They even managed a few laughs, provided by the comic escape of the book they had read, "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood".
Possibly the most fascinating thing about "Double Take" is that Mr. Ratner has probably outgrown this kind of film by now, and despite a few laughs provided by the game and the intense performers, most of the audience probably has, too.
That bit of gallows humor comes up in the bar adjoining the meeting room at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, scene of this century's version of the Pentagon's "Five O'Clock Follies" in the Saigon of the Vietnam era -- this being the latest laugher provided by the Burmese Junta to a roomful of journalists who also are being denied visas to bear witness to this still unfolding tragedy.
There are a couple of laughs, both provided by David Tennant from whose absence at the helm of the Tardis I am still suffering Saturday-night withdrawal symptoms.
If "How to Eat Fried Worms" sounds like Iron John for peewees, that's more or less how it plays out, though with more intentional laughs than provided by Robert Bly.
Comedic asides are plentiful in the script, which was cowritten by Wilder, and many laughs are provided by Robert Strauss (Sgt. "Animal Stoshh) and Harvey Lembeck (Sgt. Harry Shapiro), actors who had also appeared in the stage version.
It's mostly pretty awful, but there are one or two crass laughs, largely provided by Paul McGann playing the potty-mouthed priest who is the only one who knows how to slay the Page-3 vampirettes.
Even if it's not a wildly funny reading, the laughs are amply provided by Ron Cook's brilliant Joxer, a scuttling chancer whose eyes light up as he spies an unclaimed bottle of stout.
But few laughs emerge from the answers provided by the somber new revival of John Guare's "House of Blue Leaves," which opened on Monday night at the Walter Kerr Theater.
It's funny, it made a huge splash online, and now millions of people have laughed at a naked Trump provided by a group that few had ever previously heard of.
