ME AND MY MOVIES - COMEDY

Luke Finlay

The Hangover Director – Todd Phillips Year of Production – 2009 Brief Synopsis – Four friends all go on a stag do to Las Vegas,

two days before the wedding. Their drinks end up getting spiked and wake up in a trashed hotel room not remembering anything from the night before. They then realise one of the group (the groom to be) goes missing a day before the wedding. When they go out to look for him they try and re trace their steps by looking through possessions they have on them. They soon realised they caused a lot more damage than they realised. They ended up stealing a cop car, stole a tiger belonging to Mike Tyson and stole $80,000 worth of casino chips. These casino chips are part of some dangerous mafia who promise to hunt them down if they don’t return the chips. With a day before the wedding they still can’t find the groom and are really panicking. Eventually they find him on the roof of the hotel and get him back to the wedding just in time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzhlV6Dzvus

TrailerTrailer

American Pie

Directors - Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz Year of Production – 1999 Brief Synopsis – A group of average college students who aren’t

very lucky on the girl front all plan to lose their virginity by the time they graduate and realise the night of the prom is probably the best way of doing that. This causes the group to all find dates with some awkward and hilarious experiences on the way that could damage their reputation and therefore finding it difficult to find a girl to take to the prom. However these experiences and being friendly with a popular guy in the school that throws huge parties and is well known for being a party animal and lucky with the girls help them all find a girl to take to the prom. In the end they all succeed in their mission and all lose their virginity on the night of the prom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqCr8Av6CW0

Trailer

Anchorman Director – Adam Mckay Year of Production – 2004 Brief Synopsis – Set in the 1970’s, Ron Burgundy is a famous regional

anchorman along with his colleagues. Suddenly the news company hire a female anchor which during the 1970’s was unheard of and all the news anchors were outraged. Then the anchor woman (veronica) comes in on the first day and all the team fancy her and try to seduce her and fail. Eventually, after many attempts, she agrees to go on a date with Ron and ends up sleeping with him. They agree to keep their relationship a secret until Ron tells everyone in work and on air. One day when Ron doesn't turn up for work, Veronica fills in for him and becomes a success and starts to get more air time which Ron gets jealous over. Due to the jealousy the relationship ends but now they are co-anchors. There is a lot of tension between the two which causes Ron to say something he shouldn’t live on air and he gets fired for it. Now Ron has become jobless and an alcoholic whilst Veronica is a famous news anchor but all the men at work hate her. A huge news story comes up which gets a lot of news teams interested and the men get revenge on Veronica for getting Ron fired. The manager can’t find Veronica and re calls Ron. Ron then saves Veronica and covers the story and he and Veronica start a relationship again and end up becoming world news anchors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AUvtLZQyDE

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Reception Theory Reception theory is a theory introduced by Stuart Hall

in 1973. He stated that people are part of certain social groups due to things they see in the media.

For example if there was a football match on tv the next day there will be a group of people talking about the events of the match and having their different opinions about certain events in the match. In the same way if there was a major event in a soap a different social group will talk about that event.

Star Theory Star theory is theory that celebrities such as movie stars,

singers etc. purposely act and dress in a certain way to get an appeal from a target audience in order to earn more money.

For example Noel and Liam Gallagher act a bit arrogant and cocky. They also have a bit of style about them that keeps them in the news. This gives them a huge appeal and because of this they become very successful and make a lot of money.

In the same way Lady Gaga has a strange and outrageous fashion sense that keeps her in the public eye a lot and is seen as unique. A lot of people like that and in 2013 the Guinness Book of Records named her the most famous person in the world therefore earning a lot of money.

My Reception and Star Theory

I watch a lot of films that star Will Ferrell as I understand his humour and enjoy every film that he is in. I would go out and watch the film in the cinema and then buy it again when it comes out on DVD because I enjoy his films that much. This also is a reason I have a close relationship with some of my friends as we all enjoy his movies and re quote some of his film lines. In the same way I would rarely watch a film that starred Zac Efron in it. This is because he usually stars in romantic comedy films or teen films and I don’t enjoy watching those films as they aren’t based on a target audience I am part of. However a lot of girls enjoy watching his films as girls generally enjoy watching romantic comedies or teen films and see him as a sex symbol

However on a personal aspect, I can relate to a few of the characters on American Pie. I also like to socialise with friends and like going to parties and trying to impress girls. That is also a reason I don’t generally enjoy thriller or horror films as I can’t really relate to any of the characters usually involved in these films and I can’t relate to any situations these characters are involved in.