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This week's Answer: Some
Like It Not I
appreciate your question, Anonymous. (Your first name isn't
"Alcoholics," is it?) Never mind. Not focusing
on the bawdy and literally bathroom humor -- which some prefer and
others prefer not to see -- I believe the main problem with the script
of White Chicks is that it got lost in all the forced
jokes. The main concept in a general way pays homage (at times,
you could say "steals" -- but "homage" is a much
gentler term) to the classic film, Some Like It Hot, one of
Blake Edwards' s comedy masterpieces, but it doesn't hold together
nearly as well due to several reasons: REASONS
"WHITE CHICKS DOESN'T HOLD TOGETHER AS WELL AS "SOME LIKE IT
HOT"
 1.
There's not a strong enough overarching conflict in White Chicks
as there is in Some Like It Hot (that being the two
protagonists continually needing to stay out of the clutches of the
gangsters that are looking for them). 2.
The two protagonists in White Chicks are not nearly as
different from each other (as themselves and even as the debutantes
they dress up as) as the protagonists are in Some Like It Hot (who
are very different from each other both as themselves and when they
dress up as women musicians). 3.
Although the screenplay, White Chicks, is causally
connected from scene to scene, many of the scenes are not essential to
an already superficial storyline, thereby causing it to drag
considerably, whereas Some Like It Hot has a driving well-paced
storyline, including the "slower" scenes, which are written
with steamy allure and romantic tension (unlike the excruciatingly
slow scenes in White Chicks). 4.
Some Like It Hot tells a unique story that is based on a
bizarre situation, which produces humor naturally. White
Chicks obviously started with a premise written for humor and
wrote a story around this premise, thereby effecting humor that is not
natural, but, instead, obviously contrived and strained. A
soundly-crafted screenplay must, above all, hold our attention.
Once it begins to wander (our attention, that is)... it takes more
"effort" for the screenwriting to pull it back. Where
was I? (see what I mean?) So it's best to never let it drift
off, in the first place. And, drift, our focus does as we
journey through the world of White Chicks. In an attempt
to "entertain" us, it leaves us off at certain stops along
the way that we never asked to stop at, and leaves us there far too
long, falling into one of the biggest traps when writing humor: not ending early
enough. Even a seasoned show as
"Saturday Night Live" (too many seasons, you may wonder)
suffers often from the same malady. Scenes often -- and I mean
"often" -- continue far too long, stating the same joke in
different forms. We get it. We got it. That's very
funny. Ha, ha, ha. Yes, that's funny, too -- but didn't
the other cast member say just about the same thing? Oh,
somebody else has made an entrance and they're... saying just about
the same thing, too. Ha, ha. Okay, now... they're all...
Didn't I hear and/or see that joke before? Oh, yes. Now I
remember. I did. A minute ago. And
a minute before that. And a minute
before...
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