear eccentric, but I am not sure how different they are from many people I have met in small towns. I think when you live in such a place, there is a camaraderie you don't find in big cities. Because everyone knows so much about everyone else, there is perhaps less pressure not to be yourself. After all, most people's true personalities are more interesting than the facades they wear.
All the beauty that is the Irish countryside is lovingly and exquisitely photographed. If the village is a set and not a real place, it is authentic, down to the thatched roofs and low doorways. The Gaelic music used throughout seems especially beautiful here, because the setting is the source of the music.
Much of the humor in Waking Ned Devine comes from looking at a group of people try to handle a situation which is, for them, unchartered waters. The naive way in which the villagers rationalize their actions by thinking it's what the beloved Ned would have wanted is utterly charming. These are dreamers rather than schemers.
First time director Kirk Jones has achieved a rare feat. He has created a place and a group of people so seemingly real that you wish you could go to visit them one day. For such a relatively short movie, he has created a great number of interesting characters, including the spry but elderly Jackie and Michael, the jolly tavern keeper, the local pig farmer, the resident witch, the bemused priest, and the young boy who's wise beyond his years.
2209972
There's some of Will Ferrell's usual arrested-development, adolescent level "humor" in this movie, but once you get beyond that, it's a fine, entertaining, even somewhat sophisticated movie that does a good job of lampooning the 2012 corporate attempts to buy an election.  Zack Galifiniakis's performance was fun, touching, hilarious at times, and well crafted.  Will Ferrell even managed a surprising level of craft at times.  The story is well constructed and the movie as a whole is entertaining and satisfying.  But, those sensitive to the "F" word should avoid it.
1825071
My parents had this album in their collection and I listened to it incessantly for years.  Berman's comedy is generally topical in that he discusses things people in the 1960s would be aware of and laugh at. There are references that might need to be researched now by younger generations, but the overall humor is still good.

The album was recorded during a single performance and shows off Berman's slightly neurotic, slightly manic presentation. The bits flow pretty well from one to the other.  There are a few edits, probably for time on the LP, but the overall flow is uninterrupted.

My favorite bits are The Conventioner (an 8+ minute bit about an auto parts salesman at a national auto parts convention who calls his wife to ask her if he can buy Detroit), and another bit about a guy in a hotel room who has several issues with his room, including a lack of lights, a window and a few other amenities. The other bits on the album are just as funny.

If you're a fan of comedy and want a look at what a progenitor of the neurotic comic genre sounded like, pick up this album.
4744794
The show is well written and funny. The cast works well together. Even after all of these years, it makes me laugh.
3096813
If you like action, comedy you will like this.
3615291
Even though this is billed as a slapstick comedy, there are a lot of really smart jokes and subtle social commentary contained this film.  Loved it!
1146199
Hillarious comedy, family stuff with a great message that just makes it funnier. The sequel is just funny but worth watching. The price is good.
1216435
Perfect casting... Social commentary disguised as gauche farce. Yes, a bit sophomoric, but funny as hell. Not for kids. Great for adults who read the New Yorker, but still laugh at fart jokes.
37096
A little dated but always a funny comedy with the excellent, beautiful Goldie Hawn. Too mature for younger audiences as there is a lot of sex and innuendo.