In "Baghdad Cafe," for example, his last movie before "City Slickers," he offered a sensitive, funny portrayal as a retired Hollywood set painter turned primitive artist.
He cites its dark, absurd yet funny portrayal of seemingly normal individuals living "normal" life, and concludes that the Chan's engagements and sympathies make the movie "decidedly iconoclastic".
The actress's corrosively funny portrayal of an ailing, eccentric mother hen - whose name, in fact, is Henny - grounds this production in a psychological reality that otherwise eludes it.
She gives a funny portrayal of a narcissistic actress, who uses deceptive frailty to get what she wants.
His is an elegant, serious and funny portrayal of a man who's both deceptively callow and tenacious.
Such a blurry protagonist allows for a grimly funny portrayal of the campaign process, the task of wooing an electorate at once jaded and eager to be snowed.
This moving and funny portrayal of impoverished 1930s Glasgow is a raw salute to the human spirit.
Woody Allen, the Coen Brothers and others have, on the big screen, given us very funny portrayals of American Jews.
The novel has a funny portrayal of their first daughter, Putzi, who rejects her mother and adores her father.
There could have been knowing fish-out-of-water incidents and insightful, funny portrayals of the young and privileged.