The Bands Visit: A Comedy About Real Life

It seems like most of today's blockbuster comedies consist of fierce language, drug use, risque humor, and lots and lots of nakedness. These movies take advantage of cheap laughs and uncomfortable situations to climb their way to the top of the "Best Comedy of the Year" list. And I love these movies. I will go see movies like The Hangover, Bridesmaids, and The Change Up every time and not ever regret a thing.

The Hangover Part III is set to come out in May and I plan
to throw all of my money at it.

However, as much as I love these raunchy comedies, they are not what true comedy is about. The Bands Visit, for those of you who were not at Signs and Wonders tonight, is a delightful comedy about a group of Egyptian musicians who get stuck in a small Israeli town on their way to a performance. The premise is simple: A group of guys are forced to spend the night in a strange town and hijinks are had and self discoveries are made.

What sets this film apart is that there is a somewhat dark and real undertone to it all. The characters are each identified by some crippling yet relatable flaw: The General has a dark family history, Haled is a womanizer, Dina is lonely, Papi is awkward, Simon can't finish his musical piece, and Itzik has been jobless for over a year. What I found masterful about this film was how, unlike American comedies, which usually gather laughs from unusual and abnormal scenarios, this movie was all about the humor in everyday situations

Like trying to hit on the sad girl at the roller rink.

Basically, this was a movie about real life. The acting was subdued and often realistic. The camera lingered on actors to really achieve the awkwardness of a given situation. It reminded me of the same style of humor used in The Office except with much less dialogue and much less Michael Scott (unfortunately). The hilarity of the film was not really in it's script, but more in it's direction and performance.

All in all, I would say this is very enjoyable film for those looking for a comedy that has some real substance and memorable scenes. I feel as if the movie could be analyzed and reanalyzed for a major purpose, but I'd rather not do that. Instead, I enjoyed it for what it was: a simple and realistic comedy on the ups and downs of life. It's a breath of fresh air in an otherwise crude and muddled genre.

-R.