Can Someone Please Explain This Joke To Me? (Re: Heist and Roger Ebert)

It's a David Mamet joke line. It doesn't really make sense. Sort of like the line in State and Main about getting along "like dykes and dogs." What do the two have to do with each other? Nothing. Is it funny? If you just embrace that it's a nonce line, yes.
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"Sex? We're men! We wrestled!"
-Barton Fink

 

The line is funny in the film, mainly because of DeVito's delivery.
I also wonder if it's meant as a reference to an earlier DeVito role - "Larry the Liquidator" in Other People's Money. That character made a lot of similar statements about money.
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Too many DVDs, too little time...
AFI 100 Challenge - 36 to go!

 

Man, I was watching that over the weekend and had absolutely NO clue what the hell they were talking about.
Glad someone cleared it up.

 

Michael, the cast of State and Main certainly wouldn't agree with you. If you listen to the DVD commentary, they puzzle over what the "dykes and dogs" line means, and conclude that it doesn't meet anything.
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"Sex? We're men! We wrestled!"
-Barton Fink

 

Actually I've got to disagree about the "dykes and dogs" line. I have quite a few lesbian friends, and most of them do have quite an affinity towards dogs. I guess it's a little known stereotype. First time I heard that line, it had me cracking up.
I haven't seen Heist yet, but I'm sure the "money" line has some sort of meaning. I'd need to hear it in context to know what it is. I think Michael is on the right track with his explaination.
Mamet is a strange bird. It's almost like you have to be on the same wave-length with him to enjoy his films. His dialouge and the performances he gets out of his actors are not quite like anybody else's. I'm a fan of his work, but even I don't like all his films, because of some of these oddities.
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"You know, there's a million fine looking women in the world, dude. But they
don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you." - Silent Bob
"No matter where you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonzai
Optimus Prime Films

 

You know what, Kelly? You're so f***in' Money and you don't even know it.
(I'll just be sniggering in the corner there with the other Swingers fans, shall I?)

 

I saw that line in the trailer clear back when 'The Score' came out and hated it. I couldn't get past the fact that the line is classicly begging the question. Basically saying money is so important, they called it money, which of course is a term for something important. I knew the line was out of context and held out hope that the line would turn out to be funny because De Vito's character was an idiot who talks out his 'hind quarters.'

 

I'll grant you that his cast doesn't always understand each and every one of their lines, being an actor myself. Believe me, being taught by Mamet's followers, I've come to learn that people who work with Mamet consider him a strange bird, despite his being their mentor. I got to meet him once, and he's full of bizarre stuff like that. He uses all the same bizarre euphemisms that his characters do. I suppose you have a point about dykes and dogs, and also perhaps the money line makes a certain amount of sense. I just prefer to think of them as nonsense lines, which are jokes by the mere fact that they seem to be joke-like lines. Don't forget that Mamet draws his inspiration from non-realists like Pinter and Beckett. Anyway, that's what I gotta add.
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"Sex? We're men! We wrestled!"
-Barton Fink

 

I dont think this line is funny. I think fart jokes are funny though so...go figure.

 

I haven't seen this film yet but I found the humor in that joke. The humor is in the absurdity of the assertion. It's not a pun.

 

Hmm, maybe it's just me, but I find that line really hilarious, and got a good laugh out of it in the movie too. It's hard to explain why, but it really makes a certain amount of sensible nonsense when you think about it.

 

Mark, I agree 100% with your explanation. I haven't seen the film, but the first time I saw the trailer I thought the line was funny with that very reasoning.

Just a circular logic joke where the character so accepts the meanings associated with the word that he thinks that explains why they named money as "money". I don't think he literally thinks that btw, just one of those goofy things a person says when trying to convince someone of something.

 

Not
I figured it was as Mark explains it. To me, there's just nothing funny about that. I was hoping that there was something there I wasn't getting, and Eberts answers to the questions weren't helping (with some jokes, if there is an element you don't understand, it can usually be explained so a person can at least "get it" even though they may not find it as funny if they need an explanation).
Even with the explanations here, I still feel I'm missing something... but I guess that feeling will go away.
Everybody needs humor, that's why they call it humor. Just not this type.

 

Sometime people really want to believe that something is there, and all the time there was nothing...