Cambridge

Ever since James Cagney pushed a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's face, Hollywood has struggled to master the potential of comedic violence. Some people will say that this is the special gift of Quentin Tarrantino, but Pulp Fiction was a lot more than comedic violence and Kill Bill was a lot less. In terms of the superhero form, the great FAILURE in this genre is Ben Stiller's MYSTERY MEN, and it is hard to imagine that Hollywood found the courage (or the stupidity) to try it again; but they have, and this time the industry has found the perfect combination. The action is organized around a plot stupid enough for the audience to know it can't be taken seriously, and this allows the mahem to propel at leisure. Many of the violent images, though they are absurd, appear more "real" than they would if they were really happening -- perhaps that's why the audience laughed so much. Very creative representations of violence that don't allow the viewer to fall into morbid nausea. Certain characters are particularly appealing -- probably the most winsome is "Hit girl", though most of what makes her appealing is the purple wig and the special effects in the fight scenes. Nicholas Cage does a great job with "Big Daddy". "Red Mist" has ironic appealing and enough complexity to propel the movie into a sequel. And one certainly shouldn't forget "Kick Ass" whose charm lies somewhere between Spider Man's Peter Parker" and American Pie's "Jim Levenstein". Well advised to see this one.

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