The Funniest Comedies Ever

Dance of the Vampires (a.k.a The Fearless Vampire Killers)
      1967 | USA | Laughs: N/A (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.2
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Four stars. An eccentric professor travels to Transylvania to research vampires in company of his young assistant (Roman Polanski), who falls in love with the innkeeper's daughter (Sharon Tate) shortly before "his Excellency", the head vampire of the local castle, plunges his fangs into her neck. Every detail about the Eastern European inn and castle feels real. A beautiful movie that has stuck in my mind since I first saw it as a kid. (Last viewed: Mar 1982 September 2010)

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Ali G, Aiii
      2000 | U.K. | Laughs: 9.7 (Laugh Out Loud) | imdb: 7.5
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Compilation of clips from Da Ali G Show, the original UK TV series featuring Sasha Baron Cohen in the role of Ali G. A fake gangsta-rapper show host interviews a number of unsuspecting people on topics ranging from politics to animal rights. The segment where Ali G quizzes a law enforcement official on the merits of various drugs is on my all-time favorite list of sure laughs. In fact, the laughs keep coming, making Aiii one of the funniest tapes in circulation today… Sadly, none of Cohen's later material that I've seen comes close for quality or potency—perhaps because to reach the mass market, the producers had to dig in the toilet and cross the line between humor and disrespect. On Aiii, there is still a sense that it's all in good fun and that the "victims" can join into the laughter once the situation is revealed. (Last viewed: September 2010)

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Crocodile Dundee II
      1988 | Australia | Laughs: N/A (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 5.6
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Two stars. The best thing about this movie is the poster. Unlike the original Crocodile Dundee, this is not so much a comedy as a light-hearted adventure movie. The cocaine-drug-lord story line is as weak as it gets, but the film has its good moments, especially once the plot tears itself away from New York and moves back to Australia. No matter how awful the screen writers you throw at him, Paul Hogan's character is good value. (Last viewed: September 2010)

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Meet the Parents
      2000 | USA | Laughs: 9.7 (Laugh Out Loud) | imdb: 7.0
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

A man plans to propose to his girlfriend, but first he must meet her parents. You cringe and laugh as Greg (Ben Stiller) does everything—wrong—to secure the approval of her tough dad (Robert De Niro), a former CIA agent. The movie has several laugh-out-loud moments, but it is also funny throughout even if you sometimes want to scream rather than laugh, as you watch in disbelief, horrified by how Greg's situation keeps worsening by the minute, fighting the impulse to cover your face as his plight reaches new levels of awful. All the minute psychological observations that build the story's tension and humor are right on target and make this movie a delightful little marvel. (Last viewed: August 2010)

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Meet the Fockers
      2004 | USA | Laughs: 8.4 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 6.3
      wikipedia | who was involved?

The movie made me laugh as much as Meet the Parents, perhaps more. Seen from the viewpoint of this page (movies that make you laugh), it is therefore as good as the original, a rare feat for a sequel. However, it must be said that overall, it is not as good a movie. Meet the Parents has a story that you'll never forget. Meet Fockers makes you laugh, but it doesn't have a story apart from the simple set-up: Greg, his fiancée and her parents travel down to Florida to meet Greg's parents. In the original movie, the discomfort Greg felt as he tried to please Jack was potent and contagious. In the sequel, the discomfort is second-hand as Greg worries about his parents' conduct with Jack. You also don't have the joy or discovering Jack's character (Robert De Niro) for the first time—in fact they've made Jack less human. On the other hand, the movie has other treats in store: Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand, who play Greg's parents. Forget the sequel, Little Fockers. (Last viewed: August 2010)

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Uncle Buck
      1989 | USA | Laughs: 6.4 (Watch Once) | imdb: 7.0
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

When a couple leaves town hurriedly to attend to a sick relative, they have no choice but to call Uncle Buck (the family's "charity case") to look after the house and kids—two young' uns and a surly teenage girl. The teenager subplot is as boring and predictable as teenagers themselves, but John Candy and the little boy (who starred in Home Alone the next year) tease out bit smiles. (Last viewed: August 2010)

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Easy Money
      1983 | USA | Laughs: 1.5 (Just Awful) | imdb: 6.3
      wikipedia | who was involved?

An outgoing man who loves drink, games and smoke must give up his "sins" for one year in order for his wife to inherit ten million dollars. Rodney Dangerfield tries hard, but the laughs don't come—I feel sorry for him and the crew, as it's a cute story. Honorable appearance by Joe Pesci as the best friend who helps you get in (or stay out of) trouble. (Last viewed: August 2010)

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My Cousin Vinny
      1992 | USA | Laughs: N/A (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.6
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

Four stars. An excellent, fun, even funny movie, but not the kind that has you in stitches. A New York lawyer (Joe Pesci) travels to Alabama with his fiancee to defend his nephew and another youngster, who have been falsely accused of murdering a grocery store clerk. It's always pleasant to see justice triumph—hopefully, it doesn't only happen in the movies. (Last viewed: August 2010)

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The Rage in Placid Lake
      2003 | Australia | Laughs: 6.7 (Watch Once) | imdb: 6.9
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

Raised by New Age parents, a young man called Placid takes a job at an insurance company as an experiment to find his place in the "straight world". A fine sample of Australian humor. (Last viewed: August 2010)

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Liberty
      1929 | USA | Laughs: 9.2 (Laugh Out Loud) | imdb: 7.6
      wikipedia | who was involved?

For me, this short film (all of twenty minutes) is the funniest by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy by far. Like Harold Lloyd's Safety Last (only six years later), it's humor in high places… and I have a severe fear of heights! One of the few Laurel & Hardy films that doesn't rely on violence for comic effect. Intoxicating: I'm still laughing as I watch this. From reading other reviews, it seems the film has the same effect on others. (Last viewed: July 2010)

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Liar Liar
      1997 | USA | Laughs: 6.6 (Watch Once) | imdb: 6.9
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

After his five-year-old boy makes a wish that his dad wouldn't tell a lie for a day, an aggressive lawyer is unable to utter a single lie. That's a perfect source of comic situation for Jim Carrey—until then, the movie started rather slow. I'm not so fond of Jim Carrey's facial contortions, but I love that he makes me laugh anyway. (Last viewed: July 2010)

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The Finishing Touch and Other Laurel & Hardy Shorts
      1928 | USA | Laughs: 5.6 (Watch Once) | imdb: 7.4
      wikipedia | who was involved?

The humor in most Laurel & Hardy shorts rests on Hardy getting poked in the eye, and that doesn't really make me laugh. However, five of these shorts stand above the rest (no pun intended). The first, Liberty, is on my list of funniest comedies ever, and will keep you laughing into your golden years. The four others bear watching once:
The Finishing Touch, where Laurel and Hardy are hired to finish building a house;
Hog Wild, for the scene where Hardy balances at the top of a ladder;
Them Thar Hills, where the pair goes camping in a caravan; and
Tit for Tat, where they open an electrical shop and run into trouble with the neighboring grocer, whom they had already met in Them Thar Hills. (Last viewed: July 2010)

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The Apartment
      1960 | USA | Laughs: 4.4 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 8.3
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

One of those movies where the charaters' dress and manner of speech are so obsolete that it's nearly impossible to identify. Had not laughed after half an hour, gave up. Oh, the plot: a man in a large accounting firm makes his apartment available to the company higher ups who need a bachelor pad for an evening. Painful. (Last viewed: July 2010)

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Click
      2006 | USA | Laughs: 4.1 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 6.4
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Given a remote control that lets him fast-forward through the unpleasant moments of life, an ambitious architect (Adam Sandler) soon finds himself jumping through years at a time. It feels like the studio, armed with a strong concept and a reliable comedian, didn't bother writing a funny script. Too bad. (Last viewed: July 2010)

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Little Miss Sunshine
      2006 | USA | Laughs: 3.5 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.8
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Five stars. Dad is bankrupt, mom wants a divorce, grandpa snorts heroin, uncle Frank has just tried to kill himself, big brother doesn't speak, but everyone piles up in a VW van to bring little sister to a beauty pageant in California. Great story about who we are, and splendid acting, not least by Alan Arkin, who was already an amazing actor forty years earlier in The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming. (Last viewed: July 2010)

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And Now for Something Completely Different
      1971 | U.K. | Laughs: 4.2 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 7.6
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A compilation of early Monty Python skits and animations. I love John Cleese, but Monty Python rarely makes me laugh—we must be on a different channel. I dislike most of the animations in this film. It does include The Dead Parrot, one of the Pythons' best skits, but you hardly need to sit through this 90-minute montage just for that. (Last viewed: July 2010)

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The Meaning of Life
      1983 | U.K. | Laughs: 4.2 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 7.6
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

Ah, Monty Python… They've produced the best and the worst of comedy. This is one of those movies where the team travels so far down the path of caricature, gross and grotesque that it's simply not funny—unless you're equipped with a "subtle" British sense of humor. John Cleese and Eric Idle manage to make us chuckle, of course, and we're grateful for that. Rather than waste your time, watch Fawlty Towers instead to see John Cleese in a production that achieves a perfect comic balance. (Last viewed: Feb 1984 July 2010)

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Crocodile Dundee
      1986 | Australia | Laughs: 9.2 (Laugh Out Loud) | imdb: 6.6
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Before leaving Australia after she finishes her job, a New York reporter goes to the Northern Territory to write a feature about a tour guide who has survived an attack by a crocodile. To complete the story, the newspaper flies the charming bushman over to the United States to see how he will survive New York. I love this movie: it makes me laugh—a lot—and it shows Australia at its best in the person of Crocodile Dundee, a man who behaves as if all the people he meets are his equal (well, as long as they're men). This trait remains strong in the national self-image, though it has suffered in the years since the movie came out as Australians have had to face the challenge of surviving the globalized world. Crocodile Dundee II is not one tenth as funny. (Last viewed: July 2010)

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The Gods Must be Crazy 2
      1989 | South Africa | Laughs: 8.6 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 6.9
      wikipedia | who was involved?

We meet Xi the bushman again as he goes on another mission—this time, to find his children. The plot is not as complex as that of the original movie (it mostly stays in the tracks of a truck), nor is it as funny, but the movie is cute and pleasant to watch. (Last viewed: Aug 1989 July 2010)

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The Gods Must be Crazy
      1980 | South Africa | Laughs: 8.6 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 7.3
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Xi, a bushman of the Kalahari desert, leaves his family on a mission to the end of the world. On his way, he meets a scientist, a school teacher, a guerilla mob and other inhabitants of southern Africa. This beautiful film with a carefully-crafted plot starts out like a National Geographic program. As the story takes shape, laughs get more and more frequent. In the 1980s, this film was sometimes said to patronize indigenous Africans—perhaps because it was made by a white South African. With a distance of thirty years, I found the movie very gentle. The sequel is nearly as good. In a sense, The Gods Must be Crazy is the South African version of Crocodile Dundee, another southern hemisphere comedy that it predates by six years. (Last viewed: Dec 1980 July 2010)

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This is Spinal Tap
      1984 | USA | Laughs: 8.3 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 7.9
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

This movie that defined the mockumentary genre pretends to follow British band Spinal Tap as it tours the United States to launch its latest album. The two lead band members feel so real you keep grinning from start to finish. A few things go wrong. You may surprise yourself being fascinated as though you were watching a doco about the Beatles or David Bowie, whose music Spinal Tap's resembles in some of its periods. (Last viewed: Jul 1995 June 2010)

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Airplane!
      1980 | USA | Laughs: 8.0 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 7.7
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

Many people say that Airplane! is the funniest movie they've ever seen; I wonder if they've watched it lately. When the pilots of a flight to Chicago (and most of the passengers) get food poisoning, the burden of landing the plane falls on the shoulders of a former war pilot still grappling with psychological damage. Very silly. Some laughs. (Last viewed: June 2010)

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The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
      1966 | USA | Laughs: 5.1 (Watch Once) | imdb: 7.1
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

The crew of a Russian submarine stranded on a small island off the coast meets the villagers. You probably won't laugh (hasn't our sense of humor changed since 1966), but you might still find the movie irresistibly cute. Personal theory: Alan Arkin's Lieutnant Rozanof inspired the personage of Borat. (Last viewed: June 2010)

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The Ladykillers
      1955 | USA | Laughs: 5.0 (Watch Once) | imdb: 7.7
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

A mild-mannered gangster (Alec Guinness) rents a room from an elderly lady to plot his next robbery. While he and his accomplices hash out details in the room, they pretend to rehearse for a string quintet. A charming movie that made me smile, but not laugh—surprisingly for a comedy that features Peter Sellers: he was grossly underused by the script, an Alec Guinness vehicle. (Last viewed: June 2010)

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Arsenic and Old Lace
      1944 | USA | Laughs: 4.7 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 8.0
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

A famous art critic discovers that his two aunts have made a habit of poisoning some of their elderly lodgers to put them out of their misery. When his older brother (a convicted criminal on the run) arrives with his assistant, a German plastic surgeon, the house turns into a pressure cooker. This movie came out in 1944, and I don't think the humor works anymore. Cary Grant in particular is unbearably loud. Sorry, handsome. (Last viewed: Mar 1980 June 2010)

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The Cable Guy
      1996 | USA | Laughs: 1.3 (Just Awful) | imdb: 6.1
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A lonely cable guy (Jim Carrey) decides he wants to become one of his customers' best friends. Starts out silly (with some good laughs), ends up psycho. I wanted to watch a comedy, mama, not a stalker movie! Only watch if you're ready to zap. (Last viewed: June 2010)

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Meatballs
      1979 | Canada | Laughs: 6.8 (Watch Once) | imdb: 6.2
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Bill Murray is the head counselor at a summer camp. It's 1979, so it's not as raunchy as it sounds. Not very funny either, but cute, and you want to watch it once because it's Bill Murray. Made in Canada.

In the Summer camp theme, Wet Hot American Summer is better value. (Last viewed: June 2010)

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Blades of Glory
      2007 | USA | Laughs: 8.2 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 6.3
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Disqualified from the solo category for getting into a fight, two rival male figure skaters pair up and sign up for a couple skating championship in order to stay in the sport. Well-paced and visually striking (the directors come from advertising), innocent as in the olden days, keeps you smiling and perhaps sometimes laughing. (Last viewed: May 2010)

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Role Models
      2008 | USA | Laughs: 6.3 (Watch Once) | imdb: 6.8
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

To avoid spending a month in jail, two buddies sign up for a mentoring program: each will be the "role model" for a troubled kid. Full of foul language and adult themes, but good natured… You forgive everything because of the several hard laughs. (Last viewed: May 2010)

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Encino Man
      1992 | USA | Laughs: 6.2 (Watch Once) | imdb: 5.8
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This was recommended to me by a clerk in a video store who said it was one of the rare movies where she couldn't stop laughing. I don't have quite the same sense of humor, but maybe you do. If you watch this movie in a generous mood, you're sure to enjoy it because it is fun, and at times very funny. It's refreshing to watch a high school comedy that doesn't run on sex and alcohol. Two friends introduce their high school to Link, a young man from the Ice Age whom they found while digging a pool. As silly as it sounds… and that's a good thing. (Last viewed: May 2010)

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