# Truly funny foreign comedies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2007, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334 "2007-07-27T04:41:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/1 "2007-07-27T04:41:29Z")
Most people–myself included–prejudicially think of foreign films as nearly synonymous with _ponderous and difficult_. Most of them seem to be Russian or Swedish. But what are the great foreign comedies? Foreign language, that is; UK or Australian films don’t count for the sake of this discussion. Here’s mine: _La cage aux folles Trois hommes et un couffin_ . . . and then I’m pretty well stumped. (I know, I know; it’s a gap. Hence this thread.) Yours? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/2 "2007-07-27T04:46:39Z")
_The Tall Blonde Man with One Black Shoe_ Maybe _Amelie_. Not a knee-slapper, but still a comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/3 "2007-07-27T04:50:24Z")
Damnit, I came in here to post La Cage aux Folles. Another good French film is Tanguy, about a PhD student still living with his parents who do all they can to try and get rid of him. It’s more dark comedy, but very enjoyable. And a third French language film is Gazon Maudit (French Twist), about a womanizing man whose wife takes up with a butch lesbian. Again, it’s not typically American humor, but very funny. ---
**Author:** ![Dottygumdrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Dottygumdrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dottygumdrop)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/4 "2007-07-27T05:30:45Z")
_Trois hommes et un cou **ss** in_ was good. _La Chevre_ (sorry - can’t do accented letters) is another one (remade for the US market as _Pure Luck_, starring Martin Short and Danny Glover). ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/5 "2007-07-27T05:57:45Z")
[Le Diner de Cons](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119038/), aka The Dinner Game, is one of the funniest films I have ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/6 "2007-07-27T06:10:38Z")
I remember really liking _Delicatessen_, but I don’t remember if that was because I thought it was funny or I just liked it. Its tone is lighter than might be expected. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/7 "2007-07-27T06:15:37Z")
_M Hulot’s Holiday_ Jacky Chan et al. Stephen Chow. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/8 "2007-07-27T06:16:23Z")
I happen to love “Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios” ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/9 "2007-07-27T06:45:58Z")
[QUOTE=Hunter Hawk] Stephen Chow. [/QUOTE] Yes, **Kung Fu Hustle** is one of the funniest movees I’ve ever seen. Another of his flicks, **Shaolin Soccer** is also pretty great but not in my list of greatest comedies ever. Tampopo is also very funny. The tagline is **The first Japanese noodle western!** ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/10 "2007-07-27T07:26:33Z")
[QUOTE=Talon Karrde] I remember really liking _Delicatessen_, but I don’t remember if that was because I thought it was funny or I just liked it. Its tone is lighter than might be expected. [/QUOTE] I agree - I expected it to be a bit of a horror, when it’s actually a dark comedy, but it’s so weird and quirky that it almost defines a different category of ‘funny’ all by itself. ---
**Author:** ![bathsheba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@bathsheba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bathsheba)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/11 "2007-07-27T10:59:00Z")
[La Carapate](http://www.fandango.com/lacarapate_v+++160877/summary) [The Swissmakers](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078212/plotsummary) It’s been all downhill since 1978. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/12 "2007-07-27T11:15:10Z")
[QUOTE=scotandrsn] [Le Diner de Cons](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119038/), aka The Dinner Game, is one of the funniest films I have ever seen. [/QUOTE] Yeah. It’s not one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen, but it’s pretty funny. I’d love to see a good American script done with the same idea. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/13 "2007-07-27T13:27:17Z")
I thought [_Goodbye Lenin!_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0301357/) was hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/14 "2007-07-27T13:47:04Z")
\*\*Johnny Stecchino \*\*['93, It.] is an early slapstick vehicle for Roberto Benigni and is truly LOL-funny. Benigni plays a double role as a ruthless mafioso and the good-hearted, simpleton school bus driver who’s mistaken for him. Many satirical points are scored against police officials, politicians, etc., and there’s a very sweet (and silly) romance for the chump hero, as well. I thought Pedro Almodovar’s \*\*Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown \*\* was very funny in a slapstick way (and poignant, by turns). And fans of Juzo Itami’s **Tampopo** should also check out his **A Taxing Woman** , a dark comedy about an efficient female tax investigator and her complicated relationship with a criminal overlord (and tax cheat). The comic highlight is definitely the scene in which a tax scofflaw begs our heroine for mercy, in an extremely undignified, shameless way. ---
**Author:** ![alreadymichigan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@alreadymichigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alreadymichigan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/15 "2007-07-27T13:49:22Z")
Life of Brian. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/16 "2007-07-27T13:53:23Z")
Anything with [Yahoo Serious](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000635/) . Lynch me now. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/17 "2007-07-27T14:14:42Z")
Here to second The Dinner Game and Delicatessen Also Jamon, Jamon [Jamón, Jamón (1992) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104545/) The original The Ladykillers [The Ladykillers (1955) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048281/) is pure comedy gold in its own dark weird way. I am not sure if The Party [The Party (1968) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063415/) is foreign. It has Peter Sellers, but it is about Hollywood, so I am not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/18 "2007-07-27T14:23:31Z")
[QUOTE=bigbabysweets2000] Anything with [Yahoo Serious](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000635/) . Lynch me now. [/QUOTE] I don’t really feel that Mr Serious is foreign – though I do like his movies, especially [Young Einstein](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096486/). But if Australian counts as foreign, there are a lot of other very funny ones. ---
**Author:** ![I\_m\_Ron\_Burgundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9fc29f/32.png) [@I\_m\_Ron\_Burgundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_m_Ron_Burgundy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/19 "2007-07-27T14:30:25Z")
Les Visiteurs (The Visitors), with Jean Reno as a knight transported to the present and Christian Clavier as his incredibly vulgar servant. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334/20 "2007-07-27T14:46:48Z")
An Italian movie called [_Volere, Volare_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103223/) is great. It’s a sex comedy about a guy who dubs/does foley effects for cartoons - the scene where he helps out with a porn-movie dubbing is roll-around funny… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truly-funny-foreign-comedies/413334.md?page=2)