The Funniest American Comedies

Liar Liar
      1997 | USA | Laughs: 6.6 (Watch Once) | imdb: 6.9
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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 Change-Up
      2011 | USA | Laughs: 6.5 (Laugh Out Loud) | imdb: 6.3
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This movie came highly recommended by a reader. After expressing the wish they had each other's life, two best friends wake up to a big surprise: they have swapped bodies! Dave is a work-focused lawyer and father of three, Mitch is a dilettante and a playboy. This movie made me laugh hard. It's not afraid to stir the pot with taboo subjects such as everyone's "perfect" babies. It contains adult themes on a similar level to Bridesmaids and Harold & Kumar, but it is almost never crass. The opening sequence does feature the grossest shot I've ever seen on film, but it's funny. If you can take a bit of foul language and minor nudity, this is a must-watch.

Edit: upon watching a second time five years later, I was a bit disappointed as the movie didn't make me laugh as much as I expected. Still a pleasant watch, but this may be my last visit. (Last viewed: Feb 2012 June 2017)

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Strange Wilderness
      2008 | USA | Laughs: 6.5 (Laugh Out Loud) | imdb: 5.3
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In desperate need of redemption, the crew of a struggling wilderness show follows a lead to film Big Foot in his South American habitat. I was drawn to this movie because it features the main actor from Grandma's Boy. Sadly, in this film Allen Covert's role was nowhere near as interesting.

Overall, it's probably fair to say that this is a terrible movie. Nevertheless, it has some very funny moments. I laughed out loud a few times and had a moment of hard laughter shortly before the fifteenth minute. Come to think of it, if you watch that far, you might want to quit while you're ahead: turn the movie off and go do something else. (Last viewed: November 2015)

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The Heat
      2013 | USA | Laughs: 6.5 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 6.6
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An uptight female FBI agent gets paired up with a foul-mouthed, disheveled female cop. There's nothing new about the odd couple formula, but this particular combination was quite funny. While Sandra Bullock's main contribution was to keep a deadpan face, Melissa McCarthy was animated and did great with her outrageous lines. As often with these kinds of movies, the first half was quite funny and the last quarter was ruined by boring plot-unwinding material (car chases etc.) Despite this flaw, the movie is well worth a watch. (Last viewed: September 2015)

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Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
      2013 | USA | Laughs: 6.5 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 6.3
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In the early 1980s, the crew of Anchorman reunites in New York City for the launch of the first 24-hour news TV station. We put this on at one in the afternoon on a grey Saturday when my lady friend had the flu, and it was suitably decadent. This movie will not go down in history as the funniest comedy ever, but it has its share of laughs and it's a good ride if you're willing to be entertained. (Last viewed: March 2014)

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Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach
      2009 | USA | Laughs: 6.5 | imdb: 5.5
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A talented "loser" coaches a high school tennis team. Despite some occasional crude language the film is not overly crass. It's goofy and made me smile throughout. The reason I watched it in the first place is that it was directed by the same man (his name is Danny Leiner) who also directed Harold and Kumar go to White Castle and Dude, Where's My Car?, a high recommendation in my book. (Last viewed: May 2015)

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She's the Man
      2006 | USA | Laughs: 6.5 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 6.3
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When her twin brother elopes to London, a girl pretends to be him for the first two weeks at his new high school so she can play on the soccer team. I liked this movie a lot. When women play men's roles, to me it usually feels phony in a really bad way. But for some reason, perhaps just great acting, for once it was very funny. By the way, what is it with movies about young women wanting to play soccer? They're really good! Actually I've only seen two. Bend it like Beckham was funny too, but this is funnier. I'll be looking for more films with Amanda Bynes. And young women who want to play soccer. (Last viewed: September 2012)

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Rat Race
      2001 | USA | Laughs: 6.5 (Watch Once) | imdb: 6.4
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A casino owner pits six people in a race to retrieve two million dollars from a train station locker in New Mexico. The movie's weakest point is probably the gross misuse made of the British talent (John Cleese and Rowan Atkinson). It still had excellent moments and deserves a watch if you're a comedy fan. (Last viewed: July 2015)

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Superbad
      2007 | USA | Laughs: 6.5 (Watch Once) | imdb: 7.6
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I tend not to enjoy films where grown-up males spend their time talking dirty about women, such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin. But when the dirty talkers are youngsters who have not yet experienced adult activities, as in Superbad, I tend to chuckle. Two kids who were dreaming of their high-school graduation party somehow find themselves at a party with 25-year-olds, and in other situations in the "grown-up world". For what it is, this movie is well put together. If you have a stomach for adult themes and foul language, you will laugh at least once and smile a lot. (Last viewed: February 2012)

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Orange County
      2002 | USA | Laughs: 6.5 (Watch Once) | imdb: 6.2
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When his college counselor sends in the wrong transcript, the straight-A class president of a preppy Orange County high school gets turned down by Stanford University. As he tries to reclaim what is rightfully his, it seems to him that neither his drama-loving mom nor his authoritarian dad, surfer buddies, sweet girlfriend and stoner brother really want him to get in. For a movie involving high-school characters, this one is refereshingly low on vulgarity but features a cute story and good laughs. (Last viewed: March 2012)

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Uncle Buck
      1989 | USA | Laughs: 6.4 (Watch Once) | imdb: 7.0
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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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Sister Act
      1992 | USA | Laughs: 6.4 (Watch Once) | imdb: 6.4
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To protect her from her mobster ex-boyfriend, the police places a loud-spoken casino singer (Whoopi Goldberg) in a convent. Starts slow, but cute and clean, with a few good laughs. (Last viewed: March 2011)

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The Man with Two Brains
      1983 | USA | Laughs: 6.3 (Watch Once) | imdb: 6.4
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This movie has one foot in the "watch once" category, the other in the "don't bother". The main reason I placed it on the "watch once" page is that it is the first movie I've seen where Steve Martin manages to make me laugh a few times. Martin plays a brilliant brain surgeon who grieves for his ex-wife and falls prey to an alluring gold-digger (Kathleen Turner). Despite the alarming title, Martin is neither annoyingly goofy (in fact there is no man with two brains in this film), nor does he draw on the hopelessly "white square American male" humor niche I also associate him with. Save this for a time when you are hung-over. (Last viewed: March 2012)

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Vacation
      2015 | USA | Laughs: 6.3 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 6.1
      wikipedia | who was involved?

When deciding whether to watch a movie, there's a risk of being swayed by reviews written by viewers whose taste just doesn't match yours. What happened to me when this film first came out is that I read a number of hateful reviews from people who moaned how inferior this remake was to the original National Lampoon's Vacation.

I'm glad I finally got to see it, because it might be the funniest thing I've seen all year. In fact I dare most people to watch both movies with a straight face (starting with the sequel) and tell me that the original made them laugh more. I'm not going to take that challenge myself, as I had stored the 1983 film in the "Watch Once" box — that tells me how unenthusiastic I was, and I don't see a reason to make myself suffer.

The plot? A man takes his family on a cross-country vacation, where everything goes wrong. I can't say that I couldn't stop laughing, but there were some fantastic moments and I was definitely smiling or chuckling most of the time. The main actor is Ed Helms, whom I love and who for some reason seems to be disappearing from comedy movies. In this role, he's perfect. Most of the cast also does a great job.

The moral of the story: don't be a nostalgic snob and treat yourself to this terrific remake, which in many ways probably improves on the original.

(Last viewed: December 2019)

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Role Models
      2008 | USA | Laughs: 6.3 (Watch Once) | imdb: 6.8
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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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