comedy
BBC’s ‘Fleabag’ and the Inescapable Awkward Family
Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag forces viewers to sit down at the dinner table with "the family", which is a game of conversational hot potato -- and nobody wants the f*cking potato.
Men and Women Behaving Badly: ‘Pursuit’ and ‘The Girl Most Likely To’
Made for TV programs of the '70s really knew how to dish it out. Michael Crichton's Pursuit is all about men conquering each other; whereas Lee Philips' The Girl Most Likely To is a poisoned bon-bon about making pain palatable.
A Good Lie: Lulu Wang on the Real Lie Behind Her Film, ‘The Farewell’
Why don't we have more immigrant stories in film? Lulu Wang talks with PopMatters about fighting to tell her story, her way, and how that came to fruition in her latest film, The Farewell.
Riley Stearns’ ‘The Art of Self-Defense’ Is a Knockout Black Comedy
If director Riley Stearns sometimes loses his thematic bearings, he never forgets to deliver large, violent doses of comedy in The Art of Self-Defense.
The Cost of Comfort: Racial Hierarchies in ‘King of the Hill’
At its best, animation comedy show King of the Hill asks, Why are"race" issues in America always about white people?
Absurdism and Power: Robert Altman’s ‘Brewster McCloud’ in Today’s America
Robert Altman’s comedy Brewster McCloud is as relevant to our absurd society today as it was to our absurd society half a century ago.
‘Sword of Trust’ Is Random-Generation Comedy for a Truth-Deficient Time
Lynn Shelton's lo-fi Southern satire Sword of Trust yokes historical artifacts, the quest for meaning, Civil War Truthers, and the devastation of addiction to a pleasingly ramshackle comic quest.
Lisa Hanawalt’s ‘Tuca & Bertie’ Explores Female Friendships with Raunchy Humor and Compassion
Tuca & Bertie is decidedly female-centric and bold, featuring -- among other things -- a plethora of boobs: boobs on pastries, on plants, and boobs shaking on buildings.