Sunday, December 27, 2015

What We Do in the Shadows

It's pretty obvious early on in Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi's What We Do in the Shadows that it's going to be something hilarious. Shot like a documentary (think The Office), the film chronicles the everyday lives of several citizens of Wellington, New Zealand...who happen to be vampires.

Very seldom does the mockumentary work well. (That is, unless your name is Christopher Guest.) But What We Do in the Shadows is one of those few exceptions. The reason? Well, if you've seen Flight of the Concords, you'll know why.

And What We Do in the Shadows doesn't pride in taking itself too seriously. (It surely wouldn't have been as funny if it did.) Though in all honesty, that's the whole point of comedy. If a comedic work takes itself either too seriously or not seriously enough, then it won't be as easy to enjoy.

Back to the film itself. What We Do in the Shadows is one of several films in recent years that has vampires as its main focus, and thankfully it moves far away from the whole Twilight frenzy. The lead characters are far from the usual sexy vampires (though they would probably suggest otherwise). It's nice to see that after that dreck of a franchise. (Then again, Only Lovers Left Alive started that trend.)

What We Do in the Shadows is a very funny film, one that we don't frequently get nowadays. It's proof that a good comedy doesn't need an absurd amount of crude humor to be funny. It just needs well-timed jokes (and the right actors to deliver said jokes).

My Rating: *****

2 comments:

  1. Loved this movie. Definitely worked well as a mockumentary, and it's funny as hell.

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