Before we start I am assuming that almost everyone has seen every film in this list, if not hunt the strays down and check them out.
In truth I had difficulty even justifying a list of 10, not so much because I don’t find a lot of films funny, but because I just resent the implication that certain films deserve “All-Time” status.
The descriptions below are more a series of random thoughts and observations, don’t expect that they discuss the plot in any detail or make any sense whatsoever if you aren’t already familiar with the movies.
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Coming to America
Full Coming to America Review Here.
Eddie Murphy in his absolute prime
Let’s see;
– Welcome to Zamunda (“The Royal penis is clean your majesty.”)
– The cancelled wedding (“She’s your Queeeeeennnn tooo beeee..”)
– The guys arguing in the barber shop (“That’ll be 8 dollars.”)
– The crummy apartment (“One window facing a brick wall, used to rent it to a blind man.”)
– Soul Glo (“Just let your…” You’re singing it now aren’t you?)
– The attempted pick-up in the nightclub (“I wanna tear you apart… and your friend too.”)
– MacDowells (“See now I’m washing lettuce”, “Just two years huh?”)
– Sexual Chocolate (“That boy’s good”, “Yeah, good n’ terrible.”)
– The basketball game (“That’s just a man that I met in the restroom.”)
– The realisation (“Look the girl doesn’t like you. Can’t you get that through your greasy head?” “The first thing we need to do is get you out of these wet clothes.”)
– The credits (“Would you just taste the soup… Whaddya know from funny ya bastard?”)
Aside from some Beverly Hills Cop snippets nothing he has done before or since even remotely compares.
Arguably the funniest on the list, definitely the most quotable.
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Full Groundhog Day Review Here.
I’ve said before that Bill Murray and Steve Martin are the two guys that make me laugh even when they aren’t trying, this is Murray’s finest moment, (among quite a few contenders I might add).
We all know by now that Murray plays a local weatherman named Phil Connors covering the annual Groundhog Day event in the backwater town of Punxsatawney, Pennsylvania… only due to an undisclosed turn of events Phil gets trapped in a perpetual cycle, reliving the same day over and over and over, only he is able to change the events, everyone else in the town is doomed to unknowingly repeat their actions over and again.
Now Bill Murray is the master of sarcasm when things seem to be going well, so giving him a reason for frustration (and eventually resignation) was a masterstroke. I can’t imagine anyone else doing justice to this role while also convincing the audience to tag along through his own personal nightmare.
Highly rewatchable, even the slightly forced romantic subplot works, and in the middle section when they take their time showing Phil’s “experimenting”, as he tests the boundaries of what he can get away with, there isn’t a wasted opportunity to squeeze another laugh.
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I love every bit of Hot Fuzz.
The action scenes in Hot Fuzz would almost justify entry into the Best Action Flicks of the 00s list, but as they are played expertly for laughs, and the rest of the film is piss-funny too, here we are.
Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright first gifted us Shaun of the Dead (which could have argued its way onto this list), I ultimately plumped for Hot Fuzz as it should be easier to parody a horror film because for a start many of them are laughable without even trying. But making an action-comedy that worked by itself as both a great movie, and ALSO a brilliant send-up of the very genre it celebrates is as hard to do as this sentence is to read!
The cameos are funny, not overplayed or wasted, the action sequences funny and cool, the throwaway lines, the callbacks to previous scenes and jokes, even the references to earlier crappy action films.
007 himself plays a pompous git who gets what’s coming to him. Constable Angel flying kicks a 70 year old granny – and gets laughs. The death scenes are both hilarious yet justify squirming at the level of gore, and none of it degenerates into lazy humour.
Somehow they even manage to squeeze jokes out of dead street performers, crazy local accents, ice-cream brain-freeze and a rogue swan.
So in summation: I love every bit of Hot Fuzz. (Full Hot Fuzz Review here.)
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Zoolander is sometimes bagged for the very reason it is so witty and smart, because the lead character is so insipid and dumb.
Zoolander takes the male modeling industry and makes it (intentionally) funny. There are cameos galore, hilarious scenes for the duration of the film and I’ll bet you money that you’ve heard someone pose for a picture and say they are giving you the “Magnum” in the past few months.
Zoolander is most of all proof that Ben Stiller can be funny, David Duchovny can be vaguely interesting, Lenny Kravitz and Fabio have a sense of humour and can poke fun at themselves, David Bowie is very media savvy (this and his turn in Extras prove that he can stay ion public consciousness by only appearing every few years), and that people are still too PC when a stupid comedy pokes fun at a country (Sorry Malaysia).
Zoolander is incredibly rewatchable never dull, altogether too quotable and I haven’t even mentioned Owen Wilson as Hansel, easily the funniest comedy performance of the decade from the moment he enters the scene to his last pout.
Mr Stiller, stop relying on mainstream-pleasing “Focker-y” and talk-show appearances, revisit Zoolander once more and drag Owen Wilson along.
Please, your film-legacy depends on it.
THIS JUST IN! I read on the net today that Stiller is revisiting Zoolander again sometime in the near future. Gee I hope he makes it worthwhile!
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Full The Blues Brothers Review Here.
Whew, I set myself up when I said the first film on this list was the most quotable, even though I stand by my claim The Blues Brothers ain’t too far behind.
Without doubt the best of the Saturday Night Live conversions, The Blues Brothers is brilliant from start to finish and neatly hops genres along the way.
You want an action sequence? Just wait a minute.
A breathtaking car chase featuring amazingly impossible pile-ups and peppered with sight gags and jokes? Gotcha.
Several musical numbers by all-time musical luminaries that are both great and further the story? Check.
All the while two ugly white guys in bad suits and unnecessary sunglasses wander around on a self-dubbed “Mission from God”. the truth is exposed, and we learn the origins of the beats, who is behind it and why.
Too many films from the 80s and earlier have not dated well, people have shorter attention spans, we want wall-to-wall action, something popping every minute and jokes-jokes-jokes from our comedies.
The Blues Brothers is as fresh today as when I watched it with my lower jaw gaping 25 + years ago in one of my first excursions to the movies, and it is so unique that it probably will be in another 20 something years.
Oh, and it belongs on this list because it is funny as shit.
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Full The 40 Year-Old Virgin Review Here.
I started this list a few months ago and got sidetracked. Lists are easy and hard, I can’t be bothered watching 20 films to pare the list down and include specifics, but I need to properly rank and describe why the titles are here.
Just writing 10 names shouldn’t be enough.
So thanks to me watching The 40 Year Old Virgin a few nights back I re-committed myself to the task, as experiencing a great movie reminds you why you watch them in the first place, and The 40 YOV is definitely great.
Let’s see,
– The funniest movie of the dubbos (Zoolander #2, Hot Fuzz #3),
– Basically reinvigorated the ad-libbing approach to comedy (that has unfortunately been overdone already),
– Reminded the public that R Rated comedies can be funny without simply having salivating horny teens and people mistakenly drinking various bodily fluids,
– Introduced a new generation of comedic actors, (along with “Apatow-Family” films Superbad and Knocked Up. Though I swear we’ll live to regret Jonah Hill.)
– Made trash-talking and teasing funny again, and not simply mean and pointless.
– Gave me an excuse to call my Fantasy NBA team “Boner Jamz 3” without embarrassment.
I’m more expansive HERE but The 40 YOV is funny, smart, memorable and well meaning, all wrapped up in one filthy, foul mouthed package.
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“That B movie horror thing about stupid worms you say?” Well allow me to retort.
“Damn it Valentine, you never take the long view. I mean, here it is Monday, and I’m, already thinkin’ of Wednesday… It is Monday right?”
Tremors is by no means a B movie, even if it probably did have a B movie budget, nor is it a horror flick beyond the fact that it deals with giant underground killer worms that is.
“Here is some Swiss cheese and some bullets.”
Tremors is 90 minutes of perfection set in Perfection, every line seems perfect, every gesture and action between old friends and work buddies Val and Earl seems appropriate and hilarious.
“Just a few household chemicals in the proper proportions.”
The worms are beautifully underplayed until they become necessary half way through the film, this isn’t laugh a minute stuff but I’ve watched this film a minimum of a dozen times, know every line and still smile for the duration of the running time.
“Who died and made you Einstein?”
Tremors is either the most carefully and painstakingly crafted “small” movie that I have in my collection, or the most magnificent cinematic accident ever immortalized on film.
“Be adviser however that there are two more: repeat, two more Mother-Humpers.”
Put another way, Tremors is the ONLY FILM that I would defend by saying “Well you just don’t get it then”.
“Running’s not a plan. Running is what you do when a plan fails!”
If you don’t like Tremors you are just plain wrong.
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“But Toy Story 2 is a kid’s movie!”
Perhaps (but not really), and funny is funny.
The original Toy Story was a landmark in animation and made advancements in computer generated films that we are still seeing today, and in the case of films like Shrek 3 and Planet 51, are still paying for.
But it was also a great movie and introduced some characters that still resonate 15 + years later. Toy Story 2 not only kept the charm of the original, but was actually an improvement in almost every way on what was a great first film anyway.
The movie is funnier from start to finish, sad without being too corny, and endlessly inventive. It also doesn’t just take the lazy way out with pop culture references and an “it” soundtrack, (sorry “Robots”), instead plumping for a storyline and jokes developed and earned from what we know of the characters themselves.
Unlike GI Joe and Transformers, Toy Story 2 is not a movie based upon a series of brand, relying on the fame and familiarity of the original toy. It is a movie whose main characters happen to be toys, this means that Buzz and Woody are popular because people like the character.
Now 15 years later I don’t know of any kid under 5 or 6 who doesn’t own a Buzz or Woody toy, I know there’s a few in my house. Also, hearing “I wanna watch Buzz and Woody”, makes me far more relieved than cries for Elmo, Dora or the Backyardigans (the latest fave), because I know I can watch something that I like too.
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Full Major League Review Here.
The one film on this list that I haven’t seen for so long that I was compelled to dust it off and watch it yet again. That’ll come soon.
Major League is a film based upon characters who play a sport that isn’t popular in Australia, and while I know the basic rules I can’t fathom why it is as popular as it is in the US. After all, if you hit a ball or throw one you can be a megastar, there doesn’t seem to be the skillset required of the NBA, NHL or NFL.
In any case baseball is big business in America even though it sucks, but at least it has given the world one awesomely funny sports movie, the only one to my knowledge, (and some crappy sequels).
Centred around the Cleveland Indians, whose owner decides to put together a team of also rans and never-was’s to fail so dismally that she can move the team to a sunnier location. Only the team that she puts together gels and makes a late push towards respectability.
Will they succeed despite the odds? Of course but who cares about the standard plot. Major League is about the jokes, Tom Berenger proving he can do funny, Wesley Snipes mugging for the camera, Charlie Sheen doing the tough guy shtick and even Corbin Bernsen playing the prima donna pretty boy to the hilt.
Every sports film seems to have the same roles, the tough guy, the eccentric guy, the ladies man etc… Major League has all of these yet it somehow works and is still one of the funniest films start to finish that I have seen.
And even though baseball must be the dullest sport I have ever seen on TV if you don’t get goosebumps as the film moves to inevitable conclusion you have never followed a sports team before.
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I will be the first to admit that the humour in The Ref is not for everyone, the bulk of the laughs are derived from the various put-downs and downright nasty comments that feature in almost every conversation had between the principal characters. But if you like a bit of sarcasm and cynical humour then there ain’t much better.
Dennis Leary is a motor-mouth and at his funniest when allowed to rant uninterrupted, this usually isn’t possible in your standard Hollywood film, but this isn’t your standard Hollywood middle of the road puff-piece.
Here Leary plays a small time crook named Gus who is inadvertently embroiled in a family dispute that has been simmering for quite a while, and conveniently comes to a head at Christmas, as these things tend to do with so many people in such close proximity to each other… and to alcohol.
Hate filled dialogue is directed everywhere, the parents Lloyd and Caroline, (Kevin Spacey and Judy ), resent Gus for choosing their home of all places to hide out, the parents hate each other, the kid hates everyone and thinks everyone hates him. The extended family show up, they hate each other and resent being at the house for Christmas…
And everyone hates Grandma, with good reason.
Comedies don’t come much blacker than this, but it is always funny, very clever at times and if you can set aside your PC detector there is a lot to like about The Ref.
Unfortunately this was a “little” movie, without the obvious marketing angle of mainstream comedy and also without a buzzworthy feature like Bad Santa, so it remains underrated and relatively unknown.
Definitely worth tracking down though, if only for Caroline’s increasingly drunken stories that become more and more painful and the Christmas dinner goes on.
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So that’s my list. Apologies if your favourite American Pie, Date Movie or 80s supposedly-quotable-but-hasn’t-dated-at-all-well flick didn’t make the cut. I call ’em as I see ’em.
Always welcome feedback though, even if it is wrong, disagrees.
Oh, and Will ferrell fans, I didn’t accidentally omit anything by having only one movie on the list, in which he appears only briefly. Any movie that he has starred in since A Night at the Roxbury SUCKED! (Roxbury here though.)
