I’ve been going through Wikipedia lists of comedy films for the 2020s and am finding almost no good comedies. There are comedic films but none that I would describe as laugh out loud funny.
Quiz Lady was hilarious. Streams on Hulu.
I saw Anora last night and loved it. It’s not completely a comedy, but there are things in it that are hilarious. I’ll warn you that the first part of the movie has lots of explicit sex and nudity. It’s not on any streaming services yet, so if you want to see it soon you’ll have to do it in a theater.
The Retirement Plan (Nic Cage)
Comedies I could recommend with a clear conscience: some old, a few foreign, several obscure…though none really “lately”:
Easy Street (1917)
Bed of Roses (1933)
The Little Giant (1933)
The Great McGinty (1940)
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Champagne for Caesar (1950)
I’m All Right, Jack (1959)
The Graceful Brute (1962)
Rotten to the Core (1965)
Winter Kills (1979)
Get Crazy (1983)
Crime Spree (2003)
Kamikaze Girls (2004)
Killing Cabos (2004)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Then you might enjoy the Hong Kong films of Jackie Chan, cinema’s greatest physical comedian (B. Keaton and H. Lloyd notwithstanding). I would suggest Project A 2 (1987) and Armour of God 2: Operation Condor (1991). Both are superior sequels, but seeing the first ones in either series is not required to enjoy them. All Jackie Chan films seem pretty much the same after awhile, but these two had higher budgets than most.
Love this movie.
For a long time I was under the misapprehension that the original was A Shot in the Dark (1964), but it turns out there was an earlier one, The Pink Panther (1963). Both are very good but A Shot in the Dark is generally regarded as the best of the series. Personally, though, I found The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) to be the funniest of the lot. It’s the first one after Peter Sellers and the director Blake Edwards started making them again after a long hiatus.
My favorite among the ones that I’ve seen so far that were released in 2024 is Thelma. My favorite among the ones I’ve seen that were released in 2023 is Barbie. The real problem with what you’re asking for isn’t the category of comedy but the idea of recent. There is obviously no such thing as an accepted division into recent and nonrecent. Posters in this thread gave up on confining themselves to any one time period of film history. Really, though, there’s no way to break up films into clear categories. Any category (like the the things that are also referred to as genres) isn’t actually that easy to define.
One of my favorites is Paul, about a couple of Sci-fi who encounter an escaped alien on the run from the government. Besides being pretty funny it has a great cast, including an excellent CGI lead character.
“The Brothers Bloom” 2009, with Adrian Brody, Mark Ruffalo AND Rachel Weisz
directed by. Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Knives-Out, Glass Onio w/Daniel Craig)
Very funny, well-written caper comedy; 2 con-men brothers try to play Rachel’s character out of her inheritance, hijinks ensue (& Rachel plays it funny af!) Good plot, twists, very enjoyable ride & FREE on Y.Tube (website, not TV channel)
That description reminds me of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring Michael Caine, Steve Martin and Glenne Headly. A truly funny film, though released in 1988, so not recent.
Two of my favorites of the 2000s, both coincidentally having colon / subtitle combos and both featuring the comedy stylings of John C. Reillly:
- Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
- Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Both of which the OP may have seen since they say they’ve seen all the ‘classics’ up to the 2000s, but just in case. “Walk Hard” may not have been on the OP’s radar at least- it was a bit of a sleeper and criminally underrated when it first came out.
Game Night I thought was hilarious.
Also Grand Budapest Hotel I think is the best Wes Anderson.
So many from which to choose!
This and Quiz Lady were my two great recent(ish) finds.
21 and 21 Jump Street have some great comedic moments as well.
American Fiction is a very good comedy and definitely counts as recent.
I’m looking for enjoyable comedy films too. One of my absolute favorites is My Cousin Vinny (1992). But IMHO it has to be seen in the uncut version, with the F bombs. I usually don’t care for swearing and it’s often gratuity swearing just for the eff of it, but in this movie, especially when they first meet Vinny, the F bombs enrich the scene immensely. And then later, Marisa Tomei drops one when talking about a deer in the forest and that is precious.
Another one, not really a comedy but it is lighthearted and does come through with its Aussie humor, is The Dish (2000). Unfortunately I don’t think it is available but if you can find it, watch it! And please let me know where you found it.
Good comedies can be priceless.