I Re-Watched The Empire Strikes Back for the first time after seeing The Last Jedi and...

I don't think that's the point of the humor criticism. The point (at least for me) is that TLJ has bad or forced humor while TESB has great humor. TLJ is more slap stick and TESB uses humor within dialogues.

 

i'm having a hard time coming up with what's "slapstick" in TLJ.

• BB-8 shooting coins at the guard.
• Rey knocking the wheelbarrow out of the caretaker's hands.
  
• The porg hitting the cockpit in the Falcon.
  
• maybe Ren throwing Hux into the console (if you're awful and think that's actually funny)? : o p
  
• if you stretch the definition maybe Luke throwing the lightsaber?

slapstick is a very specific form of physical humor. what am i missing?

 

Can you give a reference to the slapstick humor? I can only think of one instance specifically.

I do agree that ESB has more humor than most people remember. In my opinion, ESB has humor that you smile to yourself about while TLJ is clearly going for actual laughs but it only lands them maybe 50% of the time.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 30, 2018, Original Post Date: Jan 30, 2018 ---

I mean Luke slaps Rey with a stick but that's getting a little meta isn't it?

 

I think you definitely have a point with the "humor landed better or was more apparent for a 1980 setting or movie/comedy climate". I think the humour in TESB has an element of being "of its time". I also think that some of what was originally funny is now overlooked. For instance, we're all used to Chewie and Threepio now. They blend into the SW world. But really, a lot of their scenes in TESB and ROTJ are closer to slapstick and goofy humour than what we get in TLJ. Threepio is particular is used for physical comedy and says something for laughs in moments of high tension. To be honest, I see no discrepancy between the humour in TESB and TLJ. It's part of what makes these films great - the balancing act between drama, humour and emotion. For every lightsaber toss in TLJ, there is a silly Imperial getting choked (is it just me that finds that funny?). For every Porg hitting a window, there is a legless Threepio on the back of a walking carpet. For every strange Jedi master that milks a weird sea creature, there is funny, strange talking Jedi frog in TESB.

Meh.

 

but more seriously; humor is so subjective.
i've seen TLJ in the theatre 6 times (tonight will be 7)
most of the jokes seem to land with the audience, very generally speaking.
there's also been inappropriate laughter (to my mind) at Hux getting his face smashed by Snoke and Rey getting hit in the back of the head with the lightsaber by Snoke in the throne room. but maybe i just don't have a sense of humor when it comes to Snoke being a total effin monster.

and i'll admit i barked a laugh during my first watch of TFA when Ren took his mask off--which i'm pretty sure wasn't nice and wasn't what Abrams intended. : o p

for the people who didn't like the humor, i can only wonder if they felt it was distracting? detracted from the dignity of the characters?
i needed to laugh watching this movie. there's a lot of Dark stuff in TLJ. the humor was very welcome to me personally for the most part.

 

To me TFA rode that line pretty well and it needed to because of how the prequels were received. If it was too much old Star Wars humor it would've had the reaction that TLJ got but multiplied, if it was too much new humor then people would be turned off as well.

 

Hux being tossed by Snoke/Ren is the only instance of slapstick I can think of.
Maybe the porg but that's even stretching it

 

well, i think the BB-8 and the caretaker moments qualify. you have clumsy embarrassing things happening. same with the porg.
but that's it. those are the only instances.

there's lots of other verbal and visual jokes, but these are really the only slapsticky things. and the Hux/Ren thing to me only qualifies because the moment is clearly played for a laugh based on the shuttle pilot's response (not on the actual physical violence). in fact, if the pilot hadn't made that remark, it's doubtful it would have been funny at all.

 

Lawrence Kasdan hasn't also brought humor to TESB but TFA. The difference between the humor of TFA and TLJ is that every single joke or gag was on the nose and worked in TFA. Furthermore the jokes even worked after multiple viewings. Yes, maybe there were to many of those laughs (for example: "Who talkes first..." then followed by "It's hard to understand you...").
TLJ on the other side didn't work that well, especially not if you watch the humorous parts a second time.

The two worst slapstick moments I can think of is the throwing around of Hux and Luke tossing the lightsaber over his shoulder. Some people may have laughed during these scenes, but I was in shock and didn't laugh at all. I prefer more crafty humor. Not this ungainly typ of humor. "He felll down the stairs. Haha! How funny!"
Sorry for my cynicism, but it had to be said.

 

Finn has a number of slapstick moments such as hitting his head when he wakes up and falling out of the bed, walking around dazed with water leaking out of his medical bag, being tazed and losing the ability to speak like Jar Jar's tongue when he got shocked in TPM, being tazed again in Canto Bight and making a funny face at the busty alien in the casino. I don't know if it was meant to be funny but when Hux slaps Finn across the face many people in my theater laughed. I'm not complaining since I found these funny but I wish Finn could've been cooler.

 

i gotta admit, i might not have made it through TFA without it having started with this joke and it still makes me laugh 187 viewings later.

because we're all different; not all humor is always going to land for everyone.
i agree with you: tossing Hux around is not remotely funny to me. but other people laugh at it in the theatre.
even the choking scene is unfortunately played for a laugh. i think that's a very bad choice, but i also get why some people laugh at it.

when i don't find something funny, i know that's often more about me than it is about the jokes, to be honest.

thanks ~ these are a couple of examples i missed.

somebody laughed at this? what is wrong with people? hahahahaha

 

I think the humor in ESB holds up.

 

Is it? It's one of the more dramatic moments in the film.

 

i do because it says things about both Hux and Ren that i think are out of character for both of them, first of all.
and also because choking people, even if it's not to death, isn't funny to me.

i get that we're not supposed to take these two too seriously as children playing at kings and generals.
but Hux and Ren are hilarious exactly as they are in their petty squabbling and one-upping, etc.
since Snokie-poke's death, their relationship experiences a major shift in their power dynamics (of which Ren absolutely has the upper hand).
in my opinion that absolutely should have been played for straight dramatic (and not comedic) effect.

 

But they did. This moment is dramatic, not funny at all.

 

i honestly haven't seen a viewing in which people haven't laughed or at least sniggered. maybe it's nervous sniggering?
i don't know. i don't like the moment and i don't think it's funny. maybe i have been watching with a weird crowd. hahaha
i'm glad to know you see it differently!

 

Maybe it didn't work that well for you, most of the humor in TLJ worked for me. That's subjectivity not objectivity.

Luke tossing the lightsaber over his shoulder was clearly played for a laugh but it wasn't slapstick. Had it hit a porg on the head or something maybe that could be argued. I was also surprised when it happened so I didn't laugh either and I still don't each time I see it.