The movie industry has been making fewer and fewer comedy movies in the last decade or so, which means some classic hits are beginning to look like artifacts from a bygone era. Comedy has slowly been absorbed into other genres, but there are very out-and-out comedy movies these days designed solely to make the audience laugh. In days gone by, studios would spend a lot of money on original comedy concepts, but it seems as though these movies are becoming hard to find. Fortunately, the classics will always be there for when comedy fans need a laugh.
The sad truth is that comedy movies are a risky investment, and many of them bomb at the box office. Comedy is extremely subjective, so making a funny movie that everyone will want to see is nearly impossible. Comedy also doesn’t translate into different cultures as well as drama, and it’s rare for people of all ages to agree on what is funny. This means comedy movies have a limited appeal when compared to some other genres, and smart comedy movies designed for adults aren’t guaranteed to make money. In the age of streaming, big-budget comedies aren’t as common as they used to be.
15 Four Weddings & A Funeral (1994)
Starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell
Before Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary and Love Actually, screenwriter Richard Curtis wrote Four Weddings and a Funeral, which starred Hugh Grant like so many of his other hits. As the title suggests, Four Weddings and a Funeral mixes comedy with tragedy as it follows a group of friends through several life-changing events. Curtis’ dialogue is sweet without being overly sentimental, especially with regard to the friendships of the group, and not just their love lives.
14 The Big Lebowski (1998)
Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore and Steve Buscemi
The Big Lebowski is a classic crime caper in the same vein as Fargo and Raising Arizona, also directed by the Coen brothers. The script is full of unforgettable quotes, and this is due to the brilliant characters of The Big Lebowski. In the absurd tangle of the Dude’s life, each person he meets is bombastic and disagreeable, whether they’re the mobsters threatening his life or his best friend and bowling partner. So much of comedy is about relatability, but The Big Lebowski is hilarious without a single realistic character.
13 Zoolander (2001)
Starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell
One of many goofball comedies that came out of the early 2000s, Zoolander mocks the vanity of image-obsessed celebrities by following two male models. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson play the stupid but beautiful models who tussle for supremacy, and Will Ferrell is the camp villain bent on taking them down. The gulf in popularity between Zoolander and its sequel, which came in 2016, could be seen as an indicator of the decline of Hollywood comedies. On the other hand, it could also be seen as a warning not to make unwarranted sequels without a great idea.
12 Blazing Saddles (1974)
Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder
Mel Brooks has created a string of hilarious movies dating all the way back to the 1960s. Now that he’s in his 90s, it’s hard to envisage an up-and-coming comedy director following in his footsteps any time soon. Blazing Saddles is Brooks at his best. It’s a risible social satire with a heavy focus on race and a script packed full of one-liners. The two outstanding central performances from Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder push Blazing Saddles over the top, making it Brooks’ funniest movie amid some very stiff competition.
11 Galaxy Quest (1999)
Starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman
Parodies and spoofs have been among the most noticeable casualties of Hollywood’s recent move away from pure comedies. Parodies require a working knowledge of the source material from their audiences, so they have limited appeal. Movies like Austin Powers, Scary Movie, and Galaxy Quest are less likely to get a green light now compared to 20 years ago. Galaxy Quest is a clever Star Trek parody, but it’s just as concerned with the drawbacks of fandom and celebrity culture, so it’s more universal than it may first appear.
10 Shaun Of The Dead (2004)
Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Kate Ashfield
Shaun of the Dead is more than just a clever title and a wry genre parody. The focus on the characters, in particular Shaun and his shambolic life, makes it a hilarious comedy even for those who aren’t fans of zombie horror. Edgar Wright used his punchy direction as a source of humor in the Three Flavors Cornetto trilogy. His more recent movies, such as Last Night in Soho, aren’t the same type of comedy. They still have funny moments, but laughs aren’t the primary focus.
9 Airplane! (1980)
Starring Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty and Leslie Nielsen
Airplane is endlessly quotable, but it’s also packed full of great sight gags like the inflatable autopilot and Ted’s “drinking problem”. The jokes come thick and fast, but Airplane has an astonishingly high success rate. Rather than becoming tedious, Airplane keeps things fresh by varying its approach. It has countless ways to make the audience laugh, and the whole movie counts as one big joke too, by parodying melodramatic disaster movies. Robert Hays is the star, but Leslie Nielsen stands out as the deadpan Dr. Rumack.
8 Superbad (2007)
Starring Michael Cera and Jonah Hill
Teen comedies first rose in popularity in the 1980s with movies like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Superbad represents the pinnacle of the 2000s teen comedy boom, and it helped launch the movie careers of Michael Cera and Jonah Hill. The movie defined a generation of teenagers with its crude humor and its bold anti-authority philosophy, but teen comedies aren’t as abundant as they once were. Booksmart is one notable exception from the last few years.
7 Monty Python & The Holy Grail (1975)
Starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Eric Idle
It’s hard to imagine anything as proudly silly as any of Monty Python’s movies being made today. Monty Python’s peculiar brand of surreal humor migrated from their sketch show on TV, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, to film, but it didn’t conform to the conventions of the medium. The Holy Grail does tell an overarching story, but each of the sketches can be appreciated out of context. Some iconic characters only appear in a single scene, like the Black Knight or Tim the Enchanter.
6 Tropic Thunder (2008)
Starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr.
Tropic Thunder features an outstanding comedy cast, including Jack Black, Ben Stiller, and Robert Downey Jr. Even some of the smaller roles have high-caliber talent, like Bill Hader and Steve Coogan. But the movie industry satire has just as many explosions and firefights as the kind of war movies it sets out to mock. It’s an action-comedy, but the focus is more towards the comedy. Big-budget comedies with such impressive casts and action set-pieces are something of a rarity these days.
5 Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (2004)
Starring Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner and Christina Applegate
The late 1990s and early 2000s were a great time for leading comedic actors in Hollywood. Like Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell was consistently producing hits. Anchorman is more than just another vehicle for him though. It surrounds Ferrell with a great supporting cast including Paul Rudd and Steve Carell, and their chemistry is an instant hit. Anchorman pokes fun at the sensationalism of the American news media, but it’s also about the pomposity of minor celebrities.
4 The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
Starring Steve Carell and Catherine Keener
The 2000s saw a massive rise in romantic comedies, each putting their own twist on the classic formula. None were as offbeat and abnormal as The 40-Year-Old Virgin. One of Judd Apatow’s best movies, The 40-Year-Old Virgin surrounds Steve Carell’s Andy with a group of enthusiastic but useless friends who each think they alone hold the key to understanding women and giving them what they want. R-rated comedies are a dying art, but The 40-Year-Old Virgin stands as evidence that adults-only comedy movies can be hugely successful.
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3 Ghostbusters (1984)
Starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis
Ghostbusters takes a unique sci-fi concept and puts a humorous spin on it. With a different cast and a darker tone, Ghostbusters could have taken most of the same material and made a serious sci-fi film, and that’s probably what would happen if Ghostbusters were pitched to a modern studio. Blockbuster movies can usually benefit from a sense of humor, but comedy is rarely as much of a focus as it is in Ghostbusters. The sequels have so far struggled to recapture the winning comedy dynamic of the original cast in the first movie.
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2 Mean Girls (2004)
Starring Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams
The Mean Girls musical movie is set to be released in 2024, but the original may not have a chance of being made today. Comedy movies don’t perform as well as dramas in foreign markets, especially when they have a heavy focus on specific cultural experiences, like American high schools. This means that the limited appeal of Mean Girls might be too much of a concern for studios these days. Fortunately, the success of the original and the Broadway musical means that Cady and the Plastics will be back.
1 Groundhog Day (1993)
Starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell
Groundhog Day, fittingly, has been copied many times. The time loop subgenre has been used for comedies like Palm Springs and the Netflix series Russian Doll, but Groundhog Day started this trend. It would be unusual for a modern movie to use such an original and innovative premise for comedy, rather than more serious sci-fi. Groundhog Day didn’t invent the idea of a time loop. It did, however, revolutionize and perfect the trope. Usually, comedies don’t require such groundbreaking storytelling.
