Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Review

 

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was a great depiction of con artists, and I liked the movie, but not as much as I liked Paper Moon. I have included the times I laughed below with my reasoning behind why I laughed.

  •             When Freddy started smashing the dishes – incongruity theory of humor
  •            “The host of Dance USA” – incongruity
  •             When he tickled his feet – incongruity
  •             The fake laugh – incongruity theory
  •             When Freddy walks to kiss her – incongruity
  •             When is sitting in the corner – incongruity
  •             At the end, when the girl won because those dumb boys didn’t deserve to win – superiority
  •             When he pulled out the Aussie accent – incongruity, even though I predicted it

Based on my list above, I have concluded that I laugh when I get uncomfortable and when things are unexpected. Upon conducting a little research, the Incongruity theory is the most widely accepted today, which makes sense considering this is the theory I have reasoned with most heavily. When considering laughter, I laugh the most when I am watching the TV show Friends. I think Friends makes me laugh because of the witty comebacks that I don't anticipate. I have also realized I do not like humor that provides awkward silences or uncomfortable situations. For example, at the end of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, others laughed when there was a long pause before the Aussie accent, but it just made me uncomfortable. I personally thoroughly enjoyed the ending of the movie, because I thought everyone got what they deserved.

Comments

  1. williams.dan76October 14, 2025 at 11:24 AM

    Thanks, Anslee. Great comments on the film. There's definitely a lot of incongruity involving the reversal of expectations. But there's a bit of superiority in Freddy's portrayal of Ruprecht.

    ReplyDelete

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