Tell that to the would-be sophisticated authors of the endless cycle of dreadful marriage comedies currently filling our screens and don't be afraid to sneer.
Following genre conventions is not necessarily a sign of failure — some of the best movies ever are perfectly orthodox westerns, detective stories, melodramas and marriage comedies — and flouting them is not in itself a virtue.
"The ideas behind most comedies now — put the underdog in the corner and let him win, the marriage of comedy and anarchy in a single molecule, and having characters do all these unlikable things but remain completely winning — are all Harold's," Brian Grazer, the producer, says.
He returned to Russia in February after undergoing medical treatment in Germany to act in "The Marriage," a comedy by Nikolai Gogol.
In 1994 she won an Ophir (Israeli film academy award) for best supporting actress for Sh'chur, a drama set in Israel's Moroccan-émigré community, and in 2001 won the Ophir for best actress for Late Marriage, a comedy set in Israel's Georgian-émigré community.
The UK poster for this witless Vince Vaughn marriage-counselling comedy attracted justified complaints when it became apparent that all the cast members were featured except for the African-American couple played by Faizon Love and Kali Hawk.
So far, Key and Peele have evolved together within their happy comedy marriage, but it is still subject to all the normal pressures of a marriage (pulling in different directions, wanting different things), and many people close to them, including Zadak, have suggested that it is nearing its natural end.
The play is about marriage – a dire comedy about how people try to get on and stop their habits scuppering them".
To figure out who Gary was and how he arrived at his intricate marriage of absurdist comedy and humane instruction, you have to turn to that memoir, "Promise at Dawn," a matchlessly entertaining and psychologically persuasive book.
Even President Havel, who yesterday hosted a debate on the impact of the 1989 revolutions, has seen his popularity tarnished at home because of the slow pace of change and his marriage to a comedy actress 15 years his junior.
