Charlie Chaplin. Buster Keaton. The Marx Brothers. Billy Wilder. Woody Allen. The Coen brothers. Where would the American film be without them? Yet the cinematic genre these artists represent--comedy--has perennially received short shrift from critics, film buffs, and the Academy Awards. Saul Austerlitz’s Another Fine Mess is an attempt to right that wrong. Running the gamut of film history from City Lights to Knocked Up , Another Fine Mess retells the story of American film from the perspective of its unwanted stepbrother--the comedy. In 30 long chapters and 100 shorter entries, each devoted primarily to a single performer or director, Another Fine Mess retraces the steps of the American comedy film, filling in the gaps and following the connections that link Mae West to Doris Day, or W. C. Fields to Will Ferrell. The first book of its kind in more than a generation, Another Fine Mess is an eye-opening, entertaining, and enlightening tour of the American comedy, encompassing the masterpieces, the box-office smashes, and all the little-known gems in between. *Starred Review* Austerlitz asserts that comedy has been underappreciated as a cinematic genre by critics and historians, and that this has resulted in underrepresentation in Academy Awards presentations and nominations. To redress this inequity, Austerlitz presents more than 100 biographical sketches of top comedy talents from Charlie Chaplin to Judd Apatow, augmented by shorter tidbits regarding lesser players. So the Jim Carrey saga coexists with the legend of Harold Lloyd, and the debonair comic stylings of Cary Grant contrast nicely with those of Will Ferrell. As the title would indicate, Laurel and Hardy are limned, as are Buster Keaton, W. C. Fields, Mae West, and the Marx Brothers. Katharine Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, and Doris Day are the only other women accorded full chapters, but Myrna Loy, Carole Lombard, and Tina Fey, among others, garner tidbit status. More recent comic masters featured include Ben Stiller, the Coen Brothers, and Steve Martin. With broad coverage like this, the book has some reference applications, though most of the pieces are unfailingly upbeat. Even tragic death is fraught with dreamy potential: regarding Jean Harlow’s death at 26, Austerlitz muses, “What might Preston Sturges have made of her had she lived?” Entertaining reading. --Mike Tribby "Entertaining reading."  —Booklist “Conventional wisdom holds that analyzing comedy is a thankless task—who’s to say what’s funny, and why kill the fun of it?—but Saul Austerlitz’s wide-ranging survey of American film comedy is both illuminating and hugely enjoyable. With its sharp insights and vivid biographical sketches, it’s first-rate film criticism and a terrific resource to boot.”  —Dennis Lim, editor, The Village Voice Film Guide "I was enrapt, argumentative, gobsmacked, amused and ready to rethink what I know about American film comedy. Crack this book open, and let the debate—and the flying pies—begin."  —Glen David Gold, author, Carter Beats the Devil and Sunnyside "Comprehensive yet reader-friendly account."  — LAWeekly.com "A sprawling but incisive biography of film comedy history."  — North County Times "Entertaining and amusing . . . this book truly highlights the best of the genre."  —COEDMagazine.com "Clever and well-researched."  — Library Journal "Sharp, scholarly."  —AmericanProfile.com Saul Austerlitz is a writer living in New York City. His work has been published in the New York Times , Los Angeles Times , Slate , the Boston Globe , and other publications. He is the author of Money for Nothing: A History of the Music Video from the Beatles to the White Stripes . Another Fine Mess A History of American Film Comedy By Saul Austerlitz Chicago Review Press Incorporated Copyright © 2010 Saul Austerlitz All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-55652-951-1 Contents Acknowledgments, Introduction, 1 CHARLIE CHAPLIN: The Most Famous Man on Earth, 2 BUSTER KEATON: The Camera Man, 3 HAROLD LLOYD: The Striver, 4 LAUREL & HARDY: Straight Man and Little Boy, 5 THE MARX BROTHERS: Brothers of Anarchy, 6 W. C. FIELDS: The Juggler 63, 7 MAE WEST: "It's All Been Done Before, but Not the Way I Do It", 8 ERNST LUBITSCH: The Touch, 9 PRESTON STURGES: The Cockeyed Caravan, 10 CARY GRANT: The Picture of Archie Leach, 11 KATHARINE HEPBURN: Spencer's Rib, 12 BILLY WILDER: "Nobody's Perfect!", 13 MARILYN MONROE: Funny Blonde, 14 DORIS DAY: Battle of the Sexless, 15 JERRY LEWIS: They're Crazy About Him in France, 16 PETER SELLERS: The Man Behind the Masks, 17 DUSTIN HOFFMAN: Stardom, Revised, 18 ROBERT ALTMAN: Overlapping Dialogue, 19 MEL BROOKS: The 2000-Year-Old Parodist, 20 WOODY ALLEN: Hope and Bergman, 21 RICHARD PRYOR: Rebel Without a Pause, 22 ALBERT BROOKS: The Return of Sully Sullivan, 23 STEVE MARTIN: The Jerk and the Genius, 24 EDDIE MURPHY: Incredible Shrinking Comic, 25 BILL MURRAY: J