Great Comedies

My All-Time Comedy Top 10

10. Anchorman – There has to be at least one Will Ferrell movie on my list, and this is probably my favorite, although Old School and Step Brothers were also hilarious.  One sign of a great comedy is how many great quotes the movie has, and this has more good ones than any movie in the last decade.

9. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles – Steve Martin and the late, great John Candy ruled the 80’s with some terrific comedies like Roxanne and Uncle Buck, and I think this was the best (or at least the funniest) movie either of them made.

8. Rushmore – I kind of feel like I’m cheating by including this on my top 10 high school movies and top 10 comedies, but it is one of my all-time favorite movies so I’m putting it on both lists.  Bill Murray is funny even when he’s sad.

7. Groundhog Day – Bill Murray is my undisputed comedy king, appearing in 4 of my 10 favorites.  Love him, love the story.  Lots of movies since, including Tom Cruise’s new movie coming out this summer have copied the idea of replaying a day over and over again until you get it right, but none hold a candle to this classic.

6. Dr. Strangelove – Peter Sellers is another of my all-time favorites, and this movie shows off his range as he plays 4 different characters.  Quite simply one of the greatest movies ever made, regardless of genre.

5. Airplane – When did they stop making great comedies like this?  The kind with slapstick humor and about10 jokes a minute, half of them that made you groan (movies like The Naked Gun).  Maybe it was when Leslie Nielsen started making slapstick movies for the Wayans brothers instead of the Zucker brothers.  This was their best movie.

4. Caddyshack – Another of the endlessly quotable movies.  Just about everyone has quoted the movie at some point: It’s in the hole! or Noonan! And it’s impossible to mention the Dali Lama without someone breaking out a Carl Spackler imitation.  Pretty much every time it’s pouring rain I break out “I don’t think the heavy stuff’s gonna come down for quite awhile.”

3. Big Lebowski – This is a movie that never gets old for me.  I watched it this year for the first time in ages, and was amazed at how many great lines I’d forgotten.  I love the Cohen brothers, and they’ve made a few other great comedies (Raising Arizona, O Brother Where Art Thou?), but this is my favorite.  The Dude abides.

2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail – I have not seen this movie in years, and I’ll admit I’m a bit worried that I won’t enjoy it quite as much as I did from about 1985-1991 when I probably watched this movie 20 times.  I’ve been planning to watch it with Caleb, but even if it doesn’t hold up it will have to be in my top 10 for nostalgia’s sake.

1. Ghostbusters – I cannot overstate how much I loved this movie when I was a kid.  I saw it several times in the theater.  The soundtrack was the first record I ever bought.  And I spent pretty much the whole summer of 1984 quoting the movie.  And it’s still great watching it 30 years later.  Peter Venkman is one of my all-time favorite movie characters.

 

Honorable Mention:

The Jerk

Vacation
Spinal Tap
Best in Show
Borat
Evil Dead 2
Ferris Buehler’s Day Off
The Hangover
Tommy Boy