Jim Abrahams made solemn actors funny by letting them stay solemn. His strongest comedies keep changing the joke; the weaker ones expect recognition to do too much of the work.
Fi1m perspective
In Airplane (1980), absurd lines are delivered with the authority needed to make an emergency sound plausible. Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker wrote and directed it, and their insistence on straight-faced performances makes even some feeble wordplay worth hearing. We laughed because the cast takes these ridiculous misunderstandings so seriously. The inventiveness makes this an excellent comedy, though we occasionally wished the script had supplied something better than another verbal mix-up.
That discipline cannot do everything. Top Secret (1984), again directed by the three, has Val Kilmer's earnest delivery to hold it together. The pastiche songs give him something to do beyond keeping a straight face, and the physical comedy is often more rewarding than the story. Yet the characters too often seem to be waiting for the next joke. We enjoy the persistence, but the failed attempts arrive almost as regularly as the good ones.
Ruthless People (1986) gives the trio a firmer reason for its characters to behave badly: a husband is delighted by his wife's kidnapping. Dale Launer's screenplay keeps making that failure of affection everybody else's problem. Danny DeVito and Bette Midler make the nastiness enjoyable, which gives the farce more to sustain it between complications. It grows less convincing when it starts tidying up, but the spite is worth an evening.
The changing kinds of joke matter just as much as the actors' composure. In The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988), directed by David Zucker, Abrahams shares the screenplay credit with both Zuckers and Pat Proft. A verbal misunderstanding can give way to physical clumsiness or something absurd in the picture, while Michael Jablow's editing keeps us from dwelling on a failure. That variety makes the density pleasurable, even if a few crude jokes deserve retirement.
Abrahams's solo directing began with Big Business (1988), and Hot Shots (1991) brought the deadpan spoof into that part of his career. Co-writing with Proft, he gives Charlie Sheen plenty of opportunities to look foolish while remaining solemn. Enough jokes land to make it enjoyable, but recognising the target too often exhausts the gag. There is little warmth in the characters to carry us through the weaker passages. Start with Airplane, and allow it a few dreadful jokes.
Biography
Jim Abrahams was an American film writer and director. Born on 10 May 1944 in Shorewood, Wisconsin, he died on 26 November 2024 in Santa Monica, California. He attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison and, with childhood friends David and Jerry Zucker, formed the Kentucky Fried Theater comedy troupe in the early 1970s.
Abrahams is best known for his work with the Zuckers on the spoof comedy Airplane! (1980), which he co-wrote and co-directed, and subsequent films including Top Secret! (1984), Ruthless People (1986) and The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988). He later directed Big Business (1988) and co-wrote and directed the Hot Shots! films (1991 and 1993). He received a BAFTA nomination for the screenplay of Airplane!.
