Laughter from the dark side.

• Author: Gehring, Wes D.
• Position: REEL WORLD - Black humor in the movies - Critical essay

DARK COMEDY probably is the most macabre of film genres. Pioneering movie examples of black humor would include Frank Capra's adaptation of "Arsenic and Old Lace" (1944) and Charlie Chapfin's "Monsieur Verdoux" (1947). In the former, Cary Grant discovers that the sweet old aunts who raised him make it their "benevolent" policy to knock off lonely, unattached elderly men with a touch of poison in their wine. Conversely, Chaplin's title character marries equally lonely senior women and murders them. However, he is out for profit--his victims are wealthy.

Not surprisingly, the genre constantly has continued to push the shock effect envelope for what registers as black humor, such as the Coen Brothers' "No Country for Old Men" (2007). While this propensity for an ever-escalating showcase of the comically macabre definitely is not going away, in recent years a curious new wrinkle has emerged. One might call this a gentler form of dark comedy that eventually dovetails into a feel-good conclusion--a development normally contradictory to the genre. Prime examples of this softer side of black humor would include Curtis Hanson's "Wonder Boys" (2000), Wes Anderson's "The Royal Tenenbaums" (2001) and "IGBY Goes Down" (2002), and Jonathan Daygon and Valerie Faris' "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006).

One might best begin with "Sunshine," since it made the biggest initial splash with audiences and critics of these four focus films. It chronicles a road trip by the most dysfunctional of families--a basic dark comedy component. A visiting intellectual uncle (Steve Carrel) recently has attempted suicide over a lost male lover and losing credit for his academic scholarship. Grandpa (Alan Arkin in an Oscar-winning performance) is a drug addict. The teenage son (Paul Dano) has taken a vow of silence in honor of nihilistic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, while dad (Greg Kinnear) only can think about getting ahead in business. The mother (Toni Collette) is just trying to hold it all together.

A chance for redemption comes by way of a journey to get the young daughter (Abigail Breslin) to a beauty pageant. Though the pleasantly plump youngster seems to have little chance of winning, it only seems hopeless at the opening of the talent competition, when Breslin's dance number turns out to be a stripper routine, which her grandpa has taught her. Yet, just as this dark comedy seems to be embracing the genre's signature sense of absurdity, "Sunshine" moves into a feel-good...