WISECRACKS
A film review by Ken Johnson
Copyright 1992 Ken Johnson
100 min., R, Stand-Up/Documentary, 1991 Director: Gail Singer Cast: Whoopi Goldberg, Sandra Shamas, Phillis Dillar, Jenny Lecoat, Carol Burnette, Pam Stone, Carrie Snow, Joy Behar, Ellen DeGeneres, Maxine Lapidus, Jenny Jones, Emily Levine, Robin Tyler, Paula Poundstone, Maria Callous, JoAnne Astrow, Deborah Theaker, Kim Wayans, The Alexander Sisters, The Clichettes, Faking it Three, Dorothy Hart, Geri Jewell, Carol Channing, Lucille Ball
This film is a combination of stand-up comedy acts and a documentary about stand-up comediennes and how they do what they do.
I didn't think much of WISECRACKS at all. It was boring and not that well put together. I suggest that, unless you are interested in becoming a stand-up comic, you skip this film. On a scale of zero to five, I give WISECRACKS a one. WISECRACKS is rated R for explicit language, adult situations, and adult humor.
One of the problems with this film, at least in my area, was that it was marketed as a stand-up comedy movie. Only briefly did it hint that it was a documentary. The film is not a stand-up movie, and those going to it expecting that will be sorely disappointed. It is mostly a documentary on stand-up comedy with some acts mixed in to try and keep your interest up.
Another thing that really hit me about the film is that the film would have one of the comediennes explaining her act, but then you wouldn't see any of her stand-up until about half an hour later, or just the opposite, you would see the act and then about half an hour later you would here an explanation of the act. I think that the film would have flowed much more smoothly if they had the person explain about their act, or about stand-up in general, as some did, and then show the person at work. For some of the acts, I don't think that I ever saw the comedienne give a talk (but maybe I was dozing off through that part).
Many of the people talking repeated what earlier people had already said, but using different words thus making the film repetitive. Also, just when some of the acts were starting to get funny they would be cut off and the ending was never shown. Some were sprinkled out, so that over a period of fifteen minutes an entire segment was shown in little pieces.
------- Ken Johnson blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu
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