If you feel like you still have no idea what’s going on, well … that’s kind of the vibe Dupieux’s work sets, so it’s not the trailer editor’s fault.
I personally really like that random sense of humor, which you can probably trace back to Mel Brooks and the team of Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker. The last act of “Blazing Saddles” and the entirety of “Airplane!” set me up perfectly to appreciate humor that leans towards the random, vulgar, and childish, so naturally I gravitate toward Dupieux’s work. Not everyone will, of course, but for those who dig this kind of thing, there’s nobody out there making comedies like these except for this mad Frenchman.
While we get flashes of absurdist comedy in some big tentpoles (the MCU dabbles in this from time to time … just look at M.O.D.O.K. in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”), it’s rare we get full on movies like this anymore. In fact, the last big movie I can think of that really embraced this kind of humor is “They Came Together,” which skewered the traditional rom-com. Maybe Paul Rudd is the only one who can bring this humor to mainstream American audiences these days!
So, if you’re like me and miss comedies that aren’t afraid to go totally silly, then make sure to seek out “Smoking Causes Coughing” when it hits theaters and digital on March 31, 2023.