Funny People 2 (1983) User Reviews

Candid Camera antics with a racist twist

[davidxryan · 5/10 · 22 May 2003]

I spent about three months travelling around South Africa in 2002 and watched a video of this on a Greyhound bus going from Kimberley to Cape Town. It was entertaining enough, and occasionally very funny, but what sticks in my mind is the way some of the black people who were victims of Jamie Uys' practical jokes were patronisingly presented as Stepin Fetchit-like morons.

A workman who thinks he has blown up a building, for instance, thinks he can undo the damage by turning a switch back to where it was. But if blacks were being given a sub-standard education, what did the whites expect? While I wouldn't expect old movies to be banned in the "new" South Africa, it felt weird to see this throwback to a less enlightened age being screened on public transport. (Oh, and on a lighter note, look out for a young Arnold Vosloo, later to find fame as The Mummy!)

Politically Incorrect Now and Staged but Funny Anyhow

[sasamijurai · 8/10 · 9 August 2006]

A really hilarious Candid-Camera like series of skits on the unsuspecting public. Although I should mention that a few of the hoaxes are staged because they contain real actors as members of the public.

Someone here mentioned racism. I find that idea ridiculous. First of all while this film was made in the time of apartheid it can be clearly seen that the maker treats people of all colour the same. In fact the narrator makes a few insulting statements about some of the white victims. Whites, blacks and coloureds (what people of mixed descent like to be called in South Africa) are made fun of - we're all human.

The separation of the cables to undo the explosion is a natural human reaction, I mean imagine seeing an explosion seemingly caused by you, what would you do immediately - probably that, I know I would.

What is also wonderful to see is that ordinary South Africans of that time had tolerance for each other and treated each other with respect. You see both black and white people on the street, in shops, etc. In some scenes you even see a black man and a white woman - who has just eaten 'dog meat' laughing in empathy together.

Why politically incorrect? A few shots may appear to some as cruelty to animals and women are made fun of on two occasions although in a mild way.

This film is available on DVD in South Africa where anything remotely racist is cut down immediately.