The Josh Innes Show - Why Are Current Movies So Unfunny?

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

Jilly and I had a movies and Mexican night! We saw "One Of Them Days".... This leads me down the road of complaining about how trailers show everything. Remember when you'd go to the movies and feed off the reactions of the rest of the audience? Remember how a movie could be made funnier because the crowd was laughing hysterically? Finally, I'm floored by the Rotten Tomatoes score for this movie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All righty, Jamokes, what's happening? How are you? Glad you're listening. Appreciate you for telling all your friends about the pod. We're picking up new listeners. Make sure you do it. When you tell your friends, screenshot it, send it to me. I'll give you some love on the pod. again how rudimentary our setup is and considering that as it as it stands right now it is 10 0 6 in the morning on Wednesday January 29th and I am sitting here in bed in my underwear with an ice pack on my toe which if you want to have a little we have a little uh you know pre-pod or I guess this is during the pod but a little pre-content discussion about my toes. Again, I've taken, I just took my last dose of this steroid that I started taking last Friday, Saturday, whenever I started taking it. And I took the last dose of it today. Yet somehow my big toe still hurts. A lot of the other areas gotten better. Like I can actually walk a little bit, but that little pad underneath my big toe that, that, that makes where you basically,

where you step really hurts. And it's been hurting for weeks. I have diagnosed myself with turf toe. I guess I'm like shack now. Uh, I have, uh, I have suffered a turf toe injury that I will say had to have come from aggressive walking because that's all I do. So it's not like I'm out there running. It's not like I'm out there lifting weights. It's not like I'm playing basketball and jumping. I walk.

So I suffered a turf toe injury while walking. Now, I could just go back to the orthopedist and be like, or sorry, not the orthopedist, the podiatrist, and go back to the podiatrist and be like, or sorry, not the orthopedist, the podiatrist. I go back to the podiatrist and be like, hey, now that I've taken this round of steroids, can you help me understand why this toe still hurts what I'm dealing with? Because she wouldn't give me the steroid shot. I wanted a steroid shot. She said, no, because your pain is in so many places it wouldn't help the pain right now is just in my big toe on the bottom of my big toe and it's like a sore type of pain like when you touch it it is sore when you step on it it is sore so could you give me a shot problem is I don't

feel like spending thousands of dollars again to go back to the doctor with my jank ass insurance to try to figure this out. So I don't know what to tell you, but I'm icing that right now. So I got it wrapped up. I'm sitting in bed in my underwear, very rudimentary setup. I think it's quite the accomplishment that I can make any money sitting here doing this. And like, once I get it going to like a super degree, and I know every day you're going to listen and go, well, then do it already. Again, I've told you what my plan is. My plan is to get a gig and then really start launching this thing into a bigger thing than it is now. I just don't really have the setup for it in this house. It's kind of a dark,

dank house. Don't have the equipment for it at the moment, but I will. I will. I just got to get a gig. My aspiration, as you know, is to get back into Houston. There's not a job opening at the moment in Houston, but I know that the Classic Rock station in Houston whacked the morning show, and I know that I could go there and crush. I just got to get an opportunity to do it. We'll see if anybody gives me the opportunity to do it. I applied for a classic rock job in another city as well. Again, classic rock isn't my passion by any means, but at this point I know I'm pretty good at it and I need a job. So, you know, the podcast can be my outlet for saying all of my offensive things and the radio job could be where I say, hey, here's 38 special. But I applied for another one.

I haven't heard anything back on that. As we've discussed, and I'm not going to get into it again here in great detail because I talk about it every day. It is really shitty the number of people who do not respond when you email them. Particularly when the job posting asks you to email them your stuff. And then you email it and then you never hear anything back from people. People are schmucks. It is what it is. Take that for what it is.

But anyway, that's how things have started out today. So we did go to movies in Mexican last night. We went to see One of Them Days. Is that what the hell the movie was called? With Kiki Palmer. One of Them Days with SZA and Kiki Palmer. And look, I am a big supporter of Demir. We talk about Demir all the time. He

runs the movie theater in Houston, the one singular movie theater. He runs it in Houston. But he's a good dude, fan of the show. And when I talked about going to see one of them days, he sent me a message and said, oh, it's funny. It's like Friday. You're going to love it. It's like Friday. And I'm like, oh, okay, let's see. Okay. I was concerned that a lot of the funny shit was going to be in the trailer, which ultimately a lot of the funny shit was. And the thing is, I don't know how to explain this. I'm not spoiling anything because most of the shit that was the big bits, most of that was in the trailer. I know I bitch about this all the time it's something I complain about constantly but they've got to get to a point where the trailer isn't every scene

from the movie like the trailer tells you the whole movie like I feel like you can watch a trailer and within like 20 seconds kind of have an idea if this is a movie that you have any interest in seeing and you can do that without having to see the beginning the middle the end and every key scene in the movie you know what I'm saying like I don't feel like I need to see all of that like if I saw a trailer like generally speaking like if I would have seen a trailer for this movie one of them days that we went to see yesterday and they're like hey here's the concept here's Kiki Palmer here's uh SZA and theyZA, and they are two chicks that need to figure out how to pay the rent in Los Angeles. And they show me kind of like one wacky thing. And oh, Cat Williams is in it for a moment too.

I'd be like, I'd probably go see that. That sounds like a wacky enough concept. The poster alone would make me go see it. I don't need four minutes of you breaking down the entire movie for me and showing me every scene. So like I don't feel bad telling you about the wacky scenes in this movie because every wacky scene in the movie is in the trailer. There's a couple of funny lines in the movie, but for the most part, the wackiness, the sight gags were all in the trailer, right? Like, all right, let me play a couple commercials here, and we'll continue talking about this.

All right, if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you got to check out Pick 6 from DraftKings. When it comes to basketball payouts, DraftKings Pick 6 posterizes the competition, including prize picks. It's a very simple concept. Hit all your picks and score higher minimum payouts on pick six, plus even more cash if you outscore the competition. Pick six is available in most states, including Missouri, California, Texas, Georgia, and more, and I

absolutely love it. Look, every night we're going to be having playoff basketball. Every night. So when you're sitting around and you might not have interest in a particular game, let's say you're a fan of a particular team, they're not playing that night, here's how you make it a little bit more fun for the other games. Build a little lineup there with Pick 6. It's really great. Me and my wife do it all the time, so make sure you do it. And new players get 50 in Pick 6 credits instantly on just a $5 entry.

Download the DraftKings pick six app now and use code Ennis, that's my name, I-N-N-E-S, for new customers to play. $5, get 50 in pick six credits, better payouts, bigger wins, only with pick six from DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAM draft kings the crown is yours gambling problem call 1-800-GAMBLER help is available for problem gambling call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org in connecticut must be 18 plus age and eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction pick six not available everywhere including new york and ontario void where

prohibited one per new customer bonus award it is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days limited time offer see terms at pick six dot draft kings dot com slash promos yeah so for instance if you've seen the trailer for one of them days it's this kiki palmer movie if you've seen the trailer there's a scene where sisa is up on a light pole trying to get a pair of air jordans that were thrown over uh the electric uh the over the cord there over the wire she's trying to get them because they need rent money and she's like oh shit i can get this then of course she gets electrocuted and falls off of the light pole now again I understand that it's a wacky film and I understand that you have to have some suspension of disbelief I get all that I respect it but if you are making a movie that operates in the real world you can't have something happen

that would undoubtedly kill someone and the person who is beneath them because in the scene Kiki Palmer tries and I know I just to rewind I know I sound like a dickhead I know I sound like geez Josh have some level of joy boy Josh just have a good time it's the movies it's make-believe but I think there are two avenues you can go down if you're trying to make a movie that's set in the real world, your sight gags can't be so ridiculous that there's no way they could even possibly happen. Like stuff that would kill people, yet it doesn't kill them.

Like what is the worst scene in Christmas Vacation? The worst scene in Christmas Vacation, I'll answer for you, is the sled scene in Christmas Vacation. If you answered that, congrats. Five gold stars. Why? Because it's stupid. Like, most of the sight gags and most of the gags in Christmas Vacation are funny gags and things that could happen. Like, in theory, you could be up in the attic and you could step on a board and hit yourself in the face with the board, right? Like, it's rooted in some level of realism.

Could a cat die by chewing on an elect on a on a Christmas light wire possibly yes like these are all things that at least are funny and could happen what couldn't happen is a guy couldn't put grease on the bottom of a sled and go a million miles an hour and end up in a garbage can at the um at Walmart like that couldn't happen. And when I'm watching this movie, the scene when she's on the pole and she's at the top of the pole and they're like, you're going to hurt yourself.

And then she ends up electrocuted and not only falls off the top of an electric pole, she then falls onto Kiki Palmer, which would have killed, one would be dead from the electricity, one would be dead trying to catch their friend who falls from the top of the

pole. But yet in like five minutes, they're all okay. And they're trying to escape from an ambulance because they don't want to have to pay for the ambulance ride. Like, like that kind of shit. It was like when like,

okay, this is a weird reference, not a weird reference, but a Scott Ennis reference. My dad, for whatever reason, loved whichever daddy's home movie. it was that was with Mel Gibson. Was it Daddy's Home 2?

The one where Mel Gibson and John Lithgow are the dads, like the grandparents, right? And my dad just laughed his ass off on the scene when a snowblower ends up flying through the air. And I'm like, Dad, this doesn't make me laugh because there's no realism in this at all it's bullshit now if it's a kid's movie and like like again there is a a suspension of disbelief that does occur when you're in kids movie world like you can accept the fact like if you watch rookie of the year you can accept the fact that Henry Rowan Gardner can throw at 150 miles an hour. Why? Because it's a kid's movie and that's what we're operating under, right? Like we can assume that anything can happen in a kid's movie. And in this case, the kid breaks his shoulder and then can throw at 150 miles an hour and strike out Barry Bonds, right?

Like we do that because it's a kid's movie and we go into an anticipating kid's movie type shit. When you see angels in the outfield well we're in a movie where angels are helping a team win the game right so like when Matthew McConaughey jumps to catch a ball and an angel carries him we're like yeah that's not realistic but it's a kids movie and we can accept it this isn't a kids movie it's a rated r movie so when a chick falls off a light pole and should be dead like it's not not even really funny because you're like, that's just fucking stupid. That's like Three Stooges type of shit. And it's not really funny in the context in the world of this movie.

And that's what kind of bothered me about this movie is like, like some of the sight gags that were on the trailer. Like there's a scene in a blood bank. And again, I will tell you this because it's in the trailer. I'm not spoiling. I don't have to say spoiler alert. It's in the the trailer they go to give blood because they're trying to make money to pay the rent and the girl pulls the the the needle out of the vein on there and blood starts shooting everywhere and it's like this is fucking stupid but not funny stupid it was just kind of like I've already seen this whatever and I wanted to it, but I didn't like I walked out of it and it was passable. Like it wasn't a waste of

time. Like I sat there, I had some popcorn. I went to the movies. It was $6 Tuesday. So it's not like it was a situation where it was the worst thing I've ever watched. There've been far worse. And there've been times I've walked out of a movie that was two and a half hours and I've gone, why did I sit around for two and a half hours like it wasn't one of those situations where the movie was you know 50 minutes too long and you walked out and you're like not only did the movie suck it was too long like it wasn't too long it was fine it was passable entertainment but I never really found myself laughing and it kind of takes me to a a different discussion and I'll be honest with you.

When I see a movie and it's like, here's rapper SZA and here's Kiki Palmer. And it's a movie set in LA and they're trying to pay the rent. And all but like one person in the movie is black. I go into this thinking, all right, this is going to be one of those movies where if you get the right crowd at this movie, it's going to be made 10 times funnier because of the reaction of the crowd. So, and by that, I mean, if you're going to a crowd and that crowd is like 99% black folks ready to laugh their balls off, it can make lesser funny shit hysterical. Like black crowds make certain things better. Like if I could pick one thing to go see in my life that I didn't get to see live, I would want to go see the original Kings of comedy tour live in person in the crowd. I'd love to go see, uh, you know, Eddie, uh, let's see, Eddie, um,

uh, Eddie, uh, Eddie Murphy. I go see Eddie Murphy live doing the raw tour or whatever. I want to be part of that world. Or I don't know, we could go with Richard Pryor. Let's go with Richard Pryor live on the Sunset Strip. Not the first day he went in to do it because fun fact, the first day he went in to do it, he wasn't comfortable doing it. They canceled the show. They brought the audience back the next night and he fucking slayed. I'd love to be there the next night when he fucking slayed. And it's a 99% black crowd and everyone's laughing their balls off. Like that's fun. Being around a black audience can make things 9,000 times more fun and funnier. That's just

reality. It's not a race thing. It's not racist. It is a fact. You get into a crowd of people that is largely black and they are reacting to things on the screen. It makes it a more impactful experience, right? And I thought maybe that would be the case for this movie, this one of them days. Now, it wasn't a full house, but it was a pretty decent-sized crowd for a Tuesday afternoon at 4.30 in St. Louis. Two white people there, me and Jilly. There were a couple other older, surprisingly, like, older white folks. And then there was a good number of black folks in there. The issue that I found in this movie is I went into it thinking, God, this is going to take me back to my childhood.

When you'd go see, like, the new Rush rush hour movie and people would be rolling in the fucking aisles and stomping and laughing and i mean running up and down like having a fucking time and you're like this is an experience i don't know that anybody laughed ever maybe a chuckle maybe a huh like that's fun not like a guttural belly laugh that had people losing their shit not once i'm curious to see what the reviews are on this movie i feel like they probably got great reviews on this movie which makes me sad because it wasn't a great movie but when i was a kid it like if you went to see like a new rush hour movie on friday the night that shit opened or Saturday of opening weekend, Saturday night particular, that shit was going to be lit and it was going to be fucking fun. And you were going to be like,

I don't even know how I fit in here. I'm one of like three white people, but people are going fucking nuts. Same thing with like the first couple of scary movie movies. Me and my dad went to see the first scary movie, which I think came out in 2000. I remember exactly where we went to see it. We were in Los Angeles. Actually, this I think would have been when dad took me to LA with him. I think he was recording either a movie or a video game, a Scooby thing. And at one point, he just let me wander off in the streets of LA on my own. I'm 14 years old, no cell phone, no nothing. And he's like, all right, Josh, just go figure it out. So I ended up going to the Groman's Chinese Theater where I saw a film called The Perfect Storm. I remember nothing about going to this theater. I don't know what it looked

like on the inside. I just know I wanted to go. And I went to see this movie. Again, no cell phones, no nothing. Dad did not give a fuck. He's in his own world. He's Hollywood star Scott Ennis. He says, Josh, just go wander off on Hollywood Boulevard and we'll see you later. And somehow we found each other. I don't know how, because I didn't have a cell phone. I'm 13 years old. It's 2000. But anyway, so we end up staying. We always stayed in universal in that area for whatever reason, that's the area dad loved to stay. We stayed at the the universal sheridan which is like walking or tram distance i think it's walking distance to the universal city walk which is part of like you outside the gates of universal studio so every time i went to la with dad we did the same shit

stayed at the universal sheridan did the universal city walk went to universal oh back to the future ride oh jurassic park ride that's the kind of shit we did and i remember that he and i went to the movie theater that was on the universal city walk and we went to see scary movie the original wayans brothers scary movie before like it was bastardized and it was like scary movie eight and the wayans weren't even involved in it early on 2000 wayans brothers scary movie fucking phenomenal full house and the laughter and the fun and just the reactions made it so much better it's like when you would watch the and one mixtape tour like yeah it's pretty fucking cool that like skip to my loo is doing what he's doing and there's like the professor crossing dudes over and oh baby there's where there's Skip oh baby the professor oh baby but if it if the

audience wasn't a bunch of dudes just running around and reacting every time somebody did something crazy and getting clowned it wouldn't have had the same impact that's what a lot of these movies are like like you can watch scary movie at home and you're like, okay, it's funny. It's good. And there's funny jokes and you laugh. But when you're in a room and it's filled and you're getting that reaction from people, it changes. That's why I love going to the movies because it impacts the way you see a movie.

When you see a movie with a full audience versus when you see a movie by yourself, it is a different experience and it is a different world. So when we saw scary movie in Los Angeles it was like a it was an experience where I mean it makes everything fucking funnier and I don't know if that happens at the movies anymore I don't know if it's just because the movies aren't good anymore they're not funny again I struggle to find movies that I went to see that I'm like holy shit that was hysterical they just don't really exist anymore. But fuck, man. Back in the day, you'd go see Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.

You'd go see Rush Hour 2. And you know shit's about to go down. If you were going to see Big Mama's House, we can look back on that now and be like, that shit wasn't all that funny. You went to see Big Mama's fucking house? If you saw Big Mama's House in the theater, Big Mama's House 2 in the theater with Martin Lawrence, you're laughing your balls off because every seat is filled and everybody's going fucking crazy. That's what made that experience so fun.

Yesterday, I'm at this movie and I'm just like, eh. Like, let's see. Let's see what kind of reviews one of them days got. I just, like, look. I have a sense and I hope I'm wrong here. Not that I want bad things to happen for Kiki Palmer. I like her. I have nothing against anybody associated with this film.

The chick that played the nurse giving the blood or taking the blood, she's fantastic on Abbott Elementary. Like, these are funny people just making not very funny shit. All right, let's see here. Rotten Tomatoes. Let's see. One of them days. Let's see. What kind of reviews did you get? 95%. How the fuck did this movie get a 95% rating? 75 reviews from critics, not just the audience. the audience gives it a 91 percent this movie which i did not think was i did not belly laugh one fucking time and most of the shit that was funny was in

the trailer 95 percent what are we doing god these like and like i i look whatever but there ain't nothing funny about this movie it was fine it was fine there's likable people in it like there was nothing wrong with the movie other than the fact it wasn't funny but whatever 95 you can't trust this shit no trust your boy here your boy will give you the gospel the guy Your boy here will tell you what's fucking funny and what's not funny. That shit ain't funny. The world has changed completely. If that's a 95, but that's not shocking because Rotten Tomatoes also told you that the girl Booksmart movie, the girl Superbad, Booksmart was fucking hysterical and the funniest movie

they've ever seen. Didn't get it. So maybe I'm just old. Maybe 38-year-old Josh is just an old fucking man at this point. I don't know. But I didn't get it. We need to go back to the days when the Wayans brothers were just making fucking hysterical shit. Places filled.

We're all rolling around. You want to have a great time? Watch a movie with Tank. You watch a movie with Tank and it's the funniest thing you've ever fucking seen. It's infectious. When you're around a group of people laughing their balls off, particularly a group of black folks at a black movie or a black stand-up laughing their balls off. It's infectious. It's incredible. It's fun. It'll change everything for you. That didn't happen at this movie so 95% I don't fucking get.