Classics
A film in category 1 isn’t really worth buying unless you’ve never seen it and it’s on sale for the cost of a rental disc. Citizen Kane and Raging Bull are awe-inspiring, but although you admire the way they are put together and you enjoy the story, the acting and the director and/or screenwriter’s vision, unless you study film they just don’t cut it as rewatchables. So rent them once and you’re done.
Few films, regardless of how masterful their creation, manage to escape the trappings of plot formula, and so they slip into familiarity and the high that they deliver dwindles by the fifth viewing, so the disc just sits forsaken on your shelf as an intimation of your good taste.
Some action films provide the adrenaline needed to endure repeat viewing, to give audiences a kick, but when much of the kick is dependent on suspense, something that is lost upon second viewing because the outcome of each moment of jeopardy is already known, the expertly choreographed sequences quickly lose their grip on our imaginations.
Rewatchables
Many of the films in category 2 – the truly rewatchable – are comedies. I think that humour is the thing that characterises the films that I most like to rewatch. Sure, some jokes quickly get old, but on the other hand there are many comic moments whose potency increases because they are anticipated. There are so many 'wait for it...' moments in the films that I like to rewatch.
I think this goes a long way to explaining why Shrek is such a world-beating DVD. It’s not the film as a whole that people like; it’s the funny little parts that make up the whole. It’s a rollercoaster comprised of funny episodes. I’m not a huge Shrek fan, but I understand its mass appeal in the DVD marketplace. My own favourites in this category include Kung Fu Hustle, the first Austin Powers, The Big Lebowski, the South Park movie, Airplane! and Shanghai Noon. These are not films that I would list to impress film geeks, but these are the discs that I reach for when I need a quick fix of home entertainment.
Classic Rewatchables
So what about category 3, the classic rewatchable? It’s difficult to assign films to this elite set; anything you put on that sacred podium is liable to be knocked off. Awards bodies dismiss films with prevalent rewatchable humour as ‘comedies’, implying that they’re not ‘proper film’. The films that do get a nod are those that are consistently amusing but where the humour is secondary to something more ‘meaningful’, whatever that means.
What do you think? Please leave a comment if any special movies spring to mind that are deserving of category 3 status.
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