Last night, I watched Complete Savages, Mel Gibson’s sequel to his popular film The Passion of the Christ. As with almost any sequel, the success at the end of the prior film has to be shown to be temporary. In this case, the grace that was earned through the death of the Christ (note: hardcore adherents insist on the "the", much akin to fans of "the Bat-man") has gone to waste. A group of males, a father with several sons, live together without the aid of a woman, and they digress to levels of filth and sin, breaking several of the commandments. Clearly, the love of the Christ has not elevated them; perhaps they can learn to love each other?
Perhaps. But if they want to make it funny, they have to turn down the laugh track. Now, I’m not like some people with laugh tracks — I don’t assume that a laugh track is faked when even the bad gags get laughed at. I’ve been in the audience for these things, and the audience laughs at almost everything. You’re in a good mood, being entertained in a group, and besides, you want to give the show what it needs to succeed. However, they do have the option of turning up or turning down the laugh mix into the show. The constant, loud interruptions of laughter kills any momentum that the comedy delivery might have here. Not that it appears to be a brilliant show underneath, but it’s hard to embrace even what might be funny in it with that constant interruption.
