Warai no Daigaku

Warai no Daigaku (English Subtitles) Special Edition: Mamoru Hoshi's film version of the hit 1996 play by Koki Mitani, has been described by critics as a feature-length manzai routine, the classic two person act vaguely similar to something like an Abbot & Costello routine, with a straight man being picked on by the other.

The story is set on the eve of the Second World War, where a nervous playwright (Goro Inagaki of SMAP) for an Asakusa comedy troupe tries to get his latest farce past the new police censor (Koji Yakusho). The censor is a stern man, proud of the fact has never laughed, but in reality secretly desires to become a gag writer. Amidst these shenanigans, the sobering reality of war looms in the background, with the personal conflict of the playwright and the censor becoming an absurd oasis of normality in an ever increasingly nightmarish world. Also the standard edition is available.

Check out other hit movies starring SMAP members: "2046 (Kimura Takuya)," "Hotel Venus (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi)," "Nin x Nin Ninja Hattori-kun The Movie (Shingo Katori)," and "Mohohan (Masahiro Nakai)."