Two Idiots Don’t Make a Right
Packing is mindless work. It demands mindless noise. Something I could glance at occasionally while folding shirts and double-checking my toiletries bag, and still be able to follow with minimal effort. I (reluctantly) pressed play on Playdate with Kevin James and Alan Ritchson.
The error of my ways was immediately obvious.
On paper, it’s a buddy comedy. But in reality, it’s an annoying mess. A crime against creativity. One that doubles down on the single laziest stereotype in modern media: the incompetent male.
You know the one. The “dumb dad.” The human Labrador. The adult toddler who wanders through life with the social ineptitude of a garbage sack, oblivious to everything.
Kevin James built his empire on the “lovable screw-up” shtick. Fine. That’s his lane. But reducing both male leads to bumbling caricatures in the same movie is depressing.
And yeah, yeah… Melissa McCarthy exists. I know. But that’s my point. It’s not comedy anymore. It’s the creative equivalent of microwaving leftovers, crapping them out, reheating them, and eating them again.
Writing competent, funny characters is hard; writing idiots is easy. You don’t actually have to write jokes, just make them fall down. Add a simple misunderstanding for good measure. Hell, throw some smart characters into an awkward situation with the idiots and make them deal with it. Boom. I just described half the comedy movies on Netflix.
Hollywood has decided incompetence is relatable. The more exaggerated, the funnier they think it is. It’s a race to the bottom of a bottomless pit. And the problem isn’t just that it’s lazy art—it’s the permission we give by accepting it.
We’re rewarding it. We pay to see it. We give them views or clicks. They see those numbers and keep taking the easy way out. They churn out sequels. And we keep pretending that stumbling through life like a confused Roomba is charming.
It’s time to retire the village idiot, every version, at least for a little while. Male, female, whatever. It’s not funny anymore. Give it a break. Let’s reset our palates. Raise the bar for a bit and write characters who can clear it.
