Funny what’s tagged as comedy

I laughed, I cried -- but is it a comedy?

Let’s ask the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. The Golden Globe nominees in various “comedy or musical� categories suggest that comedy is the serious theme explored via satire or the personal story that features the cutting edge of self-regard.

Or, alternatively, movies the group just wanted to praise but had to admit weren’t as important as, say, “Atonement.�

So the Hollywood Foreign Press calls them comedies, bear-hugging “Charlie Wilson’s War� (politics) “Juno� (pregnant teen), “The Savages� (dying parent), “Lars and the Real Girl� (guy and doll), and “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story� (biopic parody) in some manner of major nomination.

“It’s just such a unique, special film,� said Ryan Gosling of “Lars,� for which he earned a nomination for best performance by an actor in a motion picture comedy or musical.

� . . . It reminded me of ‘Harvey’ or ‘Being There,’ � he said of the film, “one of those films that there’s not really a genre. They kind of appear and then there’s nothing like them for a long time and then they appear again.�

“For me, [‘Juno’] is true to life, and in life there is drama and there is comedy,� said Jason Reitman, who directed the film from a script by Diablo Cody, who received a nomination for her screenplay about a 16-year-old girl (nominee Ellen Page) and her unplanned pregnancy.

“The most dramatic moments in my life have also had humor,� Reitman said. “One can’t exist without the other.� He mentioned “American Beauty� and “The Graduate� before saying: “I don’t know how you classify these films. It’s a nice crutch for us comedy [filmmakers] because otherwise we wouldn’t get recognized. But it’s hard to really get into the fairness of awards.�

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Times staff writer Robert W. Welkos contributed to this story.