Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Terror

Woody Allen's first project was "What's Up Tiger Lily," where he took a complex Japanese James Bond-like movie and added his own dub about a recipe for egg salad.

It didn't quite work, at least it seems that way today. But it did show some cleverness and a burgeoning understanding of film. At that time he was already hanging out with Godard and Balaban. But part of what made the thing work was that the movie was already a translation of sorts: it took the overly familiar Bond formula and made a completely nonsensical version. It is as funny as "Team America" even before Woody got to it.

So the deal was that Woody's project was satirizing the familiar by satirizing an (unintended) satire. That's worth checking into.

This on the other hand overlays a new dialog on a film that (by dumb luck it seems) spawned a whole new genre. It is exceedingly spare where the Japanese Bond was incredibly complex. So instead of watching two or three movies at the same time (a la "Timecode") we just watch one, the one consisting of fourth grade jokes.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.