Saying ‘Oppenheimer’ Has No Humor in It Shows You Didn’t Watch the Movie
In a day of half-baked takes, this one really took the cake. As if the day of people crying over Barbie weren’t enough, then we had to have Oppenheimer bad takes. Please tell me why I had to see someone say that Oppenheimer had no humor it in.
It really was the cursed Barbenheimer of 2024 after the Academy Award nominations came out, because what are we doing? In a since-deleted tweet, a comedian talked about how Zach Galifianakis was right in saying that there is not a bit of humor in it. “And I’m always wondering when I see dramatic things, where is anyone’s humor? No offense to Christopher Nolan, none of them have a sense of humor, not one character” he said during an interview, and well, that’s just not true.
I do understand that not everyone likes Oppenheimer in the way that I do. That’s fine; that’s not what this is about. This is about someone spreading falsehoods about a movie just because they didn’t get it. Throughout the movie, humor is used by a number of characters to show the dynamic of specific relationships. We also have laugh out loud moments because of what some of these scientists do and say to each other.
So the humor of these men is represented in the film, despite what Galifianakis is implying. He might not like their sense of humor and that’s, fine but it is there if you wish to laugh with a movie like Oppenheimer. I do think that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of Christopher Nolan’s sense of humor in his work, and Galifianakis’ take confirms my thought process.
Many did, however, take to X to prove this idea wrong.
Fans took to social media to prove this point wrong
As if being called to arms, many fans of Oppenheimer showed the sense of humor that lightens the mood of the Nolan epic. It isn’t a laugh out loud movie, and it shouldn’t be given the context of the film, but there is humor there to humanize the scientists we’re on this journey with. Matt Damon’s General Leslie Groves often cracks jokes. Rabi (David Krumholtz) is constantly poking fun at Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) to lighten the mood in their relationship.
Galifianakis’ “point” about the movie (that was shared via another comedian) ushered in plenty of posts showing its inaccuracy.
As Collider’s Maggie Lovitt pointed out, the movie has plenty of “dry humour” in it to make the audience laugh with these men as they’re working.
And it is wrong to say that no one cracks a joke in this movie! They do! Damon is making jokes constantly when talking with Oppenheimer!
Boiling this down to angry boys was also beyond frustrating
In the same since-deleted tweet, the comedian in question tried to say that all of the “humorless men” in her replies defending Oppenheimer‘s sense of humor were annoying. From what I saw, a lot of the replies proving her and Galifianakis wrong were women. Not that it matters to the point being made but it is a common way of thinking for those who want to say something about Nolan. Instead of hearing out opinions differing from them, it is time and time again dismissed as just men complaining.
As someone who has seen everything Christopher Nolan has done, the constant idea that only men like his work is something of a trigger of mine.
I’m sure men were being insufferable, but commenting that only men were pushing back is a) not true and b) playing into a sexist narrative that women don’t like Nolan and his filmography.
The entire fight was insufferable not only because it showed that those who deemed the movie humorless didn’t watch it, but that should not be your take away from a movie like Oppenheimer. What jokes do you want them to make? When they were at Los Alamos, the scientists all poked fun at each other and had fun before the horrors of their creation took over the later portion of the film.
It does have a balance between the dramatic moments and lighter elements for the audience and to humanize these men. Some people apparently just wanted to be “hahaha”-ing the entire movie, and that’s not what Oppenheimer is.
If you don’t think that Alden Ehrenreich’s character saying, “Well, he’s not,” to Robert Downey Jr.’s Lewis Strauss’ complaints about Oppenheimer is objectively funny, that’s on you.
(featured image: Universal Pictures)
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