It's a mad, mad, mad, mad March

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The fact that several Film Freaks made mention of pencils is testament to the bitch of a bracket put forth by the Jefster in this year's contest, The Comedies. Surely the chief himself struggled and finagled through the construction of four sixteen-film regions, evident in seedings so insane that this commentator now questions his ability to make it through the duration.

In the pre-announcement excitement of comments, many from veterans of last year's squeaker amongst the cream of the classics, memories of comedic favorites were bandied about with such glee and force as to resemble "amputees corner" at the VFW on 50-cent domestic draft and bingo Mondays. These folks were begging for punishment, and they were not disappointed for that when their slobber and zeal was sucked up by the necessary paring to 64 from many hundreds of possibilities. "C'est la guerre," the chief snorted, "et la MADNESS! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

Good sports all (most of), these Freaks, and the graphite scribblings began in earnest to discern the victors in match-ups such as will fire up the Chico Region with the deliciously un-PC slapstick of Blazing Saddles v. the dark, post-punk nihilism of Repo Man (2 p.m. EST at the No. 6 Dance Hall at Whassamatta U.). The former is presented at a perhaps sacreligious seeding of TWO whilst the latter leaks a certain dim underdog glow from its trunk (read boot for our UK players) with what is arguably one of the best soundtracks in the entire bracket. Other cruel pairings that were noted include the unparalleled subversive wit of Ring Lardner Jr. via M*A*S*H v. the superb period piece cum Homeric legend in O Brother Where Art Thou; the Harpo Region's cannibalistic Belushi on Belushi sumofest that will be Blues Brothers v. Animal House, with the latter having home court advantage at Delta Tau Chi's backyard hoop, and the powerhouse Dr. Strangelove (a high finisher in last year's classics Madness) v. a strangely low-seeded Austin Powers, tipping off Saturday at the Captain Spalding Arena. Madness surely ensues, film fans.

As a parting shot in today's commentary, I feel obligated to report some of the exclamations overheard in the Leaderboard Lounge on announcement day:

"What, no Lost In America? Is he MAD?"

"What, no Bull Durham? Is he MAD?"

"What, no Private Benjamin? Is he MAD?"

"What, no After Hours? Is he MAD?"

"What, no Bad News Bears? Is he MAD?"

"What, no Good Morning, Vietnam? Is he MAD?"

"What, no Planes, Trains and Automobiles? Is he MAD?"

"What, no Dirty Rotten Scoundrels? Is he CRAZY?"

"What, no Midnight Run? Is he MAD?"

"What, no Parenthood? Is he MAD?"

"What, no Little Big Man? Is he mad at ME?"

"What, no Swingers? Is he MAD?"

"What, no My Cousin Vinny? Is he MAD?"

"What, no Meatballs? Is he MAD??!!"

"What, no Toy Story? Is he MAD?"

So it goes ...
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