Christopher Nolan. Many people love his movies, many others despise them. In both cases, at least part of the reason seems related to how seriously he approaches them, meticulously crafting works that can come across as ambitious and stimulating, but also pompous and unsubtle, or even soulless and shallow underneath the flashy surface. One thing is for sure: his films are not usually known for being (intentionally) funny, even if they’re hardly devoid of wit.
Having spent part of my summer reading Terry Eagleton’s Humour and then, a few days ago, laughing my ass off at Coyote vs. Acme, I’ve been thinking about the very different types of comedy that do it for me. The closest to a unifying theory I could find is that they tend to stand in direct contrast with works/worldviews/attitudes that take themselves especially seriously. It was with that in mind that I came up with the matching exercise below, taking Christopher Nolan’s filmography as a starting point… Regardless of how you feel about Nolan’s particular style of entertainment, I figured some of you might enjoy the following comedic gems as either a complement or an alternative to each of his projects:
Following (1998)
Wolfs (2024)
Christopher Nolan’s debut, Following, is a low-key neo-noir about a guy getting sucked into an eccentric criminal lifestyle, only to gradually find himself in over his head (unlike Nolan, whose verve and eagerness, in full display despite the shoestring budget, would pay off handsomely). By the time he made Wolfs, Jon Watts had already come a looong way since his own indie origins (including the neat Cop Car), having spent half a decade churning out MCU blockbusters. Yet Watts used his acquired freedom to do a smooth, small-scale crime comedy about a couple of professional fixers (i.e., the kind of guys rich people call when they need to get rid of a corpse), which could arguably pass as a cool throwback to the sort of twisty narrative you find in Following – except that the leads are played by George Clooney and Brad Pitt (whose charming complicity helps sell much of the humor).
Memento (2000)
Seinfeld: ‘The Betrayal’ (1997)
With its reverse chronology, continuously jumping back in time, Nolan’s breakthrough flick Memento is a gimmicky mystery movie, but one whose gimmick suits the films’ themes and the protagonist’s perspective: since he suffers from anterograde amnesia, Guy Pearce’s character tends to feel confused at beginning of each scene, not knowing what happened before, much like the audience. The same gimmick had been used in an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, ‘The Betrayal,’ but there it was put in the service of laughs, as the backwards movement turned setups into payoffs and vice-versa. This really elevates the episode, which, if it had been told linearly, probably wouldn’t stand out. That said, the show had become a fine-tuned machine by season 9, with the whole cast having perfected their characters’ specific comedic timing and the writers having developed a strong identity as a moral- and schmaltz-free alternative to Friends (which Seinfeld actually preceded by five years) in terms of mocking New York’s middle-class first-world problems, so there is still much else to enjoy (I love George’s utterance of the line ‘Jerry Seinfeld’s a FUNNY GUY’), especially for longtime fans.
Insomnia (2002)
Hot Fuzz (2007)
In Christopher Nolan’s most straightforward film, Insomnia, a veteran police detective is sent to a small Alaskan town to investigate a murder, only to get seriously disturbed both by a suspect’s mind games and by the damn perpetual daylight. I know this type of moody psychological thriller was not the main target of the spoof Hot Fuzz (which was in much closer dialogue with cult action cop movies like Point Break and Bad Boys II), but the latter still comes across like a magnificently absurdist take on a similar type of premise, with an officer assigned to a baffling British rural town, where he comes across a bizarre set of killings. That said, while Nolan’s direction is still relatively subdued at this stage, Edgar Wright already brings in his signature blend of high energy and smart comedy, making the most out of filmic language, from dazzlingly quick-cut editing to droll sound design.
Batman Begins (2005)
Darkman (1990)
As I mentioned when I first discussed Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy in Gotham Calling: ‘When you get down to it, Batman Begins may not be as down-to-earth as it is often claimed (the climax revolves around an evil plot to cause mass hysteria in Gotham City by vaporizing a fear-inducing hallucinogenic with the help of a huge microwave emitter!), but it is certainly more straight-faced than any of the previous live action films about the Caped Crusader.’ Fifteen years before he brought unprecedented gravitas to Nolan’s DCU, Liam Neeson had already starred in a dark superhero origin story with plenty of explosive action and moral ambiguity in the form of Darkman, where he played a masked scientist searching for vengeance in his city’s scuzzy streets against a bunch of vicious gangsters who had almost killed him. Because that one was co-written and directed by (pre-Spider-Man) Sam Raimi, though, the result was much more playful, with gonzo visuals, over-the-top violence, and some truly zany revenge schemes.
The Prestige (2006)
Magicians (2007)
The Prestige managed to take the campy world of British stage magicians and carefully turn it into a gothic steampunk drama full of surprising plot twists, eerie atmosphere, and operatic character development. A year later, Magicians pushed that world in the opposite direction, juxtaposing the supposed sense of wonder and spectacle with the frustrated, depressing lives and personal arguments of a double act (played by David Mitchell and Robert Webb in the dry style of Peep Show) and their assistants (Jessica Hynes practically owns the movie every moment she’s onscreen). Like The Prestige, the film seems aware that magic acts are about misdirection and relief, but instead of dramatic tension, it milks that awareness to generate tense laughter. Co-written by Jesse Armstrong, the result doesn’t reach the heights of Succession, but it trades on a similar fascination with the egomaniacal and the pathetic, filtered through merciless pitch-black humor.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Snatch (2000)
Going back to that old post: ‘The Dark Knight chronicles the Darwinian evolution of Gotham’s underworld, as traditional gangsters give way to extravagant psychopaths. This is not only a genuinely great Batman film, it’s a legitimately great crime film in its own right… hell, it’s a legitimately great film, full stop. More of an ensemble piece than a hero-driven adventure, the plot spirals between Batman, the Joker, James Gordon, and Harvey Dent. By continuously escalating the complexity of the story and moving multiple chess pieces around, Nolan pushes the audience’s concentration further than he did in The Prestige without yet reaching Inception levels. It’s one awesome scene after another, with even minor characters given a chance to shine – and while Heath Ledger steals the show as a terrifying Joker, the fact is that all the performances are top-notch (despite Christian Bale’s infamous gravely Batman-voice).’ I’m going with Snatch here because it’s also a clever, frantic saga of offbeat criminals – albeit in London. In the most hyped up of the post-Tarantino dark comedies (sorry, Go), Guy Ritchie basically takes the same elements as Nolan (gangsters, psychos, ultra-intricate narrative around a rich ensemble cast with amazing performances) and stylishly ramps them up to the point of sheer hilarity.
Inception (2010)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
With Inception, Nolan crafted both a tense labyrinthic yarn (involving a string of heists in dreams within dreams) and innovative, stimulating visuals to go with it, wrapping up the whole package with poignant characterization and an unforgettable closing shot. In many ways, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind plays a similar game, offering another non-linear sci-fi tale that visualizes the multi-layered interiors of the human mind, albeit blended with a different genre: instead of a spy thriller, we get a twisted romcom. The result isn’t as madcap as previous comedies on this list (hell, at times it’s downright melancholic), but the more the film unfolds, the more the parallels branch into quirkier and amusing directions… And the ending, I’d argue, is even more powerful.