Review: The Last Laugh

The Last Laugh (2020) is a horror film, written and directed by Jeremy Berg. As our story begins, we are introduced to Myles (Steve Vanderzee). Myles is a stand-up comedian, in the middle of a gig, performing for a crowd of two visibly disappointed patrons. Following his disastrous set, Myles tries to drink his sorrows away at the bar.

Myles is then joined by his agent Nelson (Eric Stone), who orders a light beer. Nelson carries a tone of sympathy in his voice as he comforts Myles about the shit gig that just happened. Myles then asks Nelson about the gig Nelson has booked for him tomorrow night. Myles is booked to be the supporting act of the once-famous actor/comedian Reggie Ray (Lowell Deo) who is on a comeback tour. Myles downplays the importance of the gig which upsets Nelson. As Nelson reminds Myles of the significance of the gig, Myles takes some prescription meds. The two conclude their discussion, and both leave the bar separately. Neither one of them having touched the drinks they ordered.

On his way home from the bar, Myles walks by the theater in which he will perform tomorrow night. He basks in the glow of the marquee of the Pantages Theater, while looking like a self-loathing douche.

Meanwhile, inside the theater, a man named Lawrence (Luke Schuck), casually sweeps the stage. As he sweeps, theater proprietress Donna (Angela DiMarco) stops to say “Hi” and “Bye” to Lawrence as she leaves for the night. During their conversation, Donna conspicuously mentions to Lawrence that they don’t want to let anyone into the theater that isn’t supposed to be there. She then leaves for the night.

As soon as Donna makes her exit, Lawrence hears a noise from out in the rows of seats. He strains his eyes to see who is there, but the light is insufficient. At this moment, a shadowy, masked figure creeps up on Lawrence and murders him. Lawrence bleeds to death in a heap upon the stage.

The next day, Myles arrives at the theater early and is greeted by stage manager Andy (Mark Leppard). As Andy takes Myles to his dressing room, we are introduced to Bethany (Meranda Long), who tells Myles that there is a ghost in the theater. Andy tells her to STFU, and takes Myles to his dressing room.

In his dressing room, Myles has some kind of bizarre stigmata hallucination, for some reason. Following this he is visited by his irate agent who tells Myles to not take his meds tonight, for he believes they make Myles unfunny. Nelson leaves, and Myles finds the bloody corpse of Lawrence.

And with that grizzly discovery, The Last Laugh has left the station, with no way of turning back. I’ll just say it right now, The Last Laugh isn’t very good. I wanted to like it. I tried to be as open-minded as possible, but the film just fails on too many levels.

The biggest failure of the film, is that it employs the same bullshit tactic that J.J. Abrams has mined to an infuriating degree of success. I don’t know this tactic has a name, so I use what I consider to be the most infamous line from the incomprehensibly beloved Star Wars: The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, 2015) to describe it. To quote Yoda… er I mean Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o), in reference to how she acquired Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber, “that is a story for another time.”

Excuse me? A story for another time? No, fuck you. How about you actually write a fucking story?! Is that too much to ask? That if a filmmaker dangles a mystery in front of my face, that the mystery will at some point be addressed and resolved? The only way you can successfully avoid explaining something at the moment, is to explain it at some other time prior to the end of the film. The notion that purposely leaving your audience in the dark is being “intentionally enigmatic” is solid gold bullshit. At least, unless you are Yorgos Lanthimos. Something both Abrams, and Berg are definitely not. Avoiding telling your story is not a cool, artsy choice. It’s just lazy fucking writing. I’m not saying that Jeremy Berg was trying to be intentionally enigmatic. I don’t know for sure whether he was or wasn’t. I just wanted to extend all possible credit.

The Last Laugh contains two huge mysteries that are absolutely central to the story. Neither one of which is ever explained nor resolved in a satisfactory manner. There are also a few smaller ones that go equally unexplained, but I ended up forgetting about those because I was so distracted by the much larger ones. And I would have been willing to forgive one of the two not being explained, had they actually explained the other one. But Berg chose to explain neither. So we both ended up losers.

Additionally, this film is populated with assholes. Not one character is likable. Every person in this film is either an asshole, or a douchebag, or both. It makes it hard to root for Myles, when you want to kill him yourself. I mean, I get it. Myles has some kind of PTSD relating to a woman, apparently from his past (that Berg feels no need whatsoever to provide any context or explanation for), which is likely the reason he is on anti-psychotic meds in the first place. But for God’s sake, give us a reason to root for him.

Apparently, this film is billed as a Giallo. In case you are unfamiliar with the term, Giallo is a sub-genre of horror. “Giallo” is the Italian word for yellow. When these films first originated in Italy of the 1960s’, they were called “yellow” films, dubbed this for the pulpy, mystery novels with yellow covers that contained similar stories. Giallo films are ones that typically feature a mystery, sexual titillation, a knife wielding murderer in disguise, and an Italo Disco-ish, synth score.

They don’t all feature all of these tropes all the time, but once you watch a few of them, you become familiar with the particular style fairly quickly. They are a very idiosyncratic type of horror film. Not all of the material I’ve seen on this film mentions its Giallo leanings. No surprise there, not everyone is going to know what they are talking about. But I saw enough that I was expecting a Giallo when I fired this flick up. While The Last Laugh does feature a few tropes, I wouldn’t really describe it as Giallo.

This isn’t necessarily a criticism, as you might not give a shit. And I don’t know that I did either. But just to be clear, if you are looking for a Giallo, I would advise that you look elsewhere. Eyeball (Umberto Lenzi, 1975) is my personal favorite, but there is a significant quantity of quality Gialli out there, if that’s the kind of thing that really pumps your nads.

As we are already talking about Star Wars, much like Darth Vader, there is some good in The Last Laugh. The cinematography was nice. The lighting looked great for the most part. Going through the film a second time, I did find myself laughing at some of the dialogue. There are some funny lines. Not all of them are Ha-Ha-funny, but they can be witty.

There actually is a decent amount of humor and wit contained within. Going through the film a second time, I did find myself laughing at a decent amount of the dialogue. There are some funny exchanges. Not all of them are Ha-Ha-funny, but the wit is often evident. Problem is, the humor is so frequently offset by long stretches of boredom, and certain events requiring impossible leaps of logic to excuse, that when the laughs do arrive, you aren’t exactly prepared for them, so they fail. As Confucius once said, “he who chases two hares will catch neither.”

Much of the acting was good. Not all of it, mind you. Fortunately, most of the leads are solid. Vanderzee manages to come across as someone I want to like, despite Myles being continuously worthy of contempt. Meranda Long was also a standout. The character of Bethany is slightly one-note, but Long has enough charisma that you look forward to seeing her again. Angela DiMarco, Lowell Deo, and Mark Leppard are all also beyond competent.

My major issues with this film involve the script, not the execution of it. In this light, Berg seems like a better director than a writer. Just like J.J. Abrams. I can’t be certain of this, because that’s what is nice about good actors. They are good. You tell them what’s up, and they go off and be good. So it could just be good acting. But far be it from me to want to rob a director of credit, if it is deserved. So when it comes to select performances, good job, Jeremy Berg.

Otherwise, The Last Laugh is a mostly unfunny, mostly boring, definitely not scary horror film that, even at a lean 81 minutes, managed to feel way too long. There are moments that shine, but overall the whole thing falls flat. The film is tonally inconsistent, the kills are boring, suspense and/or tension are non-existent, there is no reason to care about anyone or anything that happens to them, and tons of shit either doesn’t make sense, and/or sense isn’t made of it for you.

If you absolutely love independent horror, The Last Laugh might be worth a look. But if you are anything from a casual fan to an ultra-snob, you probably won’t dig this movie. The Last Laugh will be on you, if you pay to rent it.

P.S. One of the better scenes in the film occurs at about 45 minutes in. Bethany tells Myles the story behind the theater’s haunting. She tells him the ghost is named Laughing Linda. Myles counters that naming the ghost Laughing Linda doesn’t make sense, based on the story, and that it should be named Laughing Larry. I pumped my fist in the air at the name-dropping of Laughing Larry, because of the amazing song “Laughing Larry” by the amazing band Six Finger Satellite! A song which I’ve done you the favor of embedding for you below. Enjoy!