Celebrating laffs on film by MATTHEW HAYS Is it merely my imagination, or has the film comedy genre gone to hell in a bucket? Perhaps it's just the sting of having to go see all those dreadful Saturday Night Live vet vehicles (need I say more than "Joe Dirt"?), but most contemporary comedies--in particular comedies from the studios--turn my stomach. (A noteworthy exception was last year's underrated Nurse Betty.) Thus organizers of the International Comedy Film Festival are holding their third edition, this Thursday, May 24 to Sunday, June 3. Though the film fest will present some newer material, including a premiere of the German comedy Three Chinamen with a Double Bass, most of the films are chosen from years past, a strange historical overview of comedy on celluloid. The better the films, it seems, the older they are; W.C. Fields and Mae West are hilarious in My Little Chickadee (1940), a film they cowrote, while West is amazing in what is considered her finest feature, She Done Him Wrong (1933), which she cowrote and which also featured Cary Grant. Going down the list, the fest also includes some not-so-brilliant but still worthy entries, such as the Chevy Chase vehicle Fletch, Trading Places and Ivan Reitman's Ghostbusters. Also included is Les Boys, the wildly successful home-grown feature about a motley crew of Québécois hockey players. Then there are the downright mysteries among the films chosen. Do we really want to celebrate film comedy by screening the likes of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, the mediocre sequel La Cage aux folles 2, or the less-than-mediocre Son of Pink Panther (with Roberto Benigni replacing the late Peter Sellers in a vain effort to keep the franchise going)? I would hope not. Still, organizers have attempted to offer an unusual cross-section of the genre, and though these films are generally available on video, nothing beats seeing them on the big screen with a crowd of people. The fest takes place again at the Parisien. Info: www.cinemacomique.com. The Wong Kar-Wai retrospective wraps up at Cinéma du Parc this week. Happy Together is the brutal story of a queer couple in turmoil and told through Kar-Wai's distinctive, cryptic style, their woes are made unforgettable. Chungking Express is a really bizarre one, too, focusing on two barely intertwined tales of romantic longing. See repertory listings for details on these excellent films. As well, for those of you who loved Shadow of the Vampire as much as I did (and with Willem Dafoe's chewing and sucking of the scenery, who couldn't?), the perfect companion feature screens at the Parc this Friday, May 25 at 11:55 p.m. Though Murnau's original is amazing, Werner Herzog's colourful remake of Nosferatu is essential viewing for any self-respecting horror buff. Klaus Kinski is utterly horrific as the quintessential vampire. COMMENTS: mhays@mtl-mirror.com