You can’t really discuss what is or isn’t funny, because what makes you laugh can be the most subjective thing in the world.
Which is why Yahoo Movies debuting the red-band trailer for Welcome To The Jungle is not going to do it for everyone, and that’s okay: most trailers for comedies, even good ones, are pretty dreadful, representing the gags advertisers think the dumbest people in the audience will laugh at the most. Because advertisers are the worst, this approach usually leads to the misrepresentation of some very funny movies. Is Welcome To The Jungle one of those?
You tell us. This clip is a lot similar to the one that surfaced back in November, only with slightly more blue language. Other than that, Welcome To The Jungle is the comedy it says it’s going to be: a corporate getaway led by a stone-faced Jean-Claude Van Damme where a bunch of pencil-necks fight amongst each other for supremacy. The list of funny people in this includes the perennially underrated Rob Huebel, the squeaky-voiced Kristen Schaal (who suffers quite the indignity in this trailer), and Adam Brody (who, shade-throwing aside, has really had a rough filmography in the past decade).
The highlight is clearly Van Damme, who’s got quite the funny bone. Throwing kicks like he’s still fighting in Bloodsport, the Muscles From Brussels is clearly having a great time sending up his tough-guy image. Both ridiculously silly and yet still upsettingly intense, Van Damme looks on a completely different wavelength, for better or worse, than the rest of this cast. JCVD’s got one of his rare theatrical releases today with the limited showcase for Enemies Closer (check your newspaper for showtimes, kids!), and it seems as if The Expendables 2 brought upon a mini-resurgence for his onscreen skills. And, again, look at that filmography: at this point, you’d rather sit down for a Van Damme movie than you would an Adam Brody movie, no?
One might think the last money shot of Van Damme being tackled by that tiger suggests he dies early in this film. Oh ho ho, what little you know about the history between Van Damme and tigers. Catch this clip from the peerless Double Team, where Van Damme and Dennis Rodman battle Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke and a tiger in the middle of a minefield. The clip is edited awkwardly to mostly remove the tiger, but that makes the final moment of the entire thing that much weirder and more awesome out of context.
