Rude Awakening: American Comedy, 1990–2010

6/27/14 to 8/30/14

Our three-part survey of American comedy closes out with movies selected by you, the audience. You have chosen films that are destined to be classics, if they aren't already: Austin Powers, Groundhog Day, Best in Show, The Royal Tenenbaums, Knocked Up, Borat, The Big Lebowski, Office Space, and more.

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  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
    Events
  • Selected
    Objects
  • Past
    Films
  • Past
    Events

Past Films

  • Waiting for Guffman

    Friday, June 27 8:50 pm
    Christopher Guest (U.S., 1996). Guest's spiffy spoof is Spinal Tap meets Samuel Beckett. A small town theater troupe, led by a self-deluded director (Guest), gets ready for a big show, and won't let its lack of talent get in the way. Eugene Levy, Parker Posey, Catherine O'Hara, and Fred Willard costar. (84 mins)
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  • Groundhog Day

    Sunday, June 29 6pm
    Harold Ramis (U.S., 1993) In 4K Digital Cinema! It's one of those days again-literally, as Bill Murray finds himself reliving the same day over and over again in Harold Ramis's delightfully droll comedy. Andie MacDowell and cult comic Chris Elliott costar. (101 mins)
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  • Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

    Sunday, July 6 7pm
    Jay Roach (U.S., 1997). Yeah, baby! That seductive but lethal bachelor James Bond gets his due in Mike Myers's shagedelic send-up of spycraft. (90 mins)
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  • The Big Lebowski

    Wednesday, July 16 7pm
    Joel and Ethan Coen (U.S., 1998). The Coen Brothers's ever-quotable comedy of bowlers, “the Dude,” nihilists, and more, starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, and Steve Buscemi. (117 mins)
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  • Galaxy Quest

    Sunday, July 20 6pm
    Dean Parisot (U.S., 1999). When the Thermians are in danger of extinction at the hands of a reptilian warlord, they seek help from earth: unfortunately, they can't fathom fact from fiction, and look for salvation from the cast of a canceled TV series, Galaxy Quest. Recipient of Hugo and Nebula Awards. (102 mins).
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  • Office Space

    Friday, July 25 8:45pm
    Mike Judge (U.S., 1999). A team of peeved worker drones tries to survive office culture in Mike Judge's biting takedown of corporate culture, suburban dread, vapid chain restaurants, and how to get away with not working while at work. From the creator of Silicon Valley and Beavis and Butthead. (89 mins)
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  • The Royal Tenenbaums

    Wednesday, August 6 7pm
    Wes Anderson (U.S., 2001). Anderson's nostalgic look at a family of very bored Tenenbaums-played by Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, Anjelica Huston, Luke Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bill Murray, and cowriter Owen Wilson-is arguably the crowning achievement of the “Wes Anderson” style. (109 mins)
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  • Best in Show

    Friday, August 15 8:50 pm
    Christopher Guest (U.S., 2000). Guest's “dogumentary” on a dog-show competition is a breed all its own. Pet promoters played by Fred Willard, Parker Posey, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy. (90 mins)
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  • Zoolander

    Saturday, August 23 8:15pm
    Ben Stiller (U.S., 2001). Fashion's never looked so good in this tale of a vapid male model (Ben Stiller), his dashing rival (Owen Wilson), and an evil fashion czar (Will Ferrell), all locked together in a plot as ludicrous as Stiller's poses. (89 mins)
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  • Knocked Up

    Sunday, August 24 7pm
    Judd Apatow (U.S., 2007). A dumpy stoner (Seth Rogen) accidentally knocks up a comely careerist (Katherine Heigl) in Apatow's classic boy-bleeps-girl story. (129 mins)
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  • Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

    Friday, August 29 8:45pm
    Larry Charles (U.S., 2006). Cultural comic and chameleon Sacha Baron Cohen transforms himself into a curious, and curiously thonged, Kazakh journalist on tour through the stranger edges of America. Will he survive rodeos, beach culture, and more? (84 mins)
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  • The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

    Saturday, August 30 8:50pm
    Wes Anderson (U.S., 2004). Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) is an oddball oceanographer assembling a ship-of-fools with long-lost son (Owen Wilson) and crew, along with the ever-mellifluous Seu Jorge, who punctuates the proceedings by singing David Bowie songs in Portuguese. (118 mins)
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