Why is that funny?

There's something remarkable about Bill Murray. I can't put my finger on it. Something about the way he delivers a completely mundane piece of text is enough to reduce me to tears of laughter. Christopher Walken has it too - that ability to find something utterly unique in a line of dialogue - but he plays roles that don't always allow the humour to come out. But, Bill Murray...I don't know. He can take a bad script and make it really goddamned funny. He can take a good script and make it absolutely fucking hysterical. Scrooged, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day (funny in SPITE of the Andi MacDowell curse), Lost in Translation. Bill Murray has a bittersweetness that radiates from him and it's absolutely captivating.

Murray is always good. Always. I don't know how else to phrase it. I once watched a movie with him and an elephant and I guarantee that elephant has never done better work. Besides just being good himself, Murray makes everyone around him better. He's the Steve Nash of film. Not glamorous, just likable and engaging. Now, in this instance (I just finished watching 'The Life Aquatic: with Steve Zissou') the supporting cast is already stellar (William Dafoe in particular). There's not a bad performance in the piece. There's so much random, inexplicable humour in the film. Obviously a lot of that is because Wes Anderson (director & writer) is a very odd man with a very odd sense of humour. But most of it is because of Bill Murray. On lines where I would usually snicker or chuckle, I choked on Pepsi and sent it shooting up my nose. Now, it's not wall to wall hysterics by any means. It's equal parts ridiculous and heart-breaking. It's a quiet, intelligent piece that will occasionally make you chortle. And often times you'll have no idea why you're laughing. Things like Steve Zissou's (famous oceanographer) inexplicable hatred of dolphins; 'God damn it, I am sick of those dolphins.' Why is that funny? I don't know, but it is.