Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious or dramatic work, often to relieve tension.
19-514: Curly Sue is a 1991 American comedy drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes , and starring James Belushi , Kelly Lynch and Alisan Porter . It tells the story of a homeless con artist and his young orphan companion who gain shelter with a rich divorce lawyer. This was the final film directed by Hughes before his death in 2009. The film received generally negative reviews from critics. Bill Dancer and his young companion 7-year-old Curly Sue, an orphaned girl who Bill took in as
38-476: A baby, are homeless folks with hearts of gold. Their scams are aimed not at turning a profit but at getting enough to eat. One night, while they are sleeping at a shelter, Sue's tin ring, which was left to her by her late mother, is stolen and pawned by a drifter. After moving from Detroit to Chicago, the duo succeed in conning a rich divorce lawyer named Grey Ellison into believing she backed her Mercedes into Bill. When Grey accidentally collides with Bill for real
57-417: A character who is to be taken seriously. Other characters may use comic relief as a means to irritate others or keep themselves confident. Sometimes comic relief characters will appear in fiction that is comic . This generally occurs when the work enters a dramatic moment, but the character continues to be comical regardless. External and internal comic reliefs can be separated based on the engagement within
76-596: A comedy drama, this hybrid genre often deals with real life situations, grounded characters, and believable situations. The ratio between the drama and comedy can vary, but most of the time there is an equal measure of both, with neither side dominating. Abreu also adds that dramedies often deal with relatable and serious topics such as divorce, illness, hardship, and heartache. Examples of comedy dramas in American film include: Examples of American television comedy dramas include: Comic relief Comic relief usually means
95-482: A half stars out of four in his Movie Guide , and called it "A John Hughes formula movie where the formula doesn't work". Halliwell's Film Guide calls it "Gruesomely sentimental and manipulative". Nigel Andrews of the Financial Times declared, "John Hughes here graduates from the most successful comedy in film history to scripting and directing a large piece of non-biodegradable tosh ." Roger Ebert gave
114-462: A humorous tenor. In television, modern scripted comedy dramas tend to have more humour integrated into the story than the comic relief common in drama series but usually contain a lower joke rate than sitcoms . In the very influential Greek theatre , plays were considered comedies or tragedies. This concept even influenced Roman theatre and theatre of the Hellenistic period . Theatre of that era
133-431: A releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episode interposed in the midst of serious or tragic elements in a drama. Comic relief often takes the form of, but is not limited to, a bumbling, wisecracking sidekick of the hero or villain in a work of fiction. A sidekick used for comic relief will usually comment on the absurdity of the hero's situation and make comments that would be inappropriate for
152-509: A rise in film and television works that could be described as comedy-dramas. The term is a translation from the French "comédie dramatique". The portmanteau "dramedy" came to be in the 1980s. In January 2022, Rafael Abreu, writing for the StudioBinder filmmaking blog, defined this genre as follows: A dramedy is a movie or program that balances the elements of a drama and a comedy. Also known as
171-684: A series of several tragic performances with a humorous satyr play . Even the Elizabethan critic Philip Sidney following Horace ’s Ars Poetica pleaded for the exclusion of comic elements from a tragic drama. But in the Renaissance England Christopher Marlowe among the University Wits introduced comic relief through the presentation of crude scenes in Doctor Faustus following the native tradition of Interlude which
190-523: Is thought to have long-lasting influence, even in modern narrative works. Even today, works are often classified into two broad buckets, dramas and comedies. For instance, many awards that recognize achievements in film and television today, such as the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards segregate several award categories into these two classifications. The 20th century saw
209-414: The box office with a gross of $ 4,974,958 on 1,634 screens. The following weekend it increased its weekend gross by seven percent to $ 5.3 million from the same number of screens and remained in second place. In its third weekend it continued on the same number of screens and managed to move into first place, taking more in its third week than in its first or second. Its final gross in the U.S. and Canada
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#1732879955141228-465: The drifter took the ring to a pawn shop and sold it, Bill buys it back. Sue and Grey return to their apartment and discover the ring, which Sue takes as a sign that Bill has decided the time has come for them to part. However, the ring is accompanied by a note saying Bill is in the living room. Grey and Bill legally adopt Sue and are subsequently married. The film ends with them dropping Sue off on her first day of school. The film debuted at No. 2 at
247-460: The film three out of four stars, complimenting "the quiet humor and the warmth of the actors." He said the movie is "not great and it's not deep, but it sure does have a heart." Comedy drama Comedy drama , also known by the portmanteau dramedy , is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and drama . In films, serious dramatic themes (such as death, illness, etc.) are dealt with realism and subtlety, while preserving
266-418: The following night, she insists on putting the two up for the night over the objections of her snotty boyfriend Walker McCormick. After a confrontation exposing the con, Bill admits the truth and tells Grey it's time for him and Sue to move on. Thinking Bill has been abusing Sue by using her in his cons, Grey demands that the girl stay with her, but Bill will not leave Sue. Grey lets them stay when she understands
285-688: The gulling of Roderigo in Othello , and the mockery of the fool in King Lear provide immense comic relief. Take the Porter scene in Macbeth : "Here's a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key…Who's there, i' the name of Beelzebub? Here's a farmer, that hanged himself on the expectation of plenty: come in time; have napkins enow about you; here you'll sweat for't…Faith, here's an English tailor come hither, for stealing out of
304-418: The precarious position the homeless pair are in. Walker, out of spite, turns them in, and Sue is taken away by child protective services , while Bill is arrested because he never had custody of the child. While in jail, he encounters the drifter who stole Sue's ring and forces him to reveal what he did with it. Grey arrives to get Bill out of jail and has also gotten Sue out of state care. After learning that
323-411: The story and the effect on the audience. An internal comic relief is a character or moment where the story is written in the story itself. Others are involved and can laugh along with the humor. While external comic relief moments occur whenever the audience is supposed to laugh but the characters do not. Greek tragedy did not allow any comic relief within the drama, but had a tradition of concluding
342-470: Was $ 33,691,313. Warner Home Video released it on VHS and Laserdisc in 1992 and later on DVD on June 1, 2004, with commentary and an introduction by Porter on special features. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes , Curly Sue holds a 13% rating based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 3.7/10. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on scale of A+ to F. Leonard Maltin gave it one and
361-583: Was usually introduced between two tragic plays. In fact, in the classical tradition the mingling of the tragic and the comic was not allowed. Comic relief moments serve the purpose of allowing the audience to "break from the dark and heavy content" and advance the plot. William Shakespeare deviated from the classical tradition and used comic relief in Hamlet , Macbeth , Othello , The Merchant of Venice and Romeo and Juliet . The grave-digger scene in Hamlet ,
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