I need to slip in the often overlooked Three Amigos , which has some of the finest physical comedy that Short, Chase, and Martin have ever done.
“My little buttercup has the sweetest smile…”
I notice that nobody in this thread has yet suggested that immortal classic of cinema, Slap Her… She’s French.
There’s probably a reason for that.
So many good ones in this thread! Film comedy will be one of the 20th Century’s greatest cultural legacies.
In no particular order:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Life of Brian
Young Frankenstien
Blazing Saddles
Airplane
A Night at the Opera
Some Like It Hot
This Is Spinal Tap
Best In Show*
But the one that hasn’t been mentioned here yet that, in addition to being one of the greatest movies ever made is also one of the funniest movies ever made is Dr. Strangelove, or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The first time I saw it, I didn’t get it. But I laugh more every time I see it (and I’ve seen it about fifty times). I think it’s been saddled with that “great movie” mantel and people think they’re supposed to sit still and be in awe of it instead of laughing at it. And it also contains two of the great comic performances of all times: Peter Sellers and George C. Scott. (technically is that four performances, since Sellers does three parts?)
“Mr. President, I smell a big commie rat.”
“The Duty Officer asked General Ripper to confirm the fact that he had issued the go code, and he said, uh, “Yes gentlemen, they are on their way in, and nobody can bring them back. For the sake of our country, and our way of life, I suggest you get the rest of SAC in after them. Otherwise, we will be totally destroyed by Red retaliation. Uh, my boys will give you the best kind of start, 1400 megatons worth, and you sure as hell won’t stop them now, uhuh. Uh, so let’s get going, there’s no other choice. God willing, we will prevail, in peace and freedom from fear, and in true health, through the purity and essence of our natural… fluids. God bless you all” and he hung up.
[beat]
Uh, we’re, still trying to figure out the meaning of that last phrase, sir.”
“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!”
“Now then, Dmitri, you know how we’ve always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the bomb… The bomb, Dmitri… The hydrogen bomb.”
I realize it’s not exactly high-brow humor, but Jackass - The Movie had me and my buddies in tears the entire movie. (Of course, it was the second feature down at the local Brew-n-View and we had been doing plenty of Brewin’ prior to Viewin’, so that may explain things.)
For sheer laughs per minute, I have to go with Airplane!, with Blazing Saddles and Animal House close behind.
Humor is hard to gauge, though. Mrs. Kunilou sat stonefaced through Animal House but damn near wet her pants when she saw Porky’s.
Kingpin cracked me up. It is vulgar but very funny and is suited to my offbeat sense of humour.
My first thought was Blazing Saddles. And on second thought, I’d say that is the clear winner.
But then I also remembered that I laughed so hard during Happy Texas that I did indeed have to rewind the tape because I missed stuff. In fact, that movie made me laugh so hard that I’d end up laughing at my own laugh. I swear I sounded completely insane, howling like a lunatic at some of the scenes.
Since no one has named it yet, I’ll toss in a vote for the mostly-forgotten Brain Donors.
Being a remake of a Marx Bros. movie shows it had a very good lineage. 
For me its a choice between:
The Life of Brian
There’s Something About Mary
The Naked Gun
A beautifully low movie. The bits with Tucker the pizza delivery boy pretending to be an architect for the downtrodden complete with phoney British accent and crutches are brilliant. For my 9 year old (who loves the movie), better than the more toilet-humour parts. Or the homosexual orgy for that matter!
Meet the Family is another film which isn’t ashamed to be low and vulgar, and works well as a result. You wish the lie-detector test scene to go on longer (and you invent questions that you would like Stiller to be asked), which are signs that the film makers have drawn you in and know what they are about.
I’ve only seen it at home, but some of the jokes nearly killed me. Particularly the “normal view” song. MST proved to me that singing along to a movie’s score is a comic gold mine.
It’s a damn funny movie, imho, and I would rank it right up there with Airplane and Kentucky Fried Movie.
Oh, yeah, this movie’s hilarious! My sister and I just love it, and are always quoting it to each other till we’re in tears from laughter. One of my favorite scenes is where Freddy slips in the sardines backstage just as he’s supposed to be delivering his off-stage line, and Dottie has to cover for him onstage.
Oh, and Revtim, I just wanted to say that I never saw MST3K in the theater, but that is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen! All I have to do to crack my sisters up is to say “Give Uncle Scrotor a hug!” Or “I fell on my keys!” We’ve seen the thing so many times that we can quote large sections of it (“What’s this ‘AND THE REST’ crap?”) and keep each other in stitches!
I have to agree that many of the movies mentioned in this thread are worthy contenders, but the Carry On series has quite a few more. The best, IMHO, is Carry On… Up the Khyber, in which a Scottish regiment (“devils in skirts” to the Afghans) nearly loses India when one of their members is found to be wearing underwear beneath his kilt.
Whilst I would almost agree with rjk on “Carry On Up The Khyber” (or perhaps “Carry On Cleo”), for me there is only one film: “It’s A Gift”. It may have been made as long ago as 1934 but I think it’s an absolute snorter.
Anybody else notice how often the “lovable losers (or bumblers, fools, idiots, drunks, social misfits…)” theme crops up in this thread? Practically every movie mentioned falls under this category in one way or another… as do the two I’m going with:
I’ve seen Withnail & I dozens of times, but it’s still hilarious, with finely-drawn characters tossing off the oddest, compulsively quotablebits of dialogue in an [pexceptional script. And it’s not all verbal, either. There’s lots of physical humor, situational irony, pratfalls, burlesque, sex farce…
Tim Burton’s Ed Wood deserves a mention in this thread, though. Between the bizarre, sad mess that was Wood’s real life, the even bigger hash he made of his movies (wonderfully recreated, BTW), and the alternately self-pitying and apoplectic Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau’s Oscar-winning turn), there’s lots of big laughs.
Airplane!, Blazing Saddles, South Park and yes, Anchorman.
Gotta go along with** Vibrotronica**. *Dr. Strangelove * is one of the funniest movies ever made!
How could I forget it? I was howling in the theatre during the entire movie- almost every single scene- and that hadn’t happened in a looong time. I also have to add Old School (and I am not yet in my 30s). Everything that’s come since (Dodgeball, etc.) has been vastly inferior.
Of course, these are all laugh out loud. For dark comedie or quality rom coms that I thoroughly enjoy but don’t tear up at, I’d have to add Heathers, Clueless and a few others.
Batman - The Movie (1966)