No, really. Directed by John Landis it’s an astonishingly funny screwball comedy - loosely based on The Marriage of Figaro - that gives Stallone a lot of room to play the straight man having the worst morning of his life. Put in a baby Marisa Tomei, Chaz Pamentari, Peter Riegart and cameos from Don Ameche and Kirk Douglas (and a host of great character actors) and you’ve got non-stop laughs for two hours. Stallone plays largely against type and really nails it. It’s the one of his comedies that really hits on all cylinders.
Man’s Favorite Sport? – Rock Hudson as a fishing expert (who doesn’t know how to fish) competes in a big tournament with reporter Paula Prentiss along for the adventure.
The Thin Man series is well worth viewing, not so much for the detective stories but for the interaction between William Powell and Myrna Loy. There’s a half dozen of them and you can stream all six from Amazon for less than a twenty dollar bill.
There were a couple of what I call “Cold War comedies”, which is how I lump together Stripes and Spies Like Us, both starring SNL alumni and both of which are fun. Also, I saw Wayne’s World on cable the other day, although I don’t know if the OP thinks that’s too stupid or juvenile. And an oldie but a goodie; Breaking Away from about 1980 is an excellent movie.
One of the most recent movies I saw that I feel meets your criteria is Knives Out. It’s a homage to and in the style of an Agatha Christie mystery but is wicked funny despite being a very clever example of the genre.
I loved it and saw it twice in the cinema. It’s got a timeless sense of being exceptionally well crafted, yet is very fresh too.
There’s a somewhat serious underpinning of class issues in the way the family treats their employees but the movie works as a delightful guilty pleasure too.
A lot of my favorites have been mentioned but my *very *favorites are. . .
My Cousin Vinny. I vaguley remember some kerfuffle about Marisa Tomei winning an Oscar for it . . .she absolutely deserves it. I own this one and still watch it if it’s on cable. My professors in my paralegal studies all seemed to mention it with high regard.
The Full MontyI’m partial to British films but anybody can appreciate this one. It’s not overly sentimental yet the final scene never fails to bring me to tears.Now I think I’m going to rewatch it tonight.
Trading Places Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd at their best.
Heaven Can Wait A sweet romantic comedy with Warren Beatty and Julie Christy as potential lovers. The best parts are those that feature Charles Grodin and Dyan Canon as they plot to get rid of Canon’s husband.
The American Astronaut (no synopsis can do this bizarre movie justice; one of only a handful of musicals that I like)
Head (the Monkees and more; another musical that doesn’t suck)
Rubber (about a murderous psychic tire)
Shoot 'Em Up (action/comedy with Clive Owen, Monica Bellucci and Paul Giamatti)
*Galaxy Quest
Grand Budapest Hotel
School of Rock
Groundhog Day
Amelie
The Princess Bride
Toy Story
*
and add
You’ve Got Mail - charming romance from the dawn of the Internet Age Big Night - two Italian brothers try to save their restaurant with a grand dinner for a visiting star Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Michael Caine and Steve Martin in a near-perfect conman comedy Airplane! - classic spoof of disaster movies Trading Places - Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd shine in a very funny revenge comedy The Incredibles - great Pixar family action/adventure movie about… a superhero family!
“High Anxiety”, a comedy by Mel Brooks with many comedic elements inspired by Alfred Hitchcock classic scenes. I love Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn and Harvey Korman in this.
“Harvey”, with Jimmy Stewart is Elwood P. Dowd, whose best friend is an invisible (to everyone else) 6 foot rabbit. Funny and so charmingly endearing.
“Mary Poppins Returns” with Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda is very entertaining fun. It also includes Emily Mortimer who was also very good and reminded me of another one I liked a lot, “The Kid”, with Bruce Willis. I’m not sure that one 100% fits your criteria as it includes a child dealing with losing his mom at a young age, but there is a very happy ending and it is overall uplifting and fun I think.
“Nobody’s Fool” also has Bruce Willis, and the wonderful Paul Newman and Jessica Tandy. Fantastic performances from everyone in it, don’t miss this one if you haven’t seen it.
romantic and lovely (and I am not a chick flick fan):
*Enchanted April *-- some English women rent an Italian villa together Moonstruck – Cher and Nic Cage in Brooklyn Strictly Ballroom – ugly duckling romance in an Aussie niche sport setting
hard to classify great watches: Cold Comfort Farm – the Stella Gibbons classic spoof of British Rural Gothic, very funny Beetlejuice – just not describable Tim Burton film Smoke Signals – I love this small film about an Idaho reservation teenager who travels by bus to Arizona with his nerdy sidekick to collect his estranged father’s ashes. Includes the immortal native american song, John Wayne’s Teeth. Screenplay by Sherman Alexie.
The Dish --a tiny Aussie observatory in a remote hamlet is assigned to relay the signal of the moon landing and almost botches it. Very very charming.
FWIW, I’m not a comic book/super hero person by any means at all. I saw Batman Returns in 1992 and one of the more recent ones and that’s about it. I have zero working knowledge of how all the different characters interact with each other when it comes to anything to do with comic books. That’s the stuff that went over my head in Big Bang Theory.
Having said that, Deadpool is really good. Sure, there were a lot of inside jokes I know I missed, but it’s more of a spoof of super hero movies than anything else. A good chunk of it is Ryan Reynolds breaking the forth wall.