“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” “Laffter is the best medicine.” Yes, a laff a day, plus a sweet ‘n juicy Macintosh, just might help keep that nagging sense of existential doom at bay. Indeed, it’s vital for humans to laff whenever we can, especially in times of crisis. So what better option to induce laffter —a natural stress reliever —than a comedy classic, the best medicine for such moments. Ergo, I now offer the best movie comedies ever. [Note: these funniest films are not listed in order of least funny to most funny. They are all equally the best movie comedies ever.]
Animal House is definitely not for everyone. It’s sloppy, broad, and hilarious, continuing to set the bar for cinematic depictions of collegiate debauchery. This is John Belushi in one of his greatest roles: a fraternity brother at the riotous Delta house as he and his fellow brothers fight a college dean who wants to revoke their charter and disband their house. Oh, how we miss you, John.
I totally love super-quirky, goofy movies in which great actors do seriously funny things. Airplane! — a classic spoof on the disaster movie genre — transports us to a doomed flight where an ex fighter pilot/nervous flyer must take control of the plane and work with his flight attendant ex-girlfriend to safely land the plane after the crew falls ill.
Its most famous line? “Don’t call me Shirley!” Oh, and the “slapping scene” is hysterical and probably way politically incorrect. But I think in a good way.
Let’s Take a Break From the Best Movie Comedies Ever
Back to the Best Movie Comedies Ever
“I’m the Dude. So that’s what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing.” In The Big Lebowski, Jeff Bridges’ character in this stoner classic is truly iconic. The surreal, tumultuous story of mistaken identity, bowling, and the Dude’s soiled rug is just as delicious today as it was when it first came out. Lebowski lives!
One of the best, yet least well remembered, comedies of the 90’s, Soap Dish revolves around the on camera and behind the scenes drama of a (very) cheaply produced soap opera. It’s fantastic A-List cast includes Sally Field, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Downey Jr, Teri Hatcher, Kathy Najimy, Cathy Moriarity, Elisabeth Shue, Carrie Fisher, and my darling Kevin Kline.
The wonderfully bizarre script combines hilarious sight gags with often scathing representations of daytime TV, including neurotic and pretentious actors. Oh, really, darling? BTW, this is a movie that will help you feel better if you’re having a bad day.
When Harry Met Sally, starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, is a rom com enshrined forever in the human consciousness for its famous “I’ll have what she’s having” scene. (Meg fakes an orgasm over lunch at Katz’s Delicatessen.) Nora Ephron’s award-winning screenplay makes this a movie that exists to make people happy.
Plus: all the academic-sweater, smart-blazer 80’s fashion, and golden New York autumn shots your heart desires. Meg and Billy are brilliant in this! And so is director Rob Reiner’s mom!
Best in Show, Christopher Guest’s priceless mockumentary follows five Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show contestants and their wacky owners as they travel to and compete in the competition. Featuring an all-star cast including Jennifer Coolidge, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, and Parker Posey, it inspired the National Dog Show that airs on TV every Thanksgiving. If you love dogs, and I know you do, this is the movie for you.
The tidy premise of We’re the Millers, a super-funny, heartwarming movie, could easily be tucked into one sheet of rolling paper. A small-time pot dealer (juicily sardonic Jason Sudeikis) with a big debt to a drug lord (Ed Helms as a pinstripe-suited raging narcissist who collects marine mammals instead of sports cars) is forced to drive a monster RV over the Mexican border and smuggle two metric tons of grass into the U.S.
But he needs an all-American family to front for him. Which leads us to Jennifer Aniston as a down-on-her-luck stripper in a role that fits her like a custom G-string. As a comedy couple, she and Sudeikis exhibit brilliant timing and fiercely funny clashing attitudes that brought me tears of laffter. I gained true admiration for Jennifer as an actress who steps fearlessly out of her comfort zone.
Directed by Sydney Pollack, Tootsie (my favorite movie ever) bubbles over with comedic acting finesse by Dustin Hoffman, Teri Garr, Bill Murray, Charles Durning, and Jessica Lange. (She won an Oscar for her performance.) The superb screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal is pure literary riches on film.
As a former actor (is there such a thing?), I loved Tootsie’s insights into the agony and ecstasy of the acting profession as well as its themes relating to confusion about sexual roles and the importance of lovers being friends.
In Clueless, Amy Heckerling reimagines the Jane Austen classic Emma for a teen audience in the ’90s. Swapping Regency-era upper-crust fashion for button-front minis and wild plaids, Heckerling brought us valley girls – you know the ones…only interested in such like as fashion, shopping, and physical appearance ala the San Fernando Valley. Genius, clever, and forever quotable, this campus comedy just keeps getting better with age. Jane Austen would be proud. Like totally! Awesome! Bitchin’,! Gnarly! And, of course, tubular!
