"IT IS A MISTAKE FOR FILMMAKERS TO START OUT WITH COMEDY"
Jon Sieruga posted the image above on his Twitter feed the other day, indicating that the newspaper ad page came from a publication in New York City from May 1969. At the top of the third column is a review of Brian De Palma's first feature, The Wedding Party. The author of the review is unknown, but here is the text:
Brian de Palma's "THE WEDDING PARTY" has apparently been pulled out from the drawer to exploit the unexpected vogue for "Greetings." "Greetings" wasn't much, heaven knows, but "The Wedding Party" is much, much less. There's not much to say about a broken-legged farce except that it isn't very funny. De Palma is exploiting the youth thing for all its alleged audacity, but I find him more canny than candid. He spends so much time avoiding the obvious mistakes of youth that his films become paralyzed by a discreet negativism. Also, it is a mistake for film-makers to start out with comedy, a discipline that requires not merely genius, but wisdom, coherence, and, yes, maturity.