Comedies from the 2010s

The Crocodile from Botswanga (Le Crocodile du Botswanga)
      2014 | France | Laughs: 6.6 | imdb: 5.2
      wikipedia | who was involved?

An agent brings a soccer player to an African country to shoot an ad and disperse the ashes of the player's mom. They fall into the snares of the country's dictator, who wants to hire the player for his national team. I found this movie very funny—funnier than the first film by the same crew, Back to Square One. It was also well-made, nice to look at and original. I'd love to see more comedies set in Africa—it's been a long time since Coming to America. (Last viewed: August 2014)

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We Need To Talk (Tenemos que hablar)
      2016 | Spain | Laughs: 6.6 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 5.8
      who was involved?

Having been separated from her husband for two years, a young woman seeks tactful ways to inform him that it's time for a divorce so that she may remarry—but she gets ensnared in a growing web of lies of her own making, giving her false hopes to her depressed ex.

While all the actors did a decent job, the one who played the ex's roommate was particularly prominent in the funniest parts of the film.

The story is not as good as that of Spanish Affair, but on the laugh-o-meter, the movie probably ranks a little higher. It seems to belong to a movement in which Spain is reinventing its comedy genre, drawing from classic French and American interpretations of the genre. While some may regret the loss in originality, I for one welcome this move, having been exposed to enough squeaky dark comedies à-la-Almadovar for a lifetime and being generally more interested (where comedies are concerned) in genuine laughs than in art. (Last viewed: February 2017)

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The Change-Up
      2011 | USA | Laughs: 6.5 (Laugh Out Loud) | imdb: 6.3
      wikipedia | who was involved?

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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Mental
      2012 | Australia | Laughs: 6.5 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 6.2
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A mentally unstable woman is hired to supervise the five mentally unstable daughters of a mentally unstable housewife. But in the sterile Australian suburbia just south of the Gold Coast, who is really mental—the normal people or the loonies? Supercharged with female hormones, this movie gets loud at times, but it is well-constructed by the unreliable standards of Australia's movie industry. It delivers a couple laughs, lots of grinning, and a pleasant couple of hours in the company of Toni Colette, who rarely disappoints. (Last viewed: September 2013)

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The Heat
      2013 | USA | Laughs: 6.5 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 6.6
      wikipedia | who was involved?

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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Nothing to Declare (Rien à Déclarer)
      2010 | France | Laughs: 6.5 (Watch Once) | imdb: 6.4
      wikipedia | who was involved?

On the border between Belgium and France, a French guard is in love with the sister of a Belgian colleague, who harbors a deep hatred for the French. There are enough laughs to keep you watching, but the sub-plots are weak and the cast unequal. The Belgian guard's anger is loud, ugly and certainly not comical. Dany Boon balances him and makes the movie worth watching once. (Last viewed: October 2012)

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Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
      2013 | USA | Laughs: 6.5 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 6.3
      wikipedia | who was involved?

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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Spanish Affair (Ocho Apellidos Vascos)
      2014 | Spain | Laughs: 6.5 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 6.5
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A man from the South of Spain travels north to the Basque region, against which he is strongly prejudiced, on a self-assigned mission to "extract" a woman with whom he's fallen in love and bring her back to what he perceives to be the civilized world. He ends up spending more time in the Basque country than he bargained for, first having to pass himself off as a leader of the independence movement, then having to pretend to be a proud Basque in front of his potential father-in-law.

This classic fish-out-of-water premise works brilliantly. There were many occasions to laugh, such as when our hero arrives in the Basque town and immediately starts demeaning everything in his sweetheart's surrounding—down to her clothes and hairstyle. Even without speaking fluent Spanish, you can tell the strong difference in accents, which in itself has to make you smile.

The movie came out shortly after Welcome to the Sticks (France, 2008) and its Italian remake Welcome to the South (2009) and may well have been engineered to cash in on that North-South tension without paying rights for the script that started the trend. That's a good thing, because that tension is of great comedic effect, and it's too rich not to exploit it with multiple stories.

This is the first Spanish movie to really make me laugh. Perhaps that's because classic Spanish comedies are designed to make you smirk rather than smile—dark humor seems to be the standard fare. Truth be told, this movie has something of the flavor of an American comedy, or of a French farce, if the two can be reconciled. And that's far from a bad thing.

Highly recommended.

The sequel is disappointing, unless you expect sequels to disappoint, in which case it is just what you expect. (Last viewed: February 2017)

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EuroTrapped (AmeriQua)
      2013 | Italy | Laughs: 6.4 (Watch Once) | imdb: 4.1
      who was involved?

Some very decent comedies sometimes have a low rating, and for some reason I had a good feeling about this movie when I saw that it was only worth a 4.3 on IMDB. A young American dilettante travels to Italy. Shortly after getting off the plane, he is robbed. Penniless, he comes under the wing of a group of party-going locals his age, takes a liking to a charming "princess", and becomes embroiled in a misunderstanding with the mafia. If you can stand a few subtitles and a view of Italy that is genuine—rather than the romantic image of tourist brochures—you could do worse than to spend an evening with this little movie, which is full of "real Italian humor" that translates very well into English. (Last viewed: December 2013)

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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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Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
      2016 | USA | Laughs: 6.0 (Watch Once) | imdb: 6.0
      wikipedia | who was involved?

If you can stomach some foul language and adult themes, this movie will probably give you a few good laughs. Given the task of finding suitable dates to bring to a wedding in Hawaii, two brothers advertise on Craig's list and recruit two young women who turn out to be as much of a disaster as they are. The movie is uneven but has enough good moments to make it worth a watch. (Last viewed: September 2016)

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In a World...
      2013 | USA | Laughs: 6.0 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 6.7
      wikipedia | who was involved?

The daughter of Hollywood's voice-over king tries to break into the business. Far from supporting her, her dad has a male protégé. This sweet-funny movie offers a strong female character and a glance at an interesting profession. It's not a laugh-out-loud comedy, but it made the three of us who watched it grin much of the time. (Last viewed: March 2014)

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7 Days in Hell
      2015 | USA | Laughs: 6.0 (Watch Once) | imdb: 7.1
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This mockumentary purports to tell the story of two men who fought a seven-day match at the Wimbledon tennis tournament. Sometimes crude, sometimes subtle, this 45-minute film probably has enough to make most people laugh. Actual tennis celebrities such as John McEnroe make guest appearances. (Last viewed: September 2017)

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What We Do in the Shadows
      2014 | New Zealand | Laughs: 6.0 | imdb: 7.7
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This mockumentary follows four flatmates who endure the usual tensions associated with sharing space, in addition to tensions peculiar to their condition as immortal vampires. Since my lady friend is allergic to blood on the screen and I hadn't watched a vampire movie since Herzog's Nosferatu, it says a lot for this movie that we watched it till the end. I was drawn to it by the presence of Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords and was delighted to also spot his band manager (Rhys Darby) as a werewolf. The film's premise is quite funny, and although it sometimes seems like the authors were more concerned with pleasing themselves than the audience, the film is a success. I can't say that I laughed but I did smile a lot. With Jemaine Clement, Rhys Darby and others, at the moment New Zealand seems blessed with a solid crew of humorists. (Last viewed: February 2015)

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Starbuck
      2011 | Canada | Laughs: 6.0 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 7.2
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A grown man learns that his donations to a fertility bank twenty years before spawned 533 children, a quarter of whom are now suing to learn his identity. I seem to really enjoy movies from Quebec, not least The Barbarian Invasions. This one made me laugh, especially in the first half—the second half was more predictable, Hollywood-style. Highly recommended nonetheless. (Last viewed: April 2013)

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