Satire is a wonderful, but small genre, of movies. The most difficult to make truly funny is satire of movies or of TV programs. That's because they are hard to come up with originality. When the audience knows the original source so well, the writers have to create comedy that we can't see coming. It's the surprise that's needed to put the dialog across as humorous.
Unfortunately, "Dragnet" missed on this big time. It was so predictable throughout, that it's almost devoid of any original humor. That means no laughs. Then, with its combination of crude and crud, this film comes off as a big turd. It's too bad Tom Hanks picked this and a couple other stinker films as his career was taking off. And, Dan Aykroyd is capable of great comedy, not dumb, humorless garbage like this.
This "Dragnet" has one piece of biting satire that seems befitting for the home of Tinseltown. In a TV program within the movie, the mayor of Los Angeles, Jane Kirkpatrick (played by Elizabeth Ashley), is thanking the Rev. Whirley (played by Christopher Plummer) on his selection of L. A. for his new program.
Mayor Kirkpatrick, "What a deep honor it is for this city that you have chosen Los Angeles to be the new focal point for the Moral Advancement Movement of America (MAMA)." Rev. Whirley, "Oh, it's quite simple, uh, really, uh, Jane. If one wishes to effect a financial upheaval in this country, one should set his or her sights on Wall Street. If one wishes to revolutionize the, uh, political system, he or she would naturally go to Washington, heh, heh. But, uh, when dealing with, uh, pornography, filth, crime, degradation, what better place is there to begin with than Los Angeles, the current capital of depravity in what sadly passes for the modern world?"
Unfortunately, "Dragnet" missed on this big time. It was so predictable throughout, that it's almost devoid of any original humor. That means no laughs. Then, with its combination of crude and crud, this film comes off as a big turd. It's too bad Tom Hanks picked this and a couple other stinker films as his career was taking off. And, Dan Aykroyd is capable of great comedy, not dumb, humorless garbage like this.
This "Dragnet" has one piece of biting satire that seems befitting for the home of Tinseltown. In a TV program within the movie, the mayor of Los Angeles, Jane Kirkpatrick (played by Elizabeth Ashley), is thanking the Rev. Whirley (played by Christopher Plummer) on his selection of L. A. for his new program.
Mayor Kirkpatrick, "What a deep honor it is for this city that you have chosen Los Angeles to be the new focal point for the Moral Advancement Movement of America (MAMA)." Rev. Whirley, "Oh, it's quite simple, uh, really, uh, Jane. If one wishes to effect a financial upheaval in this country, one should set his or her sights on Wall Street. If one wishes to revolutionize the, uh, political system, he or she would naturally go to Washington, heh, heh. But, uh, when dealing with, uh, pornography, filth, crime, degradation, what better place is there to begin with than Los Angeles, the current capital of depravity in what sadly passes for the modern world?"