Daniel Radcliffe...Comic Genius?

So HP6 is out. Yes, indeed. It is no "Prisoner of Azkaban"...but it is enjoyable. Particularly at a free pre-release screening after consuming Zeeks Pizza and surreptitious tiny bottles of wine in the line on the sidewalk.

Where does the comedy lie in this film? Jim Broadbent is a genius as Prof. Slughorn, of course, all high-pitched and frog-eyed--but he plays up the desperate self-involvement and denial that are central to that character, rather than the excessive tweed-pillow-ness of his physique. There aren't nearly enough of the auxiliary characters like Luna Lovegood or Neville Longbottom, who in the book provide a good balance of pathos and comic relief (and acknowledgment that hey, Harry isn't the only one who has lost parents). Rupert Grint as Ron continues to be the slapstickiest of the three kids, despite his recent acquisition of arm muscles. He doesn't get to indulge in googly faces much this time around, because as those of you familiar with the sixth year at Hogwarts know, it is less about giant spiders and more about professoracide.*

However! Comedy occasionally crops up, usually attending some kind of substance abuse:

Hermione + too much butter beer = stumble-y and overly affectionate (funny)

Ron + love potion = stumble-y and moony (funnier)

Harry + Felix Felicis luck potion = the most watchable that Daniel Radcliffe is the whole time (funniest)

The mood doesn't stay high, though--each of these episodes is followed by something terrible and death-y (curse, poison, and funeral, respectively).

Radcliffe and Grint have both admitted that they started taking acting more seriously in the last several HP films. (Not a surprise, considering they are spending their time with Britain's best and brightest of stage and screen.) Emma Watson is planning on attending college once the films are wrapped, but I imagine we will continue to see her in films for a long time (kind of a British Natalie Portman, perhaps?).

In any case, it is nice to see these three actors pushing into both comedic and dramatic acting. Comedy is generally acknowledged to be more difficult than drama--nailing the timing, pushing just far enough, taking only so much focus. Good on you if you can be a naked, horse-blinding stable boy on both sides of the Atlantic...but even better on you if you can nail a punchline, too.

*With the exception of Cormac McLaggen's broom photographed in such a way during Quidditch tryouts as to make us older viewers snicker, that is.