Writers Guild falls for comedies

By Sarah Sluis

Normally comedies are cast aside during awards season. Serious dramas with messages usually win out over laughs. But getting audiences to laugh is harder than it looks. This year, the Writers Guild exclusively nominated comedies in its Original Screenplay category. Even many of the Adapted Screenplay films had plenty of laughs. The Descendants is a bittersweet comedy-drama, The Help mixed hearty laughs with serious moments. Moneyball had some great comedic moments, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo some sick & twisted ones.

Original Screenplay Nominees: 50/50, written by Will Reiser; Bridesmaids, written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig; Midnight in Paris, written by Woody Allen; Win Win, Screenplay by Tom McCarthy (story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni); and Young Adult, written by Diablo Cody.

What I like most about this category is the underdog factor. Midnight in Paris and Bridesmaids were both the litte films that surprised with overwhelming returns week after week after week. 50/50 and Win Win released earlier in the year with good critical reviews but neither did spectacularly at the box office. Young Adult just opened in December with an awards push but the wickedly funny film has only generated moderate returns--so far.

Adapted Screenplay Nominees: The Descendants, screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, screenplay by Steven Zaillian; The Help, screenplay by Tate Taylor, Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan; Moneyball, screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; story by Stan Chervin.

Although all these films have comedic elements, a win for Payne for The Descendants would be a back-to-back comedy lock. His style of film offers the most satisfying kind of comedy. They have a strong, character-driven narrative, and the laughs are just a bonus along the way. The very best movies make you laugh and cry, and the cancer comedy 50/50, The Descendants, and The Help all nearly fulfilled that purpose for me (at least some rising tears, if not actual crying), moving from extreme highs and lows. None of these movies--even the sometimes gross-out humor of Bridesmaids--kept to the lowest common denominator of humor, and that's the reason these comedies were rewarded by the Writers Guild.