Dramatic Adam McKay Is Better than Comedic Adam McKay

Some comparison for a director that has made some of my favourite films but also some of the worst I’ve ever seen. Spoilers for some of Adam McKay’s films.

Adam McKay definitively has a skill for comedy. That’s obvious watching any film he’s directed. But something I’d noticed after watching Don’t Look Up for the first time is that his dramatic films, which still have some comedy in them, are far superior to his comedy films — which obviously have some drama in them. Some may end up claiming that I do not like comedy films after reading which is completely false. However, there may be some truth that I dislike American comedy films. Americans have this bizarre aspect to their comedy films where they appear to completely give up on trying in any way to be smart with their script. Older comedies worked well, they thought about character quirks and layering jokes to make the audience think whilst still being funny if they did not get the deep cut. But something happened during the nineties. Mass-made comedies sprung up with bizarre cameos, dull camerawork and substandard improv. Storylines lost their intrigue and music became generic. All this is to say, I do like comedies, but the standard has dropped dramatically since the mid-nineties. But there are still great comedy films, and some directors do implement comedy well into their projects. And Adam McKay is one of them.

So first the comedies. Anchorman, and its sequel, ended up being a small bump in the comedy film releases where memes were created and thought had actually re-entered the mainstream American comedy. The first film itself was a pretty enjoyable experience, with a fairly good script and a great cast. The entire film never outstayed its welcome, but I do feel the film has been overblown compared to where it should be in the grand scheme of comedy greats. It does still deserve a fair amount of praise but nowhere near what it deserves — most of which is simply nostalgic hits to the brain these days. Adam McKay’s personality in his direction is missing from this but considering it is his debut as a film director, it’s of no surprise. Then we have the sequel. The cast is still great, the script is still competent enough, but there’s a distinct drop in quality with the film. It took me a little while but I think it ends up being the case that one film is simply the limit to how much Anchorman is needed in one’s life. More than the one film is, to use the bizarre idiom, like flogging a dead horse. Then McKay made a couple more comedies called Step Brothers and Talladega Nights. These very much fit into the basic shape of a modern American comedy and they are easily McKay’s weakest films. Both are something that I was surprised to find on McKay’s filmography as both feel like the generic comedy that has six writers credit on the film. They are bad enough that watching them again has never really crossed my mind. The fact that this was the time that McKay was collaborating with Will Ferrell probably explains the lower quality of film than what I would expect of him in more recent years. Talking about Will Ferrell, let’s move on to The Other Guys. It was the first McKay film I watched, without knowing much about the director and obviously not knowing what he would end up doing years later. It still half fits into the generic modern American comedies but actually comes out with a pretty great script and fantastic chemistry between our two leads in Will Ferrell (again) and Mark Wahlberg. The two are some of the more overrated actors in cinema but with this script and the chemistry between the two, they somehow make it work. It’s not something I go back to very often, but when I do I still enjoy the experience and it’s probably worth watching at least once. Don’t Look Up is McKay’s latest film. It’s a black comedy about the end of the world as a meteor makes its way to impact and destroy all life on earth. The scientists rush around trying to warn everyone as life goes on and the incoming death of everyone on the planet doesn’t quite set in. Everyone sets in on political lines or simply ignores it as if it would disappear if they don’t think about it. It’s very obvious what the film is trying to say about global warming and the inevitability of our destruction of Earth. But again, just like inside the film, the people will just ignore it and not actually do anything about the issues that we face in the real world. Talking about those issues here is not going to do anything, so I will just talk about the film some more in this piece on Adam McKay as a director.

And when it comes to that, you can definitely tell this is still a McKay film. As this was the first comedy film the director made after his two drama focused films (which I’ll talk about after), I was curious as to how that would change his comedy projects. As I’ll describe later, his comedy skills weirdly improve when he makes his dramas and that shows in this film. The comedy is much more in line with those two than his previous comedies I’ve already mentioned. The jokes are smarter or, at least, more impactful. The grimy smear of a generic American comedy has disappeared and been replaced with a sophisticated McKay shine. Shot choices, the casting choices (thankfully Will Ferrell is nowhere near this project), jokes, and scene structures are all fantastic in this. The best thing about the scenes are they appear to be structured in a way that causes me constant stress where I ended up having to pause the film at various points just to catch my breath and relax a little. But whilst I say this, I do have to bring up the major flaw with the film. And that’s how blatant everything is. Not only are the themes and comparisons to what’s happening in real life so obvious, but they are also quite dumbed down and made for the widest reach of an audience possible. Now, that does make sense with the objective of the film but at the same time, it ends up suffering from an art perspective. One of the examples of this is the guest appearance of Ariana Grande who plays Riley Bina. The objective is clear. The character acts as a celebrity who is only interested in their own pursuit of fame whilst not caring how she talks to anyone. First she is adversarial towards the main characters before later heading their campaign to make the public aware of the comet’s danger. But at the same time, the film is only casting Ariana Grande in this role to do this exact same objective. To the point where I’m surprised that she doesn’t just play herself in the film. It ends up being distracting and, apart from bringing in some of the singer’s fans to the theatre on its release, she brings nothing to table to actually enhance the film. They also do this a little with Scott Mescudi (Kid Cudi) but he’s been actually carving out his own acting career and should be talked about as an actor in his own right. The attitude of the film shouts out loud, to the point where every time they show how a part, if not most, of humanity would act in this scenario, I become more and more sure that the film wants the comet to hit earth and eradicate every last one of us. In fact, I want the comet to land. Every second of the film shows me why I despise this planet and the people that inhabit it. Yes, it may try to occasionally have a montage of clips to inspire us as to who and what to fight for to keep the planet going, but that is massively overshadowed by the incredibly well-acted arseholes that inhabit the entire film. Overall the film is smart but far too smart for its own good that actually lessens it as a film. The film also outstayed its welcome. I was over it halfway through the film and the latter half only stood to serve its obligation to finish the character arcs and give us the last couple of jokes in the mid and post-credits scenes. It was a well-made project but ultimately the stress and my hatred for humanity makes me hate this film in a way. I don’t think I’ll ever re-watch this one and even with its well-meaning intentions, I think it’s already been forgotten.

Then we come onto the two big dramas that McKay has made. Both not only are great dramas but also have a reasonable amount of comedy that often actually outshines all his comedy films. The Big Short is the better known of his two drama films and covers the build up to, and the immediate aftermath of, the 2008 financial crash. The cast in this is great, Christian Bale, Steve Carell (who is a much better drama actor than he is a comedy actor), Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Rafe Spall, Jeremy Strong, they all give some realness to the characters as well as all being able to deliver the comedy well. The film switches between the different viewpoints as they all start to realise that the US housing market is likely to crash soon due to the greed of various bankers. It has a real documentary feel to it through the camerawork that has definitely turned into McKay’s style. The film is intersected by fourth-wall breaking explanation segments presented by a variety of experts or, mostly, celebrities. This could easily be compared to Ariana Grande’s appearance in Don’t Look Up as I mentioned earlier. But this is far less awkward and cringe-inducing even if the segments have the possibility of taking you out of it a bit. The film, and the other drama film I’ll talk about does leave a sour taste in the mouth, similar to Don’t Look Up. But at least there are characters in this I can root for, that I know might not be able to do anything but that know what is right. Which I can only say for most of the characters you are supposed to root for in Don’t Look Up. Then there is McKay’s biopic on Dick Cheney. This is easily my favourite McKay directed project and is something I go back to regularly. I’m going to contradict myself a little here as there are absolutely no characters in Vice that you can even think about rooting for. The exception being Mary Cheney who is mostly there to display Cheney’s love for his family but ultimately his need to push for power. Christian Bale returns in this project to (apologies for the overused phrase) completely transform into the former Vice President of the United States. What sometimes goes completely under the radar here is Amy Adams’ performance of Cheney’s wife, Lynne. People seem to be on the Adams train now which is great to see, but something like this and a couple of other projects appear to have gone under the radar a little. She does the best job at making someone who is wholly unredeemable into someone you can sympathise with and in some ways admire. The film uses a lot of the techniques on display during The Big Short but focuses on the one united perspective of the Cheney family, mostly Dick and Lynne. Running through all of this we have a narrator, played by Jesse Plemons, who is not based on any one person in particular but representative of the average American affected by Cheney’s actions during the latter’s time in office. The film itself uses some interesting techniques that are no surprise to one now familiar with McKay’s films but push it a little further than normal. The score first of all is its own character as it drones along giving the entire piece a feeling of dread. You also have a moment where the film gives you a fake-out ending before Cheney even becomes Vice President and even starts scrolling credits after some joke, end of film descriptions of what the family went on to do in their retirement. But then the reality sets in and a phone ringing brings us back to the film as Cheney’s journey to the Vice Presidency starts. They also have the two main characters, Dick and Lynne, perform a scene in a Shakespearean style to emphasise that there are moments that are unknown to the film, even with the greatest research. There was even talk of a musical number being involved at one point but it eventually got cut. The pacing and performance is really what puts Vice above all the rest. Every part of the film is perfectly timed and structured to give you that feeling and dread and despair whilst simultaneously being fascinated by Dick Cheney and his family.

So I hope that has displayed why I think Adam McKay should focus on making films that are more dramatic with comedy rather than comedy films which end up failing to at least provide some drama. It did end up focusing on Don’t Look Up for more than McKay’s other films then I expected but I suppose it is his newest film and the biggest reason why I think my point stands, even if it is his best straight up comedy. As with the previous one I did with this style of title, I still enjoy his comedic films, even if some of them blend into the monotony of generic American comedies, some of them are hard to revisit, or some of them make me hate the world. But then again, it’s no surprise.

Everyone, deep in their hearts, is waiting for the end of the world to come.