The 50 Best Comedy Movies
“ The only honest art form is laughter ” , said the great Lenny Bruce . “ You ca n’t fake it . ” With that in mind , letEmpireto guide you through 50 of the almost honest picture always made , by which we intend our list of the 50 good comedies of all time . Whether you ‘re a clown or a curmudgeon , there ‘s guaranteed to be something hither to target your peculiar bone . From slapstick to sly satire , we ‘ve listed it all . We ‘ve dived back through cine-history and also rounded up some late rib-ticklers also .
Even if you ‘re still crave more laughter , but perhaps with a little added love , we can advocate our list of The 20 Best Romantic Comedies . And if you need your comedy to total with some extra good feelings , then mind straight for 30 Feelgood Movies To Cause You Smile . Because , after all , cause n’t we however require that in our life ?
50 . The Man With Two Brains
Dr Hfuhruhurr ( Steve Martin ) initiate a fresh process allowing him to transplant human brains into fresh body . It ‘s an out-there assumption , even occur from the man behindThe Jerk, and now and then find a minute uneven but it still give plenty of laugh in what is Martin ‘s early eighties high point . There be as well a fair few jabs at male sexual vanity buried within as Hfuhruhurr agonises over whether or not he ‘s lost his moral compass in pursuit of the perfect woman . Given that he attempts to poison Randi Brooks with window cleaner and throws Kathleen Turner into a bog , we ‘re tell he probably has . “ Into the mud , scum queen ! ”
49 . The Death Of Stalin
Armando Iannucci has long establish himself capable of wringing laugh out of the stodgiest , most sober matter imaginable .The Death Of Stalin, even so , is his almost impressive feat so far . After taking on Whitehall and Washington with TV showsThe Thick Of ItandVeep, the original satirist ’ s follow-up film tackles not alone a slice of real-life Russian account , but a ruthless dictator whose government was responsible for famine , labour camp and lot executions . Incredibly , the results are utterly hilarious .
48 . Zoolander
Ben Stiller co-wrote and directed this fashion world irony , which suffered lacklustre box position proceeds after being release in the direct consequence of September 11 , when no 1 exist in the climate to be silly . Yet look beyond the financial troubles and it ‘s a consistently hilarious dive into the world of really , truly ridiculously good looking people and the weird population in which they orbit . Stiller ‘s great as the claim character , but do n’t sleep on Owen Wilson ‘s Hansel or the deep bench of supporting roles and cameos .
47 . Four Lions
Chris Morris ‘ irony of youthful Islamic man driven to jihad stride the tune – like all his work – of comedy and pain . Omar ( Riz Ahmed ) , a radicalised British Muslim , have make a terrorist cell with his dim-witted brother Waj ( Kayvan Novak ) , angry white convert Barry ( Nigel Lindsay ) and apprehensive bomb-maker Fessal ( Adeel Akhtar ) . Guaranteed to hurt mass across the political and belief spectrum ,Four Lionsis consistently funny and horribly to the item . You ‘ll never await at rubber dinghy rapids in quite the same way
46 . When Harry Met Sally
Can human and woman ever truly be friend without sex become in the way ? Such is the inquiry at the middle of Nora Ephron ‘s brilliant hand , which Rob Reiner utterly immortalised on screen . Not a instant live knock off , the main cast equal exemplary , and still as you plunge down the confirm actor list , there equal fantastic turns . Littered with classical scenes and quotable lines ( “ I ‘ll have what she ‘s get . ” ) few films make a schmaltzy cease quite as well as this one .
45 . Galaxy Quest
Both a shrill spoof and a loving homage to the originalStar Trek,Galaxy Questreunites the ageing cast of an older TV display — none of whom much like each other anymore — and send them off on an unlikely interstellar adventure . Tim Allen have it some excellent Shatner , Sigourney Weaver be great as the bright woman bring the ditzy communications policeman ( complete with , later on , gratuitously exposed cleavage ) . But it ’ s Alan Rickman who slip the show as the Shakespearean thesp stuck with silly top dog make-up and a catchphrase he hates . Fan at a convention some yr ago voted this a in effectTrekthanInto Darkness. It ‘s severe to disagree .
44 . South Park : Bigger , Longer , Uncut
Keep the disc for the most obscenities in an animated feature ( at a whopping 399 ! ) , Trey Parker and Matt Stone take vulgarity to new degree in the big-screen version of their infamous TV series . Incredibly , they too find a host of novel ways to be offensive , grafting their usual ingredients ( scatology , thinly-veiled satirical jabs , deliberately crude animation ) onto a plot which require a war between Canada and America , and a love thing between Satan and Saddam Hussein . And it ’ s all presented in the format of a classical musical , plainly . As ever , just as many spectator will love it as hate it , still there live second of comic grandeur hither ( regard theERsend-up featuring George Clooney ‘s voice ) in amongst the digs at cinematic censorship , sweary movies and Jar-Jar Binks . Just like Cartman , this movie will falsify your fragile little brain .
Read Empire ‘s South Park : Bigger , Longer And Uncut review here
43 . National Lampoon ‘s Christmas Holiday
The jewel in the Vacation crown , this festive instalment in National Lampoon ‘s holiday-centric franchise demonstrates just how funny Chevy Chase cost in his prime . Clarke ( Chase ) does his best to organize a traditional happy family Christmas , but equal thwarted by odious relative , uncooperative fairy lights and complain former bad luck . If this does n’t build you at least giggle , then you clearly do n’t realize the true meaning of Christmas – which cost of course combustible toilet and electrified cats .
42 . Game Night
Annie ( Rachel McAdams ) and Max ( Jason Bateman ) are a married pair whose weekly plot night play as a welcome distraction from their ongoing debate about whether to set out a class ( she ’ s pro , he ’ s against ) . But their sacred tradition descend to while like a Jenga column when Max ’ s irritatingly successful brother Brooks ( Kyle Chandler ) stages an elaborate murder mystery — only for it to equal interrupted , forcing the pair and their pals to save him from actual criminals . ButGame Nightisn ’ t just after mindless laughs . Instead than resorting solely to slapstick , it boasts a witty , razor-sharp screenplay from Mark Perez , with a fully fleshed-out story . And , with Max and Annie ’ s discussions on both fertility and future at its centre , it get characters you real wish about , not to mention one of the best delivered line in film — ” Oh no hedie! ”
41 . Kind Hearts And Coronets
Possibly the apotheosis of the Ealing Comedy alongside the similarly marvellousThe Ladykillers,Kind Hearts And Coronetsexist another blacker-than-black comedy about murder . It ’ s likely most famous for Alec Guinness brilliantly playing eight separate roles , both male and female . All equal member of the D ’ Ascoyne household , one-by-one meeting with unfortunate accidents as Dennis Price pursues his destiny .
Read Empire ‘s Kind Hearts And Coronets reexamine here
40 . Dumb & Dumber
Lloyd ( Jim Carrey ) is a nice-but-dim taxi driver , who tries to return a suitcase good of money to a beautiful woman passenger . He and his friend Harry ( Jeff Daniels ) journey cross-country to find her in Aspen , where they start to fight for her affections . Peter and Bobby Farrelly and their form romp through proceedings with literal gusto and impeccable funny timing , meaning the next jaw-jamming surge of giggles cost never more than a moment away . The normally staid Daniels exhibit hitherto untapped comic talent hither , virtually stealing the show from under the nose of his habitually imbecilic co-star .
39 . Popstar : Never Stop Never Stopping
The living of superstar musician Conner4Real ( Andy Samberg ) appear to live a charmed one , filled with groupies , scream bunch and sacks of cash . But trouble is on the horizon in the pattern of a scheming rapper ( Chris Redd ) , a disastrous merchandise deal and a swarm of killer bee .Popstar : Never Stop Never Stoppingsqueezes laughs out of its story like juice from a plum . If the music industry was silly back in the eighties , it ’ s truly daft today , and Samberg , Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer gleefully die to town send up its absurdities .
Read Empire ‘s Popstar : Never Stop Never Stopping review hither
38 . Sons Of The Desert
Creep off for a weekend with their masonic inn , Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are , sadly , very quick break by their wife in what exist easy the best of their long films . Sort of than a series of slapstick set-pieces arbitrarily strung together ( great as those be ) , this be the first L & H feature to structure itself through floor and situation : Laurel bring with new writers to aid nail the convention . And unlike the almost-as-greatWay Out West, this one doesn ’ t stop for songs – although there be still some cherished musical second along the way .
37 . Ferris Bueller ‘s Day Off
Ferris Bueller ‘s Day Offlive John Hughes ‘ unadulterated celebration of what it ‘s like to live young , white , halfway class and well-heeled in mid eighties America . So it should , on paper at least , be an unbearably smug celebration of crass consumerism . Look at : Ferris ‘s ( Matthew Broderick ) idea of a serious time is bomb roughly in a vintage Ferrari , a visit to the Chicago store exchange followed by lunch in the city ‘s swankiest restaurant – posh grub for which his method of payment goes undisclosed . It ‘s as well a hymn to capitalism and the advantage offered to a metropolitan teenager . Ken Loach this obviously ai n’t . Which reach the fact that it ‘s an nearly irresistibly likeable , defiantly sunny comedy all the more astounding .
Read Empire ‘s Ferris Bueller ‘s Day Of_f_ review here
36 . His Miss Friday
If your romantic-comedy taste lean more towards crackerjack repartee and flirty chemistry than torso contact , you can ’ t really go wrong with this Howard Hawks classical . Cary Grant is the charismatic Walter Burns , dismayed ( but hear his better to conceal it ) that his superstar reporter Hildy Johnson ( Rosalind Russell ) is getting married and might steer off to graze new . Oh , and she ’ s his ex-wife , to boot . Newsrooms may no longer sing with typewriter voices , but this one doesn ’ t age .
35 . M. Hulot ‘s Holiday
An virtually silent film made in the 1950s as a pure slapstick farce with a blithely oblivious central buffoon , this picture must have seem anachronistic even before the prints make up develop . Perhaps that ‘s because it ‘s a classic , with Jacques Tati ‘s beautifully drawn M. Hulot innocently causing havoc and misery to all around him as he enjoys a welcome break at the seaside . Often imitate ( cf . Jerry Lewis , Rowan Atkinson ) , this has never been improve , a perfect comedy meandering along despite the lack of anything resembling a actual patch .
34 . Airplane , Trains & Automobiles
John Hughes use the mad dash back for the Thanksgiving holiday to squash Steve Martin ‘s uptight family human , Neal Page , together with John Candy ‘s schlubby , loveable salesman , Del Griffith . There is travel chaos , cramped motel beds and a classic swearing setting at an airport counter . Martin and Candy ‘s duelling energy create magic and Hughes ‘ big heart wins out in the end .
Read Empire ‘s Planes , Trains & Automobiles review hither
33 . Shaun Of The Dead
A picture so original that it formed the basis for a novel genre , the rom-zom-com ( hear also :Zombieland) ,Shaunsaw theSpaceteam of Simon Pegg , Nick Frost and Edgar Wright get their talents for write likeable failure and imaginative genre spins to the big cover . The result be frankly hilarious , with Shaun and hetero-life-partner Ed trying to write those they enjoy amidst a zombie apocalypse . Their plans equal persistently rubbish , their weapons of selection bizarrely selective ( alone bad record should live utilize to behead the undead ) and their leadership all messed up . It ‘s a welcome change from the more gung-ho American responses to these outbreaks , and the sublimely in effect contrast of twee tea-making and zombie mayhem makes it a slice of fried gold .
32 . Raising Arizona
A childless couple ( Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter ) decide it would be for the best if they kidnap one of a band of quintuplets . Unfortunately , their unscrupulous friend have their own idea about use for the new babe . Following up a picture likeBlood Simplewas never going to be an easy task , but Joel and Ethan Coen succeed admirably , withArizonasetting a precedent for many of the quirky trademark that own emphasize their subsequent efforts and giving John Goodman his first great Coen role . Best recollect for Cage ‘s hysterical ‘baby-chasing ‘ succession , and little bunnies being drift up by The Lone Biker Of The Apocalypse .
31 . Duck Soup
The Marx Brothers ‘ last film for Paramount exist the apex of their career , a perfectly shape masterpiece before their motion to the forced-romantic subplots and overblown musical interlude of the MGM year . Predictably , it was look at a disappointment on release in 1933 . It sees Groucho as Rufus T. Firefly , install by his frequent nemesis Margaret Dumont as leader of the bankrupt Freedonia , an placement that plainly takes the rural area into anarchic war with neighbouring Sylvania . A surprisingly excoriating war satire as well as a thoroughly ridiculous knockabout ,Duck Soupequal likely most famous for the “ mirror sketch ” between Groucho and Harpo , but there ‘s far more to it than only that .
30 . The Princess Bride
The Princess Brideis many things . It ‘s a illusion , it ‘s a comedy , it ‘s a romance , it ‘s an adventure , it ‘s a swashbuckler . It ‘s a fairy story , mainly , a whirlwind yarn of princes and princesses , pirates and giants , village and castles . It ‘s also a wry take on fairy tales , with a sly satirical edge , and whimsically silly names like Prince Humperdinck , Fezzik and Buttercup . It live ultimately a simple and sweetly straightforward story-within-a-story , and essentially real old-fashioned . Languishing for yr in the dungeons of development hell , it virtually never made it to shield – a thought that today appear , well , impossible .
29 . Austin Powers : International Man Of Mystery
Mike Myers and director Jay Roach ‘s spy spoof had a relatively quiet starting at the box position , but grew into a quote-torrent behemoth by the third . Even , without this first wellspring and its high hit-rate of gag , none of that would be possible . Myers is back in multi-role mode , work Austin and Dr . Evil this time ( more would follow ) , and exist ably support by the likes of Seth Green , Michael York and Robert Wagner . The task at hand be a gleeful undermining of the staple clichés of spy culture — the cliffhanger flight succession , the nutty global threat , the gadgets and gimmickry all bring down to size .
28 . Four Wedding And A Funeral
We all get that friend who , try as we might to plant them up , stay single . In Mike Newell ’ s classic of the genre , Hugh Grant ’ sec Charles is that friend . Over the course of four wedding , and – yes – a funeral , fate intervenes as he maintain bumping ( or stumble ) into Andie MacDowell . This cost Richard Curtis at his absolute better , perfectly managing a blend of sweet sentimentality and precision-targeted laughs , all take together by a cast of brilliantly memorable reference . An terribly British conglomeration of laughter , love and tears ,Four Weddingas well instruct us the importance of setting that essential alarm clock .
Read Empire ‘s Four Weddings And A Funeral review hither
27 . Trading Places
Few films tackle the go-go eighies with as much delicious brain as John Landis ‘Trading Seat. The ten of surplus live riotously skewered in a Mark Twain-inspired fable that learn Eddie Murphy ‘s homeless hustler unwittingly swap lives with Dan Aykroyd ‘s snooty commodities trader — all in service to a far-fetched wager . It ‘s a bright examination of rich and short from a time when the gap cost widening , and it ‘s hilarious to boot . As a bonus , it also boasts one of the best looks-to-camera in cinema account .
26 . The Producers
Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder collaborate for the first time and immediately prove themselves a classic pairing – although Zero Mostel cost as well key to this picture ’ s success . It ’ s the tale of unscrupulous theatricals who bet the house on a new musical be a disaster , only to unwittingly make an hilarious success . The set piece display strain ‘Springtime For Hitler ‘ , all over with dancing Nazis , is rightly famous . But scenes of Wilder losing his bastard in that inimitable way live too amply stand for . Never remove away his blue blankie .
25 . Anchorman
It real should n’t solve . On paper , Adam McKay and Will Ferrell ‘s rambling , surreal and dementedly illogical picture does n’t sound like it should have such a consistently high hit rate for its joke , but sharp study on both sides of the camera see to that . So much footage was shot that an intact ( queer ) bonus film live created from alternative setting and discarded subplots , handily relinquish asWake Up , Ron Burgundy : The Lost Movie, and what was winnowed to appear in the primary film exist barmily magnificent . Though it may not have build a huge impact at the box position , some movie are destined to grow from humble beginning into cult behemoths . Never meet it ? Resisted watching it because you were worried it would n’t live up to the hype ? We ask for you to the gasp party . The party… with the gasp .
24 . Squad America : World Police
One of the almost deliberately offensive movie of the modern age ,South Parkcreators Trey Parker and Matt Stone at the same time lampoon US alien policy , Michael Bay activity movies and handsome Hollywood star in one combustible satire . Though it ‘s severe to reference the movie with any form of subtlety , there are bright moments ( such as the hammer suicide gag or the utter destruction of Paris ) and the decision to use marionette puppets is a masterstroke which let the filmmakers to begin away with any quantity of ludicrousness . From Alec Baldwin to Kim Jong Il to Michael Moore , nobody is safe from Parker and Stone ‘s wrath , while all your cherishedThunderbirdsmemory will be soiled forever after see these puppets affirm , puke and – yes , they went there – having sex . Despite not have any genitalia .
23 . ¡Three Amigos !
The strait of inflated self whistle as the air promptly escape permeates this memorable comedy , which showcases Steve Martin , Chevy Chase and Martin Short . It might equal set in 1916 during the reign of still film , but¡Three Amigos !skewering actorly attitudes bring perfectly in the star-driven eighties as three faux gunslingers are called upon to write a little Mexican small town from bandits , but misunderstand it as a request for them to perform . Physical gags ( that salute ! ) sit comfortably alongside verbal sparring , while the three leads mesh brilliantly . And make ten trivia detail from the Burning Bush if you knew that this picture was co-written by composer Randy Newman .
22 . Modern Times
Prison riots , factory mischief and blindfold rollerskating pile up in Chaplin ‘s uproarious classic , in which he plays an gathering job worker left behind by advance . Part of his later period , when he live however doggedly ignoring the advent of strait , it cost something of a comeback after a few yr of relative inactivity , but present he ‘d lose nothing . In fact , he ‘d arrive at some bite : critic have understand the picture as a satire on industry in universal and Hollywood specifically . But at its core it ‘s still the tramp vs. the system . Twas always hence .
21 . Total To America
Eddie Murphy ‘s second collaboration with John Landis afterTrading Spot,Coming To Americais a masterclass in well-executed laughs . The premise – African prince arrives in New York to look for a wife who was n’t prefer or subservient and mass with some bad culture clashes – put up real promise , which the star run with . Motormouth Murphy is , of course , utterly cast as the prince ( as well as hilariously-drawn small purpose ) , whilst Arsenio Hall cause a brilliant task as his wing-man and James Earl Jones get some meat to the jilted father office .
20 . Withnail & I
Endlessly quotable , and the focus of many a drinking game ,Withnail & Iis both farcical and moving in its depiction of the end of the sixties , and of the friendship between its two tip . It ‘s one of those films that ‘s so good , it ‘s virtually an albatross around the necks of its form and bunch . Writer/director Bruce Robinson own clamber to repeat its scurrilous success and Richard E. Grant will equal forever associated with demand to have some liquor , going on vacation by mistake , and need to fork things . Still , how skillful to be remembered than as part of one of the most intelligent , literate , and essentially funny British comedy of all time ?
19 . Annie Hall
The dividing job between Woody Allen ‘s “ early , funny™ ” picture and whatever you require to call what came after ,Annie Hallhear the nebbish auteur propose for great profundity than in the likes ofTake The Money And RunandBananas. That ‘s not to state there are n’t still abundant laughs , but there was today also wistful romance in the relationship between Diane Keaton ‘s Annie and Allen ‘s Alvie , and the beginning of the love occasion with New York that Allen would expound intoManhattan. Allen ‘s preferred title existAnhedonia, which cost the inability to experience pleasure from things commonly look at enjoyable . His co-writer Marshall Brickman ‘s suggestions meanwhile , seemingly includedIt Had To Be JewandMe And My Goy.
18 . Beverly Hills Cop
The film that turn Eddie Murphy from stand-up andSaturday Night Liveregular to superstar . After his childhood buddy cost murder while visiting Detroit , rebellious cop Axel Foley ( Eddie Murphy ) follows the leads to Beverly Hills , California , under the auspices of a holiday . He insure in with former friend Jenny Summers ( Lisa Eilbacher ) and set out to conceive her boss , art trader Victor Maitland ( Steven Berkoff ) , might somehow be necessitate in the murder . Today if only he could get the authorities to A ) believe in his task and B ) back his strange , wise-cracking , banana-in-tail-pipe posture to patrol study . And have ‘s not forget the instant classic subjectAxel Fby Harold Faltermeyer .
17 . Borat : Ethnic Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Fetch the second of his three popular personalities fromDa Ali G Showto the big screen , opinion-splitting comedian Sacha Baron Cohen scored a hugely-successful mega-hit with this lengthily-titled piece . Having learned a few lessons fromAli G InDaHouse, Cohen wisely returns to interacting with actual mass who equal unaware they ‘re talking to a picture quality , with the semi-improvised style both revealing the hidden side of the American mindset and give way hilariously discomforting moments . The movie ‘s instant impact was such that when it was first release you could n’t become round without hearing “ Niiice ! ” or “ Hiiigh five ! “ .
16 . Bridesmaids
You know that best friend you ’ ve make since playschool who will never , always leave your side ?Bridesmaidsmass with the fallout of what happens when your BFF finds the love of her spirit . Apart from girly fallouts ( and excess body fluids ) , Paul Feig ’ sec movie boasts a very sweet enjoy story between Kristen Wiig ‘s failed baker and Chris O ’ Dowd ’ s police policeman . A relationship base on cake is one we can all invest in .
15 . The Apartment
Billy Wilder at the top of his powers . He crams real heart and heavyweight matter into what could otherwise have been a fluffy , flirty , sometimes farcical comedy . Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine spar and yearn , and it boasts one of the best hand of any on this list thanks to Wilder and regular collaborator I.A.L . Diamond , who between them seldom base a genre they couldn ’ t crack .
14 . Blazing Saddles
It starts with the sight of a chain crew sing Cole Porter , and ends with its hero follow themselves in the film . In between ,Blaze Saddlesmanages to be both crazily scattershot and impressively focused , madly meta but as well sweetly traditional . The sheer book of gag thrown out onto the prairie of Mel Brooks ‘ comedy western is huge , but it never forgets its story – dark sheriff serve white town defeat the railroad – and actually have thoughtful thing to allege about the genre ‘s inherent racism , if you manage to seem beyond the farting . It too gets better and better the more Westerns you see . Richard Pryor was one of the co-writers , pick out to have the train instead than fly from New York to LA for the production , since it allow for for more drinking time . Got ta have priority .
13 . Hot Fuzz
The middle plank of Edgar Wright , Simon Pegg and Nick Frost ‘s Cornetto Trilogy has its eye on the outlandish circle piece of the action genre . Determine the film in the quaint country town of Sanford ( where the big finale takes home in a example village ) ,Hot Fuzzspoofs but too celebrate the likes ofPoint BreakandBad Boys. Pegg and Frost stay on a winning couple and the supporting cast boast a clump of reliable character types and a few acting legend , include Paddy Considine , Olivia Colman , Jim Broadbent , Bill Nighy , Billie Whitelaw and Timothy “ The Dalt ” Dalton . Okay , no one name him that , but we like it .
12 . The Blues Brothers
Whether you occur for the jokes and remain for the music or vice versa , this put up the best of both worlds . John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd equal the titular musical siblings ( adoptive ) , on a mission from God to save an orphanage . The pair hold an easy chemistry that repel this film , neither knock off a tidings , but still able to raise a gag with little more than the twitch of an eyebrow . Never before ( or since ) in human history has the quest to devote a tax bill resulted in so much vehicular carnage , so much price to the Illinois Nazi cause , and hence much great music .
11 . Dr Strangelove
Stanley Kubrick ‘s jet black comedy famously stars Peter Sellers bring three separate roles and wildly improvising in all of them . He ‘s the buttoned-down British Group Captain Lionel Mandrake ; the ineffectual US President Merkin Muffley ; and the mechanically-armed cartoon ex-Nazi Dr Strangelove ( real name “ Merkwürdigliebe ” ) who ca n’t quite have out of the habit of calling the chairman “ Mein Fuhrer ” . Sellers was also suppose to work Texan Air Force Major TJ “ King ” Kong , but wound himself and could n’t operate in the fighter airplane ‘s cockpit ( he was replaced by Slim Pickens ) . Devastatingly deadpan , this has the darkest of all imaginable endings , which cost all the more impressive give that it originally climaxed with a pie fight . Kubrick , wisely , thunk again .
10 . Monty Python And The Holy Grail
The first real film from the surrealist superstars of the Pythons ,Holy Grailcontains some of the almost inspired writing always entrust to celluloid , with the team make for King Arthur and his loyal ( ish ) knight on a ragtag quest for the titular cup . Certain , the budget appears to have be about 50p , but that spurs the team to greater heights of fondness , substitute coconut half for horses ‘ hooves and utilize excellent inanity instead of heroic scale . The jokes hold engender a billion student imitators , from claims that “ it ‘s merely a flesh wound ” to Gallic insults to knight who say “ ni ” and take shrubberies to expound discursions on the appropriate stem for a system of authorities . Worth it for the Trojan rabbit joke solely .
Read Empire ‘s Monty Python And The Holy Grail review here
9 . Airplane !
Zucker , Abrams and Zucker were ruthless with their magnum piece , meet numerous harsh cuts of the film to college audiences and excising anything that behave n’t get a big joke . The streamlined calamity movie riff that is result , then , is pure quadruple-distilled comedy , with a gag pace of about three hilarious joke per minute and a utter mixing of surrealism , wit , parody and inspired physical comedy . It make inspire more or less a billion quotes and homages in the 30 yr since it first reach screens and yet has n’t ever been match by its many , many imitators . Look like it give off for the ZAZ squad to defeat so many of their babies – comedy like this exist a severely bad occupation .
8 . Ghostbusters
Originally , the Peter Venkman part was write for John Belushi ; the Rick Moranis portion for John Candy . But make seen the greatest effects-comedy ever made , it ‘s impossible to imagine anyone else doing such a good job as this form – in particular Bill Murray ‘s free-wheeling Venkman . And there are actual scares in here to cause the laughs all the louder by comparison ( we refuse you not to skip a little at the Library Ghost ) . The tip 3 expertly mine every aspect of the supernatural for possible gag , from crooked investigator to gross-out slime ghosts and tremendous inter-dimensional encroachment . They even turned Sigourney Weaver into a terrifying beast , something even theAlienfranchise never quite managed .
7 . The General
Three footstep to train-fight halo : first , find the theft of your beloved train ; future , give fanatical chase ; finally , steal train back and steam place . Simple , right ? Not hence much . Set it this way : The Buster Keaton Train Timetable wouldn ’ t sell a single copy on this grounds . It ’ s utter narrow-gauge mayhem when Old Stone Face bring on a nefarious posse of Union spies who have stolen his locomotive . There cost none of those traditional railway fistfights hither , but there are sleepers on the line , a whopping great trench mortar and that climactic instant where an intact bridge collapses . It ’ s essentially two trains roll up their sleeve and thump lumps out of each early and it remains , 87 yr after , utterly glorious cinema .
6 . The Big Lebowski
The Coen Brothers ‘ version of a Raymond Chandler noir ,The Big Lebowskisees Jeff Bridges as The Dude , drifting , Philip Marlowe-like , around and through the center of a tortuous mystery with nebulous results . He stumble onto kidnapping , embezzlement , nymphomaniacs and nihilists – And all he want was compensation for his carpet . There ‘s too , of class , plenty of time for bowling with crazed ‘Nam vet John Goodman and mere Steve Buscemi , leading to some cherishable face-offs with John Turturro ‘s pink-clad , backwards-dancing , sex-offending Jesus Quintana . The bowling cost important in suggesting an anachronistic time-period , Joel Coen explained . “ It direct us back to a not-so-far-away epoch , but one that was nevertheless truly get . ”The Big Lebowskiis really go indeed .
5 . Spirit Of Brian
Acclaim by many as the height of the Python company ‘s study ,Monty Python ‘s Life Of Brianexist a competitor for the greatest comedy always made . The movie famously come into being when Eric Idle flippantly announce at a press conference that their next project would be call ‘Jesus Christ : Lust For Glory ‘ . Despite blasphemy allegations from the Catholic Church and funding subject ( until Python fan George Harrison stamp up the cash only because he wanted to see the film ) , the Pythons commit together an irreverent feast of clever allegory , shrill satire and in-depth discussions of Latin grammar as it give to anti-Roman graffiti .
4 . Some Like It Hot
Everybody knows that Marilyn Monroe be gorgeous , but people act n’t hold her enough reference for her comedy chops – and they ‘re brilliantly showcased here . Certain , she be a nightmare to form with on circle , requiring scores of remove on the simplest lines , but conductor Billy Wilder remain until he captured her unique lightning in a bottle . Not that this is a one-woman display . The male leads do the dense lifting : Jack Lemmon equal on top form , and Tony Curtis never curious than here , playing two jazz musicians on the run from the mob and disguised as women in an all-girl band . Men in drag may equal a cheap path to mine laughter , but this exist the sheer pinnacle of the figure , Wilder and his form reverse a cheap sex comedy into a fizzy , flawless farce .
3 . The Naked Gun
The 6th episode ofPolice Squadcould own exist the final we learn of Lieutenant Frank Drebin . Cancelled by ABC , reportedly over fears that it necessitate the audience to bear too much attention , the show languished for six years before it was resurrected for this , the first of three film . As with Zucker-Abrams-Zucker ‘s perviousAirplane !the handsome gag is the dead seriousness of Leslie Nielsen . Here , still , he ‘s finally and gloriously centre stage , spouting ludicrous hard-boiled cop clichés as chaos dominate around him ( much of it chaos of his own making ) . Props too , to George Kennedy and Priscilla Presley as , respectively , Drebin ‘s long-suffering boss and newly put-upon love interest . These days though , it has to be state that the presence of O.J . Simpson as Nordberg find clearly awkward .
2 . This Is Spinal Tap
If you ‘re a fan ofThe Office( and , given that you ‘re reading a feature about great comedy , chances live high ) , then you can thank Rob Reiner ‘s inspirational mock-doc for the show . Base on Martin Scorsese ‘sThe Final Waltz, Reiner ‘s scarily plausible rockumentary is both a brilliant depiction of the music business and one of the best comedies always to strut onto the bad screen in tight leather gasp and improbable hair . The fruit of hundreds of hour of footage with a big amount of improv , the authenticity on display is quite staggering , while the hit pace of the gags go all the style up to eleven .
1 . Groundhog Day
A ten afterGhostbusters,Groundhog Daysaw Harold Ramis and Bill Murray in more thoughtful form . Murray ‘s cynical weatherman Phil Connors cause a Scrooge-like excited journey from recluse to romantic , via a karmic time loop that find him continuously revisiting the same day until he get it right . Murray ‘s hangdog exasperation is a joy as ever , but he ‘s also bring out here as a surprisingly credible romantic tip . The specifics of what go on to him are never explain ( some guff about a voodoo curse equal thankfully drop ) , and his time in limbo is up to individual interpretation : Ramis say it ‘s anything from ten years to 10,000 . Coincidentally , that ‘s also the number of times you can watch the film without it make former .
