Truly funny movies

Folsom · « **on:** 23 May 2013, 04:48 am »

I don't know about you guys but... most movies I watch are not actually funny even when they are aimed as comedies. They are just awful. I'll list ones I think are funny, but I need some I haven't seen before...

Good comedy
Tampopo (amazing)
Trains, Plains, and Automobiles
The Other Guys
The Brothers Solomon
Archer (TV series)
Crazy Stupid Love (just barely makes the cut, some scenes were just too good)
Easy A
Midnight in Paris
Sealab (TV series, can't watch them twice)
Venture Bros 1st season (TV Series, following seasons were weak)
The Big Lebowski
Little Miss Sunshine
Superbad
Office Space
Juno

Crap
Team America
Anything else with Will Farrel
Super Troopers
The Hangover (how on earth is it funny?)
Ted
National Lampoon anything
Bridesmaids
Wayne's World
The Jerk
The Blues Brothers
Clerks
There's Something About Mary
This is Spinal Tap (hate it)
Shaun of the Dead (jesus christ how does anyone think it is funny?)

I keep wondering how the people that made Superbad have only managed to primarily flop afterward (actors, directors, and writers). 21 Jump Street was only mediocre to bad. But that is a big step up from some of the others.

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #1 on:** 23 May 2013, 04:49 am »

Any of the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore movies and Monty Python and I'll second Office Space and add Dr. Strangelove.

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #2 on:** 23 May 2013, 05:07 am »

I agree with the Will Ferrell comment except for one, wonderful, delightful, heartfelt, touching, funny comedy, "Stranger than Fiction" (the 2006 film, not the other 2000 film of the same name). If you haven't seen it get your significant other, even if that's the cat, plop the Blueray in and be prepared for 113 minutes of joy.

For me good comedy has to be intelligent, even if it's slapstick, it has to be clever slapstick. The reason why Happy Gilmore is hilarious and other Sandler stuff like The Wedding Singer and The Waterboy are crap, Happy Gilmore is clever. Other intelligent comedies:

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Beetlejuice
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Groundhog Day
Fargo
Network
The Princess Bride
Brazil
Raising Arizona
National Lampoon's Animal House
Blazing Saddles

Rclark · « **Reply #3 on:** 23 May 2013, 05:14 am »

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Michael Caine and Steve Martin. Funny all the way to the end, which is no small feat. And clever funny, not stupid gag funny.

SlushPuppy · « **Reply #4 on:** 23 May 2013, 05:16 am »

Raising Arizona (1987)

Well, it's my favorite

Folsom · « **Reply #5 on:** 23 May 2013, 06:57 am »

There are a lot of movies I really like, but a lot of them are not overally funny, not really passable as comedy. Fargo fits in that category for me. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang does as well; it has some of the funniest scenes I've witnessed but it is more of a story than comedy.

The problem with a lot of comedy movies is they lack a story, so they have to be funny the entire time but are likely to fail at it.

jarcher · « **Reply #6 on:** 23 May 2013, 07:46 am »

It is sad that there aren't more truly funny / great movies. Your "good" list hit a lot of the good.

Farelly & Coen bro's put out a lot of consistently funny movies.

And I'm a big Wes Anderson fan (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, etc), though I could understand why some wouldn't like (too precocious maybe?).

As for a classic : Blazing Saddles has to be on anyone's list + some other Mel Brooks. And I guess there are a number of Woody Allen movies that deserve to be on the list (anyone see the recent PBS two part documentary - pretty decent).

I really cracked up w/ Team America World Police, though I'm not otherwise a fan of Southpark.

Will Farrell does seem a bit over-rated, but Old School was pretty entertaining to me. I find myself chuckling some time during Adam Sandler movies, but there's just as many groans.

Rclark · « **Reply #7 on:** 23 May 2013, 07:52 am »

I would add anything by Wes Anderson

Rushmore
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
The Royal Tennenbaums
Darjeeling Limited

etc, etc.

milford3 · « **Reply #8 on:** 23 May 2013, 12:00 pm »

JCarney · « **Reply #9 on:** 23 May 2013, 12:26 pm »

Caddy Shack, Animal House, and Stripes are on the list. I have to disagree on Wayne's World, The Jerk, and The Blues Brothers. Very funny movies, and classics to boot.

JCarney

ArthurDent · « **Reply #10 on:** 23 May 2013, 12:45 pm »

Reaching back a little farther, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Cary Grant & Myrna Loy. A classic among many of his. No Time For Sergeants, Andy Griffiths, Nick Adams, & Don Knotts.

Mel Brooks hits the mark & misses as often as not, silliness is not always funny. Blazing Saddles & Young Frankenstein being two of his best offerings, imo.

milford3 · « **Reply #11 on:** 23 May 2013, 01:28 pm »

Any movie from Abbott & Costello

ArthurDent · « **Reply #12 on:** 23 May 2013, 01:34 pm »

Quote from: milford3 on 23 May 2013, 01:28 pm

Any movie from Abbott & Costello

+1, "Who's on first. .........." Am also a fan of most all the Marx Brothers work.

TF1216 · « **Reply #13 on:** 23 May 2013, 01:52 pm »

I have to give Mel Brooks flicks another try. I tried watching "Blazing Saddles" and I couldn't make it through the entire movie. It seemed to me that a lot of the content was ahead of its time when the movie was released but it is not longer ground breaking. I am 30 years old if that helps explain my lack of interest into the movie. Sorry guys

Let me throw out a few movies that I think are timeless when a comedy discussion is brought up:

Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo Bay
Wedding Crashers
American Pie (All of them!)
My Cousin Vinny
Zombieland

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #14 on:** 23 May 2013, 02:42 pm »

"Free Willy!" . . Me, Myself and Irene. A fan of Raising Arizona, also.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #15 on:** 23 May 2013, 03:03 pm »

"The Loved One" and "Harold and Maude" for those with a dark sense of humor.

"Whoops, Apocalypse!", the British version. Like all timely humor it is now dated, but scathingly funny. Think "Monty Python does Dr. Strangelove"

Ericus Rex · « **Reply #16 on:** 23 May 2013, 03:13 pm »

'Death at a Funeral' - the original British version with white people. NOT the remake with Chris Rock and Danny Glover.

ZLS · « **Reply #17 on:** 23 May 2013, 03:22 pm »

Humor is really very personal.
When I watch a comedy, if there are tow or three times that truly burt out laughing, well then I consider it time well spent.
Using that criteria:
1. Archer-I keep saying to myself I can't believe they just said that
2. Spinal Tap- If only for the "11" scene, and the explanation of how the drummers died.
3. Family Tree (Currently on HBO)- I enjoy Christopher Guest's sense of humor; it starts out very rational and somehow takes a turn to the slightly absurd.
4. The Wrong Box-I keep bringing up this movie, but it is that good. The beginning sequence is very sharp satire disguised as slapstick
5. Bedazzled (Peter Cook and Dudley Moore Version) Makes you laugh and think at the same time.

Don_S · « **Reply #18 on:** 23 May 2013, 03:32 pm »

I have not seen a truly funny movie since "Animal House" or "The Blues Brothers".

"Fargo" is a comedy???? What was the punch line--wood chipper?

thunderbrick · « **Reply #19 on:** 23 May 2013, 04:18 pm »

"Morons from Outer Space" ....................."2001" meets "National Lampoon Family Vacation" meets "Spinal Tap"