Some comedy movies can be an endless stream of creativity, throwing out typical filmmaking rules to provide trippy plot lines and mile-a-minute laughs. With their speedy pace and anything-goes brashness, off-the-wall comedies are perfect to reflect and entertain the modern “meme” era. The unexpected success of many daring films in recent years (and, of course, the Best Picture win of something as daring as Everything Everywhere All At Once) proves that audiences are hungry for new ideas and imaginative worlds beyond tired blockbusters.
Ranging from films that bombard viewers with non-stop, colorful visuals and absurd events to those that hide their wackiness behind the seemingly mundane, these joyously bizarre films offer gut-busting laughter. Some weird comedies found massive success, while others have fallen into obscurity outside their cult fandoms. Ridiculous, endlessly original, and truly hilarious, several movies have found ways to appeal to audiences because of their oddities, rather than in spite of them.
10 Dicks: The Musical
Like a MadTV sketch version of The Parent Trap but musicalized, (and helmed by Borat director Larry Charles) Dicks: The Musical is bizarrely earnest in how absolutely debased and raunchy it is. Dicks: The Musical provides plenty of eye-raising moments, plus irreverent songs, and features a star-studded cast that includes Megan Mullally, Nathan Lane, and Bowen Yang, (not to mention Megan thee Stallion as the central twins’ domineering, rapping boss). It’s a very queer, very illogical, very gutsy film that uses The Parent Trap‘s absurd “suddenly meeting a twin you didn’t know you had” premise as the jumping-off point for a nonsensical musical adventure that fans of comedy will love as much as musical theater fans.
9 Beau is Afraid
This visually stunning film by Ari Aster, the acclaimed filmmaker behind Midsommar and Hereditary, is told through the ludicrously irrational eyes of one terrified and socially anxious man. Through him, Beau is Afraid becomes a tense epic odyssey about his attempt to visit his mother. Though the film is anxiety-ridden, the many uniquely over-the-top and inexplicably stressful situations Beau gets unwittingly in the middle of are hilariously unpredictable, and make his minuscule task into an entire journey. Beau is Afraid is unpredictable and amusingly unhinged.
8 Swiss Army Man
The Oscar-winning directing duo of Daniels made their feature debut with Swiss Army Man, a film which features just two characters for much of its runtime. One is at the end of his brink after being stranded on a deserted island (played by Paul Dano), and the other is a corpse (played by Daniel Radcliffe) who, like a Swiss Army Knife, has endless practical uses, like his flatulence turning him into a jet ski. Though its premise is juvenile, it succeeds in creating a number of humorous moments. Swiss Army Man‘s biggest trick, however, is that it is disarmingly charming and poignant as it explores one lonely man’s desires.
7 Delicatessen
This beloved post-apocalyptic comedy follows a butcher who murders his apartment building’s handymen to sell as food, until his daughter falls for the latest arrival. Morbid yet witty, not to mention filled with dazzling visuals, this zany film has been cited by directors like Edgar Wright as inspiration. Delicatessen is an oddly wondrous, completely surreal, totally mesmerizing black comedy.
6 Being John Malkovich
Being John Malkovich follows a puppeteer who finds a small door at his new job that allows him to enter the mind of actor John Malkovich for 15 minutes at a time before he is ejected onto the side of the New Jersey Turnpike. As his unfulfilled wife and judgmental co-worker also get involved, deliciously messy and sidesplitting conflict arises, as do deeper questions of identity and morality. Tinged with the melancholy of the main character and filled with hilarious and wacky world building, Being John Malkovich is completely unexpected, surprisingly deep, and incredibly funny.
5 Sorry to Bother You
Though Sorry to Bother You‘s initial premise sees Lakeith Stanfield as a young telemarketer who adopts a “white accent” to succeed at his job, the film’s premise and tone constantly change at an unpredictable rate. Taking place in an alternate-universe Oakland, nothing in Sorry to Bother You’s colorful world is quite as it seems in this sharp social commentary. Sorry to Bother You takes aim at a whole number of social issues with its satire, and throws out one wacky idea after another, making for a topical yet bizarre, fast-paced comedy that features some of the 2010s’ weirdest movie moments.
4 Love Exposure
Love Exposure is a nearly four-hour mix of comedy, melodrama, crime, romance, and martial arts action about a young teenage boy who struggles with the guilt of his Catholic upbringing even as he pursues a career taking “up-skirt” photographs of women. This action-packed film is extremely ambitious, constantly surprising, frantically paced, and intentionally ridiculous. It’s one of the most unique films of the 21st century, a genre mash-up complete with winning characters and an ever-evolving story.
3 Mind Game
Through a surreal and constantly changing visual style, anime Mind Game tells the story of a young man who travels to heaven and then back again after being shot by a member of the Japanese mafia. Mind Game manages to be stunning, poetically existential, and ridiculously hysterical. Though the film has a plot of sorts, it’s ideas about human existence are most captured in the experience of its strange and captivating visuals.
2 Shaolin Soccer
One of the best sports comedies of all time, Shaolin Soccer showcases superhuman martial arts skills in what is one of the most bizarre and hilariously entertaining action films ever made. With dynamic kung fu action, unforgettable characters, and its own unique brand of slapstick humor, Shaolin Soccer is an enthralling viewing experience. The film is wonderfully over-the-top, especially in its awe-inspiring but hilarious soccer scenes which showcase ludicrously impossible human feats.
1 Everything Everywhere All At Once
Winner of the 2023 Academy Award for Best Picture, the bold and unique Everything Everywhere All At Once follows unlikely hero Evelyn when a crack in the multiverse leads her to discover her ability to harness the skills of different versions of herself from other universes, and she learns that she must do so to save the world. Wonderfully acted and packed with equal amounts action, comedy, and heart, Everything Everywhere All At Once is a movie of a million ideas perfectly fit for its title. With a sense of anything-goes playfulness and a truly game cast, Everything Everywhere All At Once is strange, moving, and one of the weirdest, funniest movies ever made.
