When did nudity in movies stop being sexy and start being funny? I speak, of course, of scenes in this summer's films The Hangover, The Proposal, Bruno and The Ugly Truth (opening Friday) in which the anti-erotic nudity of Zach Galifianakis, Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Sacha Baron Cohen and Katherine Heigl is played for laughs.
First time I noticed this was about six years ago in Something's Gotta Give in a scene where Jack Nicholson loses his way in Diane Keaton's house and startles his nekkid hostess in the hallway. (This, shortly after a scene where Nicholson, on pain meds, wanders down a hospital hallway with the back of his hospital gown open.) Then there was Sideways where the Naked Guy runs down the street trying to beat up Thomas Haden Church who had his way with Naked Guy's wife. Since then, the naked Greco-Roman wrestling between Borat and his videographer in Borat has been a high of low gross-out comedy.
Do the laughs come from the surprise of seeing man and woman parts not in the service of titillation? Or....? Your thoughts?
Totally forgot to cite Jason Segel in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," which did more to advance (or regress) this trend than any other film.— carrierickey- There was a bit of totally gratuitous male frontal nudity (in close-up, no less) by a faceless day player in "Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story" (2007) and by Tim Blake Nelson in "The Good Girl" (2002). Neither was remotely funny or necessary. Simple shock value/titillation. This is America, kiddo. We have hang-ups like that here.— Pash
- then there's the Pythons--Brian's full-frontal stuff in "The Life of Brian" and their many "naughty bits" TV skits. have also wondered if that Borat scene wasn't meant to parody the "Women in Love" nude wrestling--— bob ickes
- Jason Segel naked is funny; Ryan Reynolds naked is just ... awesome. But seriously, I agree with Pash: S"imple shock value/titillation. This is America, kiddo. We have hang-ups like that here."— NFalcone
- I remember seeing Sally Kellerman's comic full frontal nude scene in M*A*S*H and thinking it was quite daring in its day. I remember seeing A ROOM WITH A VIEW and being rather amused. Now I look at THE HANGOVER and just get depressed. See how much has changed in thirty-plus years? There are plenty of examples of getting a laugh from nudity-as-embarassment humor like this one. But what's hilarious to one person isn't necessarily funny to another. Of course nudity as humor plays on our fears of being exposed to others. But while these comic nude scenes allow characters and audience members the opportunity to point and laugh, I was always told that's the exact wrong response to seeing someone naked.— garyk
- This is no joke: Ewan McGregor went full frontal in two films - "The Pillow Book" and "Young Adam" - and he was clearly showing off. What can I say? He made me seriously self-conscious for a week after seeing each film.— Pash
- Ewan also went full frontal in "Velvet Goldmine".— P-Frank
- Ewan McGregor was also displayed in "Trainspotting"...this guy is the Jean Claude van Damme of frontal— J H
- Guys, guys, Much as I love Ewan McGregor, willy-nilly or full-frontal, the question here was why do we think nudity has become the springboard for comedy rather than sex?— carrierickey
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