Catching an archival print of Bugsy Malone on a big screen with a top notch sound system was a personal highlight, and made for an amusing counterpoint to the debut of Keanu Reeves' new action picture John Wick.
But, as the above amusing footage from his debut shows, his desire to be the new Backstreet Boy didn't last long.
But there's more than a whiff of overwrought dude pity to this spottily amusing absurdist adventure from feature debut writers/directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who show they have style (and methane) to burn.
Sterling Hyltin was an amusing scamp in a well-danced role debut, partnering Adam Hendrickson, in the Explosions Polka, with Miranda Weese and Benjamin Millepied pulling out the stops in the Frühlingsstimmen waltz.
When it works, the gimmick — an organizing principle of their debut album, "Betcha Bottom Dollar" (Verve) — is amusing and even enlightening.
It is also the plot of an amusing comedy, Little Miss Sunshine, the joint feature film debut of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, a husband-and-wife team whose background is in documentaries, commercials and music videos.
But it was not so amusing on Tuesday night when he endured a miserable Knick debut at Madison Square Garden, or even in the locker room after the game when teammates perused the stat sheets and offered some subtle jibes.
Too Hard to Swallow, UGK's seminal debut, is as visceral and pained as it is amusing and offensive.
On "Surprise," her recent debut recording for Deutsche Grammophon, the Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman sings amusing works by Schoenberg, Satie and William Bolcom with such presence, power and humor that she almost seems to fly out of the speakers.
