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9/11 "Comedies" Are Just Plain Wrong

3:22 PM, Apr 18, 2008 • By KEVIN KUSINITZ
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Get ready to laugh, America! The 9/11 comedies are on their way:

Over the next few weeks, theaters will be screening far-out fare such as an Osama bin Laden documentary by the maker of "Super Size Me"; an absurdist slam against merchants of war featuring John Cusack; a zombie soldier flick with XXX star Jenna Jameson; a stoner movie about Guantanamo Bay; and a Sept. 11 parody--yes, parody--made by Uwe Boll, a little-known filmmaker often ridiculed as the worst director in Hollywood since Ed Wood.

I'm of the opinion that just about any topic short of child abuse is ripe for satire. Certainly Duck Soup, Dr. Strangelove, M*A*S*H, and To Be or Not to Be proved that dark laughter can be gotten from war movies. But compare, if you will, the talents behind these movies--the Marx Brothers, Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman, and Ernst Lubitsch--with the crew mentioned above. I don't think we'll be seeing any of those movies on TCM 50 years from now. Just to give you a rough idea of the talent involved, let's turn to Jenna Jameson's take on her anti-war epic, Zombie Strippers: "There's a lot of political undertones against the Bush administration. And that's part of the reason why I did the movie. I kind of fancy myself a political girl." You can tell that's true just by the title of some of the movies she's famous for: Where the Boys Aren't Pt. 14, Dirty Bob's Xcellent Adventures Pt. 35, and Udderly Ridiculous. (Apparently that last one wasn't good enough to inspire any sequels.)

No word on a scathing take on Osama bin-Laden and his al Qaeda cohorts, though. Come on, Hollywood--not even the Three Stooges were afraid to take on Hitler!

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