VH 1 is running a show called “The 100 Funniest Movies of All Time”
Here’s their top ten:
I think the top ten should have included Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Young Frankenstein, but I agree Animal House should be Number One.
I think we’ve discussed this before and the consensus here was that Young Frankenstein was indeed funnier than Blazing Saddles.
Top Secret! (The lesser known Abrahams & Zucker flick that followed the first two Airplane! movies) It may not be Airplane! but it was damn funny nonetheless.
“Hillary. That’s an unusual name.”
“It’s a German name. It means ‘She whose bosoms defy gravity.’”
Here’s mine:
They missed a few:
Dr. Strangelove
Office Space
This is Spinal Tap
Annie Hall
…and maybe not in the top 10, but certainly funnier than Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Wedding Singer:
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
A Mighty Wind
Sleeper
Best in Show
Little Miss Sunshine
MST3K: The Movie
Animal House is #1 on my list. I don’t have a set-in-stone top ten, but Young Frankenstein would be in there somewhere. Probably Duck Soup, too.
I also think that The Jerk is in the top ten funniest movies (as is Young Frankenstein).
Shrek, while a nice movie, is decidedly not deserving of a spot in the top 10, let alone #3.
As is usual, this is heavily weighted towards popular movies of the last 15 years.
I would always have *NL’s Christmas Vacation * on my list.
Eh, the problem with comedy is that there is a visceral reaction. You either laugh or you don’t. You can’t feign appreciation like you would with Gone With The Wind. I suppose you could fill a theater with a thousand noob’s and see what movie gets the highest score on the laugh-o-meter, but – Dat Phan won the first season of Last Comic Standing, so clearly this type of sampling doesn’t work for comedy.
For my money, any list like this that does not include . . . alright, well I began that sentence with a cogent list in mind, but really would you take the Wedding Singer over Duck Soup, Spinal Tap, Young Frankenstein, The Jerk, or A Fish Called Wanda. Hell, Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore were funnier.
For what it’s worth, my #1 comedy is and always has been Trading Places (and yeah, I’m young enough for that to be true).
I haven’t even seen most of those movies, but the ones I have seen wouldn’t be in my top 100, let alone top 10. I mean, Shrek??? It was pretty good ‘n’ all, but one of the ten funniest movies of all time? No way.
My top 5:
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
This Is Spinal Tap
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Young Frankenstein
Sleeper
And Who Framed Roger Rabbit should be in there somewhere.
I’ve always thought What About Bob? was quite funny, as well as The 40 year old Virgin, though the latter is very recent.
My coding is a bit funny too, though not in an amusing way.
*The Wedding Singer * - the Adam Sandler movie? Is there a different film entitled The Wedding Singer? Because it wouldn’t even be in the top 250 for me, much less the top 10.
I think it’s harder to judge comedy for lists like these because it’s difficult to decide exactly where comedy ends and drama, action, satire, etc. begin. Films like Rushmore and *Ghostbusters * would be in my top 10, but I don’t think there would be a universal consensus that they are comedies rather than drama and action respectively (they are both of course), and thus the tendency to overlook them in considering comedy.
Makes you wish Sarah Holcomb had a longer career.
You have 3 of mine. I’d add
National Lampoon’s Animal House (Super Secret Probation version)
It’s a Mad, mad, mad, World.
Groundhog Day.
Marx Brothers movies- hard to pick the best
Road films with Bob and Bing- again, hard to pcik the best.
Not very funny to me:
The Wedding Singer
Annie Hall
Wow - there’s a preponderance of American films in these lists…
Comedy is clearly subject to cultural filters, but there are any number of English (and Australian) comedies that may not have enjoyed the same box office, but certainly made me laugh more than most of these top tens.
Particularly thinking of an Australian film called “The Castle” but there are many, many others.
M
I haven’t seen Wayne’s Eorld yet. this should be a top ten, no?
What really ought to be done is have lists sorted by decade. Almost every movie I’ve seen mentioned here, with only three or four exceptions, was done within the last twenty years.
I’ve watched a couple of silent films that were funnier than 75% of any of these. Anyone else ever catch Buster Keaton’s Seven Chances?
I hear you youngsters(I’m 52), saying “But it’s in black and white, and there’s no sound!” It’s still so funny I almost didn’t stop laughing through the whole thing.
Now get off of my lawn, you kids!
For me, any such list has to include Buster Keaton’s The General and a Laurel & Hardy feature called The Music Box. The latter is the one where they are trying to deliver a piano to a house at the top of a very steep hill. I regard it as the perfect metaphor for life in general.
Bringing Up Baby should also be in there. I’d like to see anyone, in any of the so-called top ten movies listed by the OP, give a performance as good as either Hepburn or Grant in ‘Baby’. The Matthau / Lemmon remake of Hold The Front Page would also make a strong contender, as would Some Like It Hot. And finally, a vote for Local Hero. In more recent times, I’d go for Team America and The 40 Year Old Virgin.
I’d vote for something by the Marx Brothers or maybe Trouble in Paradise. At least they had sound 