In his remarks about Steven Spielberg‘s 1941, director-screenwriter Mick Garris notes early on that Spielberg “is the guy who dared give me a career.”  This is Garris’s way of apologizing for his extra-gentle descriptions of 1941, which, let’s face it, is widely regarded as the most appallingly unfunny comedy in cinema history. Instead of calling it a disaster, Garris calls it Spielberg’s “least heralded” film. Stanley Kubrick‘s assessment, reportedly shared when Spielberg visited the set of The Shining, was that it’s “not funny but expertly made…you should have sold it as a drama.” The most Garris can manage is to call it “a little bit labored at times….[the comedy] doesn’t quite work all the way through.” You have to tell it straight when you do a Trailers From Hell essay or what’s the point? Who wants to hear diplomatic phrasings about a stinker that opened 36 years ago?