slapstick

“A Man on the Inside” is not a slapstick snort-fest in the mold of so many movies headlined by elderly stars misbehaving, thank goodness.

Britt also inspired the slapstick sidekick Harrogate in “Suttree,” which McCarthy was writing when they first met at a Tucson motel swimming pool where she went to safely shower away from her foster home.

Even a black-and-white, near-silent slapstick comedy about a 19th century trapper battling beavers.

And the “memoir” we’re invited to observe is a wounding one, rife with heartbreak and trauma — but also, as it turns out, raunchy humor and slapstick pratfalls, literate puns and winking sight gags.

When Baker dives into the repercussions, “Anora” slows down and transforms from a slapstick farce to a true character study, and it’s then when the film shines its brightest.