COMEDY!
November 18, 2024 12:30 PM   Subscribe

I would like recommendations for your favourite film comedies!

I could use a laugh so in an effort to better understand my fellow humans and a genre I have largely neglected I would like recommendations for film comedies.

I do have some caveats:

  • I am looking for personal recommendations from humans (Sorry ChatGPT)! Only films that you think are the funniest things you've ever seen.
  • I would like films that are primarily comedies. I will allow Romantic Comedies but I am not looking for multi genre exercises (Action Comedies, horror-comedies or sci-fi comedy [yes I mean Galaxy Quest], dramas with a bit of laughs, etc.)
  • Can be as raunchy, offensive or family friendly as you like.
  • I especially want comedies from all over the world and from the entirety of film history. Bonus points for international comedies that tell us a bit about other cultures or films that are historically significant.
  • This might be controversial - live action only. So no animated features.
  • No TV shows but can be movies based on TV Shows.

    Think of it this way - assume I have no prior knowledge of human comedy and your task is to recommend comedies that best illustrate COMEDY. No wrong answers so I will award Best Answer to the most unusual, most obscure, most historically significant or most interesting sounding reason for a choice.

    Thanks!
  • posted by Ashwagandha to Media & Arts (67 answers total) 28 users marked this as a favorite
     
    Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
    Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997)
    Nine to Five (1980)
    Best In Show (2000)
    The Birdcage (1996)

    Even over all the years and all the rewatches, these movies all have the capacity to make me laugh to the point of tears, breathlessness, heart troubles.
    posted by phunniemee at 12:43 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]


    Two that make me LOL:
    Bad Moms
    Step Brothers
    posted by hydra77 at 12:50 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]


    A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. ("Tragedy tomorrow! Comedy tonight!")
    It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. ("A lotta dough under a giant dubble-ya!")
    posted by SPrintF at 1:01 PM on November 18, 2024 [3 favorites]


    Love and Death (1975). It might be considered multigenre, but the genre is adaptations of 19th century Russian philosophical novels, which is what makes it so damn funny.

    Also, there are very few films that make me literally laugh out loud. I just looked through AFI's list of the 100 best comedies, and while there are many truly great and funny movies, including masterpieces like Broadcast News, there are only a few that meet the LOL criteria, such as Airplane, Spinal Tap, and The Producers.
    posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 1:09 PM on November 18, 2024 [2 favorites]


    So I Married An Axe Murderer.
    posted by whatevernot at 1:09 PM on November 18, 2024 [7 favorites]


    Just off the top of my head, but U.S. centric:
    Airplane!
    Young Frankenstein
    Blazing Saddles
    Bringing Up Baby
    Raising Arizona
    The Jerk
    Monty Python and the Holy Grail
    Adam's Rib
    Harold and Maude
    This is Spinal Tap
    Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
    The Big Lebowski
    The Blues Brothers
    Clerks
    Ghostbusters
    Good Morning Vietnam
    Groundhog Day
    Hot Fuzz
    It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
    Animal House
    Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
    National Lampoon's Vacation
    The Producers
    Sister Act
    Some Like it Hot
    Wayne's World
    Office Space
    posted by indexy at 1:10 PM on November 18, 2024 [11 favorites]


    Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)
    posted by crime online at 1:17 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]


    Tropic Thunder is funny (then there are the trailers before the movie which exist on a different level)

    American Pie

    A Fish Called Wanda
    posted by It's Never Lurgi at 1:17 PM on November 18, 2024


    Hot Fuzz! it’s just a brilliant film and the writing is SO GOOD. There are so many great pay-off moments.
    posted by damsel with a dulcimer at 1:29 PM on November 18, 2024 [4 favorites]


    Monty Python and the Holy Grail
    posted by General Malaise at 1:31 PM on November 18, 2024 [3 favorites]


    I hate to disappoint you but...
    Despicable Me and its sequels.
    Nothing makes me laugh until I cry like the Minions. Nothing.
    posted by TrishaU at 1:40 PM on November 18, 2024 [2 favorites]


    Clue still makes me weep with laughter, even having seen it 10,000 times. Likewise with Noises Off. Big ensemble comedies with lots of running and slamming doors just does it for me, I guess.
    posted by merriment at 1:55 PM on November 18, 2024 [7 favorites]


    Anything with Sandra Bullock (Miss Congeniality and The Proposal are both hilarious)
    A lot of John Candy (Trains, Planes and Automobiles and Uncle Buck)
    Regularly Melissa McCarthy (Spy is the funniest goddamned film I've ever seen, but it's pretty genre pastiche)
    Guilty pleasure: The Hangover series of movies.
    posted by J.R. Hartley at 1:59 PM on November 18, 2024 [3 favorites]


    I just saw Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, and I laughed out loud a lot. I really enjoyed it.
    posted by kristi at 1:59 PM on November 18, 2024 [3 favorites]


    I believe history has decided that Rat Race is one of the great ones. Napoleon Dynamite had an impact on the culture that's almost difficult to imagine now. And I'm gonna suggest Bernie, probably Jack Black's best role, although I'll also give an honorary mention to Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny if you like boner and weed jokes, which I do.
    posted by jy4m at 2:00 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]


    All Of Me, Three Amigos, Seems Like Old Times, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, Crocodile Dundee.
    posted by jenfullmoon at 2:11 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]


    Anything by Jacque Tati
    posted by falsedmitri at 2:17 PM on November 18, 2024 [2 favorites]


    Lesser known, but Ideal Home has one of the funniest scenes in recent memory. Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan play a gay couple and the tagline is "A bickering gay couple must suddenly deal with the unexpected task of raising a 10-year-old boy."
    posted by soelo at 2:17 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]


    Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. You’ll never watch a serious music biopic the same way after.
    posted by ActionPopulated at 2:28 PM on November 18, 2024 [3 favorites]


    If you can take slapstick...

    What's up Doc?

    "I am Hugh."
    "You are me?"
    posted by Windopaene at 2:51 PM on November 18, 2024 [3 favorites]


    Strange Brew has the kind of dumb humor that I love.

    CSB: I probably wouldn't be with my partner of now 30+ years if we hadn't started quoting lines from Strange Brew to each other one night while we were working cash registers together at Borders.

    We still quote lines from it to each other.
    posted by Archer25 at 2:55 PM on November 18, 2024 [6 favorites]


    If you're in the right mood, A New Leaf is a 1971 black comedy written and directed by Elaine May and stars her and Walter Matthau. He's an aging playboy who's run through all his money and she's a nerdy heiress.
    posted by brachiopod at 3:05 PM on November 18, 2024


    It was a long time ago, but The Gods Must Be Crazy was the funniest thing I'd ever seen.

    And Soapdish. Kevin Kline is brilliant.
    posted by still_wears_a_hat at 3:19 PM on November 18, 2024 [3 favorites]


    I ditto jenfullmoon, Seems Like Old Times is the funniest movie I've ever seen, nothing has come close to it. It's very much situational comedy, but I highly recommend it!
    posted by lianove3 at 3:27 PM on November 18, 2024


    Noises Off definitely.
    posted by brookeb at 3:48 PM on November 18, 2024 [2 favorites]


    Also Waiting for Guffman!
    posted by brookeb at 3:56 PM on November 18, 2024 [5 favorites]


    My Man Godfrey. From the 30’s so it might be dated for you.
    posted by JimN2TAW at 3:59 PM on November 18, 2024 [2 favorites]


    Cannot second soapdish hard enough. I've seen it countless times from teenage years to middle age. I have it almost all memorized.
    posted by bookworm4125 at 4:17 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]


    All of "The Thin Man" movies
    Repo Man
    posted by a humble nudibranch at 4:24 PM on November 18, 2024 [2 favorites]


    Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan play a gay couple and the tagline is "A bickering gay couple must suddenly deal with the unexpected task of raising a 10-year-old boy."

    They should have gone with 'Paul Rudd gives me wood".
    posted by biffa at 4:30 PM on November 18, 2024


    Home Alone, for your Christmas comedy needs
    The Mousetrap
    Singing In The Rain
    Any of the Pink Panther movies
    My Cousin Vinnie
    The Addams Family (1991)
    The Addams Family Values (1993)
    Seconding The Gods Must Be Crazy.
    posted by lhauser at 4:49 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]


    If you like slapstick, Brain Donors is really funny if a bit raunchy and...well I wouldn't say super offensive but definitely has some outdated 90s ways of looking at things, like basically every film from the 90s. Despite that, it's still one of my favorite comedies.

    Auntie Mame is likewise hilarious if (even more) dated. If you haven't seen it, you need to :)

    I can't believe no one has mentioned Everything Everywhere All At Once yet, you couldn't have a movie thread of any type without that one when it was released. So you've probably seen it, but just in case. Extremely funny and extremely emotional too.
    posted by Eyelash at 4:49 PM on November 18, 2024 [2 favorites]


    Shaun of the Dead (Same director/writer as the aforementioned Hot Fuzz). Does zombie comedy count as horror comedy? If so, make an exception for this movie, please.
    Dr. Strangelove
    Wet Hot American Summer
    In Bruges
    Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert
    posted by pdb at 5:02 PM on November 18, 2024 [2 favorites]


    The Producers (original Mel Brooks version is bizarrely hilarious and possibly the funniest movie of all time, the remake musical is okay)
    Young Frankenstein (just funny)
    Spinal Tap (funny in a 70s rock context)
    Withnail and I (decadent weird funny and a tragicomic friendship)
    posted by ovvl at 5:17 PM on November 18, 2024 [2 favorites]


    Marx Brothers:

    Horse Feathers
    A Night at the Opera
    Duck Soup
    A Day at the Races

    Are probably their four best.
    posted by plastic_animals at 5:19 PM on November 18, 2024 [3 favorites]


    Hundreds of Beavers
    Bottle Rocket
    posted by erpava at 5:25 PM on November 18, 2024


    Tampopo
    posted by Runes at 6:09 PM on November 18, 2024 [2 favorites]


    Monty Python's Life of Brian. Only one musical number. But the rest of the movie is exceptional as well.
    posted by Citizen Cane Juice at 6:16 PM on November 18, 2024


    these are my favorite posts!!!!!!

    ctrl+f'd for "letterboxd" and didn't see anything so here is the Letterboxd version of these suggestions! I will keep adding to it over the next week or so as new comments come in.

    NOTE: I am going to simply convert all commented suggestions into entries; I can't guarantee everything that makes it into the list will meet all your parameters ashwagandha!
    posted by seemoorglass at 6:44 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]


    Life of Brian is disqualified, it's clearly a sci-fi action flick. Try The Meaning of Life, that's not got much sci-fi in it.
    posted by flabdablet at 6:46 PM on November 18, 2024 [2 favorites]


    The In-Laws (1979)
    posted by pjenks at 6:48 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]


    and here's my letterboxd list of suggestions!

    i found it very difficult not to recommend certain movies (everything everywhere all at once; knives out) but I tried to be as single-genre "strictly comedy" as possible.
    posted by seemoorglass at 7:13 PM on November 18, 2024


    Dumb and Dumber hasn’t been mentioned.
    posted by glaucon at 7:41 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]




    Birdemic Shock and Terror (2010) was allegedly supposed to be a romantic thriller-horror flick but if the epic battle scene doesn't leave you weeping in appalled laughter then there's definitely something wrong with you.
    posted by flabdablet at 7:57 PM on November 18, 2024


    Some international films I found funny:

    Shower
    The Brand New Testament

    Others that I have loved:
    Big
    Tank Girl
    Fighting With my Family
    The Commitments
    Rocky Horror Picture Show
    Knives Out
    Hunt for the Wilderpeople
    posted by childofTethys at 8:25 PM on November 18, 2024


    I have a soft spot for Oscar (1991).

    I especially want comedies from all over the world and from the entirety of film history.

    Some Like It Hot (1959). Pretty much the entire Marx Brothers oeuvre.

    Bonus points for international comedies that tell us a bit about other cultures or films that are historically significant.

    Good Bye, Lenin! (2003) for a German example.
    posted by jedicus at 8:27 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]






    Spy!
    posted by panther of the pyrenees at 11:19 PM on November 18, 2024 [1 favorite]


    The Death of Stalin
    posted by glaucon at 4:13 AM on November 19, 2024 [3 favorites]




    Trading Places. Just thinking about Santa with the salmon gives me the giggles.
    posted by olopua at 5:20 AM on November 19, 2024 [1 favorite]


    I would not have thought of Goodbye Lenin as a comedy but it's manically funny at times, nice addition to the list
    posted by ginger.beef at 6:14 AM on November 19, 2024


    Be prepared for people having VERY different ideas of what's funny. For example, I recently watched Anchorman which many people consider one of the funniest things ever and didn't laugh once. I could suggest Monty Python (esp. Life of Brian) but again, it's an acquired taste.

    I found Game Night (2018) one of the funniest recent films I've seen. And Death of Stalin gets funnier every time I watch it. (If you like that, try Iannucci's other things, like In the Loop.) And the 'Cornetto trilogy', especially Hot Fuzz. Theater Camp (2023) was surprisingly funny, reminiscent of Best in Show (another recommendation)
    posted by snarfois at 6:58 AM on November 19, 2024


    Since those are all Western, here's one Japanese recommendation: One Cut of the Dead. Zombie meta-comedy. You'll start off bemused rather than amused, but believe me, stick with it.
    posted by snarfois at 7:33 AM on November 19, 2024


    Parasite (2019) is Korean and darkly hilarious.
    posted by flabdablet at 8:21 AM on November 19, 2024


    They Came Together is a romantic comedy that makes fun of romantic comedies and it's the most I've laughed out loud in a really long time. Paul Rudd! Amy Poehler! Super, duper silly.
    posted by Twicketface at 9:42 AM on November 19, 2024


    What's Up Doc, Addams Family Values, Wet Hot American Summer
    posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 10:14 AM on November 19, 2024


    Recently been watching a lot of screwball comedies — The Lady Eve (1941) was our hands-down favorite, there's a bit with an intrusive horse that we lost our minds over. Con woman Barbara Stanwyck seduces Henry Fonda, a snake nerd that's the heir to a brewery fortune... not once, but twice!

    Ball of Fire (1941) (also Barbara Stanwyck) is also a hoot, about a professor trying to put together a slang dictionary with the help of a gorgeous showgirl — but harder to find as it was never released in high-def.

    I do not recommend Twentieth Century (1934) as it's very screamy.

    Not a screwball, but A New Leaf (1971) was also a terrific discovery!
    posted by cynthia_rose at 11:33 AM on November 19, 2024 [1 favorite]


    Preston Sturges is your guy: The Miracle of Morgan Creek, Hail the Conquering Hero, The Lady Eve, Sullivan’s Travels, The Palm Beach Story are all superb.

    My Favorite Year is utterly delightful and one of my most loved movies.

    In recent years, I loved Game Night to pieces. A similar movie is Tag, although it’s not quite in Game Night’s league.
    posted by kitten kaboodle at 11:49 AM on November 19, 2024


    Peter Sellers/Pink Panther movies!!
    posted by LaBellaStella at 4:04 PM on November 19, 2024


    one of my absolute favorite films "His Girl Friday"!
    posted by alchemist at 11:34 PM on November 19, 2024 [1 favorite]


    How have we got so far into this thread without mentioning The Princess Bride?

    Inconceivable!
    posted by flabdablet at 12:31 AM on November 20, 2024 [1 favorite]


    Dinner for Schmucks. I watch this laughing scene with Zach Galifianakis when I need a good laugh.
    posted by waving at 12:49 AM on November 20, 2024


    Best answer: As best I can manage, a link to every movie mentioned above, with their critic & audience ratings from Rotten Tomatoes:

    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-6hL7rSp_SCz7ubTJn9h-__2YoYRm7YJQ_iA0XgKQx0

    Just over 150 entries.
    posted by arantius at 1:16 PM on November 23, 2024 [1 favorite]


    Response by poster: Despite some not following the brief, good answers overall. But don't hesitate - if you have more please do so!
    posted by Ashwagandha at 8:10 AM on November 26, 2024


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