100 Funniest Movies of All Time

[Der_Trihs]

Besides many of the ones already mentioned, I’d add Raising Arizona and Ruthless People

[Terrorcotta]

@Baker

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 think you nailed it. At least they should be broken down in two groups of 1900-1950 and 1951-2007 because of the looser standards.

‘Ghostbusters’, ‘Buckaroo Bonsai’, ‘Animal House’ and ‘Something About Mary’ were hold your sides funny. Steve Martin/Lily Tomlin’s ‘All of Me’, ‘Waiting for Guffman’, ‘The Thin Man’ series, and many of the pre-1950 movies were fun to watch and funny but a different kind of humour in general. Can you imagine ‘My Man Godfrey’ with penis-in-the-zipper scene?

[Joey_P]

@ianzin

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.

Haven’t seen that, but I’ve seen The General and a few other Keaton movies. Personally I like Chaplin over Keaton, my favorite comedy from the silent era is The Great Dictator.

[Annie-Xmas]

The Party starring Peter Sellers and All Of Me starring Steve Martin & Lily Tomlin were left out.

[Horatio_Hellpop]

I’d put Life of Brian higher than any of these movies mentioned, and Monsieur Verdoux and the original Bedazzled would be in the top five. And while it wouldn’t make anybody’s Top Ten list, how 'bout a little love for The Dream Team?

[DSYoungEsq]

@vivalostwages

My coding is a bit funny too, though not in an amusing way.

YOu could have edited the coding, you know, even after the post.

[DSYoungEsq]

Humor is wayyyyyyy to variant from person to person to easily compare in the way this list does. I find The Court Jester hilarious, enough to send me literally rolling on the floor if I haven’t seen it in a while. But most of my friends shrug their shoulders at it and cannot comprehend my reaction. By the same token, for me, Animal House results in “meh,” yet I know for a fact almost everyone else who watches it splits their sides (IIRC, it came out while I was in college and I remember the reactions quite well).

How do you compare types of humor? Shrek is funny because of the numerous skewerings of cultural icons (well, and parfaits!). But how do you compare that to a movie that is funny because of a series of sight gags? For my money, Aladdin was funnier than Shrek because half the movie is a Robin Williams stand-up routine. But can anyone compare either to a Laurel and Hardy movie? The types of humor are simply different.

Ultimately, the question of what is “funniest” will depend on the target audience.

[Kalhoun]

@Wile E

I think we’ve discussed this before and the consensus here was that Young Frankenstein was indeed funnier than Blazing Saddles.

Word. Funnier, and a work of genius. It’s a marvel, fer sure.

But damn. The Marx Brothers hold up. They’re screamingly funny.

[Alive_At_Both_Ends]

@Joey P

Haven’t seen that, but I’ve seen The General and a few other Keaton movies. Personally I like Chaplin over Keaton, my favorite comedy from the silent era is The Great Dictator.

*The Great Dictator * premiered in 1940, long after the silent era was over.

[Wee_Bairn]

Shrek is your standard run of the mill big studio animated movie, but one that drops dick jokes in with the kiddie jokes with the idea that parents will enjoy it as well. Here’s an idea- adults can enjoy intelligent jokes that aren’t sexual. It’s your standard cookie cutter Hollywood crap, which shouldn’t be in the top 100 animated films. Note it was written by the written of Godzilla an Curse of the Black Pearl, among other unfunny films. Overused cliches are not funny.

[Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew]

@DrDeth

It’s a Mad, mad, mad, World.

@Der Trihs

I’d add Raising Arizona

Two excellent calls; I wish I’d mentioned those. As for older films, I’d throw in It’s a Gift.

[David_Simmons]

I don’t know that it was one of the funniest of all times but …

In 1942’s Larceny, Inc. Edward G. Robinson played the leader of an early “gang that couldn’t shoot straight” about a bunch of robbers who bought a luggage shop next to a bank. Their plan was to tunnel into the bank vault from next door.

Very funny.

[RealityChuck]

@ianzin

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.

But don’t you understand? They didn’t make comedies before 1974.

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’. **.

Possibly as number one.

And any list without Duck Soup is a bigger joke than any of the comedies listed. There’s also The General, The Court Jester, The Bank Dick, Love and Death, and Horse Feather, to name a few.

[Rayne_Man]

Channel 4 in the UK ran a poll of the 50 greatest comedy films, and you can see the results Here .Unless I am wrong I think the station only put forward a list of 50 films and all the voters could do was determine in which order they came.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@Alive At Both Ends

*The Great Dictator * premiered in 1940, long after the silent era was over.

Chaplin didn’t think so.

[silenus]

@Wile E

I think we’ve discussed this before and the consensus here was that Young Frankenstein was indeed funnier than Blazing Saddles.

The previous thread on the subject.

[Peter_Morris]

Hard to select an order of preference. So, in no particular order…

1. the Court Jester
2. Blazing Saddles
3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
4. Monty Python Life Of Brian
5. Airplane
6. Top Secret
7. the Road To Morocco
8. The Road To Rio
9. South Park:
10. The Blues Brothers

[BabaBooey]

Big Lebowski and Coming to America haven’t been mentioned in this thread (nor the list) and are two of my top comedies. Kingpin might be in my top 10 as well.

[MandaJo]

There is a huge difference between a great comedy and the funniest movie: I’d call Groundhog Day a great comedy, but it’s not one of the funniest–and I’d call South Park one of the funniest movies but not a great comedy.

[brownie55]

Well, maybe because it was just on, but I think History of the World, Part 1, is Brooks’ funniest film.

Comicus in the unemployment line:
Did you bullshit last week?
No.
Did you try to bullshit last week?
Yes.

Josephus to Oedipus Rex:
Hey Muthafucker!

From the Inquisition:
Auto de fe, whats an auto de fe?
What you shouldn’t ought to do, but you do anyway.

and the timeless:
It’s good to be the king!

Now that is comic genius.