The first time I went up at a comedy open mic some years ago, I got one precious little laugh. After my first two “jokes” silenced even the crickets and the only awkward thing I didn’t do was fall off the stage, I quipped to the nearly empty, yawning room—past midnight on a Wednesday—”You know, I’m glad that only five people are here to see this”. That got a half a chuckle from somebody out there and I decided that was enough so I said thanks and then got off stage like I was leaping out of a piranha tank. They gave me five minutes; I think I did about three, maybe less.
My point: I’m very forgiving of an inexperienced person’s stumbles and that’s why I don’t have much bad to say about this comedy short, which many sources report to be Charlie Chaplin’s first film as a director (other sources disagree, one should note). He’s The Tramp, he’s wandering around a park, he’s mocking two kissy-faces on a park bench, he’s stealing a watch from a pickpocket who had just swiped it from someone else, all hell breaks loose and he’s in the middle of it. It won’t impress anyone today. The gags are rushed and aside from his distinctive look, even Chaplin himself isn’t memorable. Like me on stage that first time, Chaplin also bails out early, ending his Twenty Minutes of Love in ten.
Maybe this got big laughs in 1914, though. That was a different time. I don’t think they even had the internet back then!