After recent events I’ve decided I need to inject some comedy into my system.
I’m not a big comedy movie fan. So I’d appreciate some suggestions.
What have you seen, what do you like?
Just to start off (and it’s not necessarily my favorite comedy), one that always fills me with delight is Amélie.
I’ve seen all the classics from the 70’s to 2000’s.
Thanks for the suggestion.
If you name a few you really liked, it will help us gauge your tastes.
What about earlier classics? Screwball comedies from the '30s, the Marx Brothers, Astaire and Rogers, which although known for the dancing, of course, are all enjoyable for the comedy as well, if your tastes run that way.
Comedies that I have re-watched fairly recently that I don’t think would be at the top of most lists:
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Hot Fuzz
The Castle
Midnight Run
50/50
Booksmart
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
I’ve seen all the Buster Keaton movies.
Mainly because my wife at the time was a fan. But I enjoyed them.
One of my favorite comedies would be “There’s something about Mary”
Anything from rom coms to “edgy” humor like " Blazing Saddles".
I keep track of the movies I see, and looking at the past couple of years, there aren’t many “true” comedies being released. Some recent (7 years) comedies (as opposed to movies with comic elements) that I’ll bet you haven’t seen:
Villains Incorporated (2024)
Bottoms (2023)
Snack Shack (2024)
My Donkey, My Lover & I (2022)
A Simple Favor (2018)
- What We Do in the Shadows (weirdly great in a good way)
- Crazy Rich Asians
- Sullivan’s Travels (made in 1941…I tried to keep the list newer but had to add this one)
Bridesmaids was hilarious
IMO, Crazy Rich Asians is like a C- movie. Completely generic rom-com.
Agree that Bridesmaids is good. Late to the party, but just saw Dr. Stragelove and loved it.
Checking IMDB and apparently like 90% of the comedies I liked came out in the 2000s. Makes sense as that’s when I was in my late teens early 20s.
- Hangover 1
- Superbad
- 40 year old virgin
- Tropic Thunder
- Bad Santa
- Step Brothers
A bit more recent is Game Night.
I really enjoy “Taskmaster”. Actually I’ve been watching English, AU, and NZ versions. They’re oddly similar, but different enough.
I love the movie but love the TV show even more, and am rewatching it for my sanity.
Great choice.
I’ll add To Be or Not to Be (the original with Carole Lombard; this was her last film).
For a great rom-com try “Blithe Spirit”. Old but a classic and really great.
Tropic Thunder
Ted and Ted 2
Waiting
The Happytime Murders
As far as TV shows:
Mr Show
Always sunny in philadelphia
Any Peter Sellers Pink Panther would help. The original is one of my top ten.
Or PP Strikes Again!
Hot Fuzz is one of my favourite films, not just comedies. It is perfection.
Add In Bruges to that, another brilliant 2000s comedy, jet black but hilarious nonetheless.
I opened the thread because I was interested in a yes-or-no answer to the question posed by the thread title. It seems to me that recent years have been bad ones for movies in general and comedies in particular. The number of people posting to suggest older movies here seems to support that.
I was surprised to see the number of comedies in the lists I keep, but I can’t agree that overall, the number of movies that are “good” has dropped. There has been a shift in the mix, IMHO, with indies and international movies rising, while the domestic “studio” films have dropped a notch.
I list each movie I see in the theater every year (generally 120-140 movies in a year). The only additional information in the list is that the “best” movies are in red. Looking back 5 years and doing a simple rounded percentage (and ignoring 2020 for obvious reasons), I get.15-20% “movies I’d recommend as good”. My lists include everything, including revivals and documentaries, so take my numbers as being what they are, a personal assessment. I don’t mark “bad” movies in my list (movies I would have steered myself away from), but my guesstimate is that percentage is below 10%.