The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
Retro Review #57: Funniest. Movie. Ever.
The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
+ Feature film, €SA 😝 1h 49m
+ <dubbed> (1984) 1h 49m
+ 1️⃣/6 films in Gods Must Be Crazy multiverse⭐
+ 1️⃣/2 films in Gods Must Be Crazy series⭐
A+^
Grade: A+^ (20.0) / HOF: 90
EQ 👍A++ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A+ 🎼A+
DW 😎😎10.4 | 🌚10 🌝11
POPCAP 💯n/a 🍿n/a 🧢n/a
L-R 💻⬇️3️⃣ 👀⬆️🔼 🛐⬇️1️⃣
There are people who consider Monty Python and the Holy Grail to be the funniest movie ever. In my opinion, it has the most quotable lines of any movie ever, but isn’t quite the funniest.
There are even more people who consider Airplane! to be the funniest movie ever. In my opinion, it has the most laughs per minute of any movie ever, but quantity is not the the same thing as quality, and I rank Airplane! as only the second funniest movie ever. And also as only the second funniest movie originally released in 1980.
Call me daft if you wish. (You wouldn’t be the first one to do so.) But I will maintain that The Gods Must Be Crazy is the funniest movie ever. Hear me out.
The Gods Must Be Crazy is written, produced and directed by South African filmmaker Jamie Uys. Released in his home country in 1980, originally with Afrikaans dialogue, it was later dubbed in English, and received a limited release in the United States in 1984.
Uys was already known for his comedic documentary film, Animals Are Beautiful People, and you can trace the roots of The Gods Must Be Crazy back to that work.
But it’s so much more. When someone asks you what a movie is about, that’s normally an easy question to answer. Not so with The Gods Must Be Crazy. Except for my Dad, who would answer, “About two hours.” My answer can only begin with a summary as concise as my father’s: “About three things.”
Then I would continue. It’s about a tribe of Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert whose lives are turned upside down when a Coca-Cola bottle falls from the skies. An actor from an actual tribe of San Bushmen, N!xau, plays the tribal leader who must solve the tribe’s problem.
It’s about a research biologist who collects samples of elephant dung and becomes a bumbling idiot whenever he is near the city girl volunteering as a local tribal schoolteacher.
It’s about a failed coup by an inept band of revolutionary terrorists.
By now, at least I hope you can see that The Gods Must Be Crazy has more plot depth than Monty Python and the Holy Grail or Airplane! So how is it funnier? As I implied earlier, via quality not quantity. Read on.
The humor in The Gods Must Be Crazy runs deep. On the surface, you have the slapstick, the sight gags, the running jokes, the funny lines. But always underneath are the three threads of the convoluted plot gradually being woven together, creating hilarious situations that make all the surface humor deeper and funnier than mere words can describe.
Sure, I can compliment the brilliantly funny narration, that’s as dry and deadpan as the Kalahari itself. Or tell you that I think the two “Close the Gate” scenes combine as perhaps the funniest scenes I’ve ever witnessed on film. But ultimately, I just shrug and tell people they have to see it for themselves.
Onwards!
P.S. Some of the native women are shown topless in non-sexual tribal life situations. Often described as “National Geographic nudity”, it’s nothing to grown-ups, but parents should ask themselves if any bare breasts could ever be non-sexual to their straight, horny, teenaged boy.
+ last viewed (8) 2025-03-28, HDX7, 2.39, 1D
+ first viewed 1984, ThX, 2.39, 1
+ 🍌🛡️🥸🐾🐾
+ ❌0️⃣ Problematic for teens and sensitive adults. | PGc
+ 😡+1 😵💫+1 🤬-0 🤭+1 🫣-1^
+ 👀⬆️🔼 ➖(😍👹)
+ ✝️ -0 ➕(❤️💜) ➖(👙)
+ ✡️ +1 ➕🌗🤍(😠)
+ 🗽 -0
Last updated 2025-04-14
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