Dispatches from the Creation Wars

Thanks to Fishy Fred for tracking down Bravo’s list of the top 100 comedy movies of all time. I caught part of it and wanted to comment on the list. For the most part, I thought the list was abysmal. Four Weddings and a Funeral no higher than 96? Preposterous. Dr. Strangelove only at 53? No way. Only one Kevin Smith movie in the top 100? Unthinkable. I’m gonna post the full list, with my comments about the ones I have strong feelings about one way or the other.

100. Anchorman – Probably about as good as Will Ferrell is ever going to get in movies. Like many others before him – Dana Carvey, Adam Sandler, Chevy Chase – he was born to be an SNL cast member. He’s hilarious in 4 or 5 minute segments. But over the course of an hour and a half, he becomes tedious.
99. The Birdcage – Hank Azaria is hilarious, and it’s actually one movie where Nathan Lane’s ridiculously over the top style actually makes sense. Robin Williams was excellent in it.
98. School of Rock – Okay, I’ll say it: I don’t get the whole Jack Black thing. He’s not funny.
97. Happy Gilmore – The only Adam Sandler movie I’ve seen that I could stand to watch again (as a general rule, I find him idiotic and unfunny). Carl Weathers is very funny.

96. Four Weddings and a Funeral – One of my all time favorite movies, with one of my all time favorite characters in it (Gareth) and the kind of ensemble chemistry that Friends only wishes it had. And on top of being incredibly funny, Gareth’s funeral science with Matthew reading the Auden poem is heartbreaking. Makes me cry every time I see it.
95. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle – I was happily surprised to see this movie on the list, but I think it’s way too low. This is a very, very funny movie. Neil Patrick Harris’ cameo as a horned-up Doogie Howser on ecstasy had me laughing out loud.
94. Waiting for Guffman – Christopher Guest should be a huge star. All of his movies follow the same basic mockumentary formula, but they’re all brilliantly executed.
93. The Aristocrats – Loved it.
92. Father of the Bride
91. Revenge of the Nerds
90. Clueless – Holds up really well over the years.
89. Slapshot
88. Team America
87. The Kentucky Fried Movie
86. Zoolander – I just don’t get the Ben Stiller phenomenon. He’s one of those guys who is only funny if he’s with someone much, much funnier (as in Dodgeball, with the immortal Vince Vaughan), yet he’s always expected to carry a movie. He’s the Dan Aykroyd of his generation, but at least with Aykroyd, once he did Doctor Detroit, the studios got the clue that he couldn’t carry a movie.
85. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
84. Silver Streak
83. Sister Act – good lord, why?
82. Tootsie – way, way, way too low. This is one of the all time classic comedies, easily in the top ten by any sane measure.
81. Half Baked
80. Lost in America – also way too low. Albert Brooks is a genius, period, and I will not argue about this.
79. Three Amigos
78. Bananas
77. Flirting with Disaster
76. Ghostbusters – also much too low. The fact that everyone has seen it 4000 times probably makes it seem mundane, but this was a very funny movie driven by a typically brilliant Bill Murray performance.
75. Dumb and Dumber – I don’t get the Jim Carrey phenomenon either. Bugging your eyes out isn’t funny. Tripping over things isn’t funny. It wasn’t funny when Jerry Lewis did it, it’s certainly not funny when Jim Carrey does it.
74. Trading Places
73. City Slickers
72. Moonstruck
71. Roxanne – Much too low. Easily Steve Martin’s funniest performance in a movie, there is no close second (and don’t give me The Jerk, which is painfully unfunny).
70. The Nutty Professor (Eddie Murphy) – Okay, this is the one where you pretty much know someone was doing drugs when they put this list together. On the TV show, the one scene they showed was the stupefyingly stupid scene where Eddie Murphy is sitting around the table as 5 or 6 different characters, all farting or responding to farts. If you find this scene funny, hit yourself in the forehead with a ballpeen hammer. It’s stupid beyond belief and there’s nothing funny about it. Which pretty much can be said about everything Eddie Murphy has done for the last 15 years. Worse yet, we have to deal with the even worse imitators he’s spawned, like Martin Lawrence and the various Big Mama’s House movies. Please, for the love of all that is holy, just stop.
69. The Blues Brothers
68. Broadcast News – far too low. Not only one of the great comedies of all time, one of the great movies of all time. Albert Brooks is God; Holly Hunter is Aphrodite.
67. Kingpin
66. Dazed and Confused
65. Office Space – again, way too low. One of the truly classic comedies of the last few years.
64. This is Spinal Tap
63. Manhattan
62. The Pink Panther
61. Election
60. When Harry Met Sally – way too low as well. The fake orgasm scene alone puts it among the all time greats.
59. Police Academy Series – did they seriously put Police Academy ahead of Broadcast News? Did Helen Keller put this list together?
58. Private Benjamin
57. Swingers – a classic.
56. Young Frankenstein
55. Bull Durham – another classic and one of my all time favorites. Sarandon and Costner at their very best. And the unintentional comedy of watching Tim Robbins throw a baseball takes it to a whole new level.
54. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
53. Dr. Strangelove – a hall of fame movie, should be much higher.
52. Meet the Parents
51. National Lampoon’s Vacation – I’m not really a Chevy Chase fan, but these were consistently funny. But how on earth do you explain leaving his best movie (by far), Fletch, off this list?
50. The Princess Bride – another one of the all time greats, should be much higher. Absolutely brilliant dialogue.
49. American Pie
48. American Graffiti
47. 9 to 5
46. The Incredibles
45. Raising Arizona – vastly underrated, terrific movie, the one that launched the Coen brothers’ career. But how is this movie on the list, but Oh Brother Where Art Thou not on this list? Is someone seriously going to argue that 9 to 5 is funnier than that movie?
44. Sixteen Candles
43. What About Bob?
42. Harold and Maude
41. Austin Powers – I actually think this whole series is seriously underrated. Mini Me is one of the great characters of all time.
40. Monty Python and the Holy Grail – far too low. Still brilliantly funny decades later.
39. Mrs. Doubtfire
38. Best In Show
37. Dodgeball
36. Good Morning Vietnam
35. Beetlejuice
34. Rushmore
33. Clerks – the only Kevin Smith movie on the list, which is borderline criminal. Dogma absolutely deserves to be here.
32. Groundhog Day
31. The Big Lebowski – another classic Coen Brothers film. No one draws characters like they do, or writes better dialogue for them. John Goodman is brilliant.
30. The 40 Year Old Virgin
29. Legally Blonde
28. Annie Hall
27. A Fish Called Wanda – another one that is far too low. This is easily in the top ten. Kevin Kline was known as a very serious actor until this movie, which won him an Oscar. Otto is a Hall of Fame dumb guy.
26. Wayne’s World
25. Meet the Fockers
24. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
23. Big
22. Beverly Hills Cop
21. Shampoo
20. The Jerk
19. Wedding Crashers – probably a little high on the list, but a very funny movie.
18. Stripes
17. M*A*S*H – with the enormous popularity of the sitcom, people forget what a brilliant movie it was before that.
16. Old School
15. Fast Times At Ridgemont High
14. Napoleon Dynamite
13. Naked Gun Series
12. The Producers
11. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
10. Arthur
9. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective – okay, putting this movie in a top 100 list is bad. Putting it in the top ten? Whoever decided to do that should be beaten with bamboo poles until they bleed from every orifice. This is like naming Richard Simmons one of the 10 best heavyweight fighters of all time.
8. Blazing Saddles
7. The Wedding Singer
6. Airplane – this movie is still funny 30 years later. I still crack up at the dueling announcements at the airport.
5. South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
4. There’s Something About Mary
3. Shrek
2. Caddyshack
1. Animal House

So that’s it, that’s my list. They missed some real gems. Orgasmo, made by the South Park guys, absolutely should be on this list. Not a single Charlie Chaplain movie? Inconceivable (and unlike Wallace Shawn, I know what the word means). Real Genius and Better Off Dead are easily in the top 50. And I can’t be the only one who wonders how on earth Eddie Murphy made the list for the Nutty Professor, but not for 48 Hours. And where are some of the classics like Some Like it Hot? You can’t put Police Academy on the list and leave that one off. Major League? Tin Cup? Eurotrip? Van Wilder?

Comments

#1 FishyFred
May 29, 2006

48. American Graffiti

This was a comedy? Ehhhhh… meh.

And like I said in the Paul Gleason thread: Spaceballs, anyone? I think there’s one Mel Brooks movie on this list (Blazing Saddles). Ridiculous.
#2 BG
May 29, 2006

No Fletch really bugs me, but to have This Is: Spinal Tap sitting a full 26 spots below Best In Show, which for my money is the third-best Christopher Guest mockumentary, is absolutely criminal. Tap is a top-five comedy for me, on this point I will not argue.

I’m really amused you’ve got Eurotrip in your “what about?” list. I thought I was the only guy older than 22 years old who found that movie hilarious.
#3 Grumpy
May 29, 2006

Did “all time” start only 40 years ago? Will trifles like Half Baked and Dodgeball still be remembered 40 years from now?

41. Austin Powers – I actually think this whole series is seriously underrated. Mini Me is one of the great characters of all time.

Mini-Me was from the sequel.
#4 Ahcuah
May 29, 2006

50. The Princess Bride – another one of the all time greats, should be much higher. Absolutely brilliant dialogue.

What do you mean? It’s just a bunch of famous punch lines strung together.
#5 Miguelito
May 29, 2006

No “Life of Brian” or “Meaning of Life”?

“Team America: World Police” should be far, far higher. It’s satirical analysis is bang on.
#6 tacitus
May 29, 2006

You do realize that the only criterion they used in putting together this list was “how do we annoy the most people?”

Why else would they have the “Old School” dreck as high as 16? It’s the only plausible answer.
#7 Ed Darrell
May 29, 2006

No Marx Bros.? No “Long Trailer?” No “Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World?” No “Nasty Habits?” No “Annie Hall?” No “Take the Money and Run?” Eddie Murphy, but no Jerry Lewis?

Um, whoever made this list seems to have missed most of the 20th century, and a great deal, if not most, of the funniest movies ever made.
#8 Karl
May 29, 2006

As I said on the Paul Gleason post: did they restrict themselves to the last 20 (30) years? But you say this is their list of the 100 funniest movies of ALL TIME???
The people who made the list must be only 30 years old.
What about Chaplin, the Marx brothers, the 3 Stooges, Abbott & Costello, Jerry Lewis, Crosby and Hope, Gable and Hepburn, and on and on.
#9 sanford
May 29, 2006

A terrible list. As some one in the thread stated, it is like movies only started 40 years ago. Where is Duck Soup, His Girl Friday, Night at The Opera, Bad News Bears. Plus no Laurel and Hardy or Chaplin. I know comedy is subjective but wow, who voted for this list?
#10 Cody Cobb
May 29, 2006

71. Roxanne – Much too low. Easily Steve Martin’s funniest performance in a movie, there is no close second (and don’t give me The Jerk, which is painfully unfunny).

Am I the only one who remembers Martin’s “L.A. Story”? Granted, I haven’t seen Roxanne, so I can’t properly compare the two, but L.A. Story is one of my favorite comedies.

Harris: Ordinarily, I don’t like to be around interesting people because it means I have to be interesting too.
Sara: Are you saying I’m interesting?
Harris: All I’m saying is that, when I’m around you, I find myself showing off, which is the idiot’s version of being interesting.
#11 Ed Brayton
May 29, 2006

Oh, I love LA Story too. That’s actually my favorite Steve Martin performance of all time. For some reason, though, I tend not to classify it as a comedy as much as a love story. The other movie I loved him in was Grand Canyon. I don’t find him funny when he’s doing stupid funny, as in the Jerk. He’s much more talented than that.
#12 flatlander100
May 29, 2006

41 if them deserve to be on the list. But any list of comedy greats that includes “9 to 5″ cannot possibly be taken seriously. Nor can any list that contains “The Big Lebowski.”
#13 FishyFred
May 29, 2006

Come on… have you even seen The Big Lebowski? It’s genius! Don’t F*#$ with the Jesus!
#14 Troy Britain
May 29, 2006

Sleeper? Young Frankenstein? And as other have noted, anyone of several Mark Brothers movies?
#15 Troy Britain
May 29, 2006

Duh, “…any one of several Marx Brothers movies?”
#16 Jim Anderson
May 29, 2006

How about Buster Keaton’s The General? Often imitated, never surpassed.

There should be a special award for Plan 9 from Outer Space,, the most unintentionally hilarious movie ever conceived.
#17 Aaron M
May 30, 2006

Real Genius and Better Off Dead are easily in the top 50.

Personally, I’d put Real Genius in my top ten, but I’m weird. Better Off Dead I can see being left off, since it’s fantastically uneven, but it’s still far better than a lot of the crap on this list (Ace Ventura?). Plus, I can be instantly reduced to a fit of giggles by someone shouting “Two dollars!”

Speaking of which, I wonder if anyone’s done a similar list for best comedy lines. My number one: John Candy’s delivery of “We’re in a truck!” in The Blues Brothers.
#18 JeffB
May 30, 2006

Okay, I’ll say it: I don’t get the whole Jack Black thing. He’s not funny.

I can’t say I’ve liked any of his movies, but the Tenacious D series that aired on HBO is hilarious.
#19 Leni
May 30, 2006

0. When Harry Met Sally – way too low as well. The fake orgasm scene alone puts it among the all time greats.

See, I would call this the most over-rated “best scene in a romantic comedy EVER” scene ever. I’m sorry, but the Golden Girls were funnier than that.

I don’t want to mince words, but Meg Ryan sucks. Even when she’s being saucy and faking orgasms in kosher delis.
#20 Sexy Sadie
May 30, 2006

My jaw literally hit the floor when I saw “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” at number NINE [!!!] on the list. What the hell were they thinking?

And I’ll add a second voice to the choir: where the hell is “Monty Python: Life of Brian?”
#21 JoeMax
May 30, 2006

Napoleon Dynamite at #14??? I don’t understand the Napolean Dynamite phenomeon. My wife and I rented it after so many people raved about how funny it was, and spent the whole movie either scratching our heads or looking at our watches. Funnier than a Fish Called Wanda or M*A*S*H? Oh please.
#22 pough
May 30, 2006

Are you sure this is a list of funniest movies and not just a random list of movies that may or may not be comedies?
#23 goddogit
May 30, 2006

I feel unusually embarrassed at the snotty tone, but I doubt I’ve ever read a worst “best” list in my sheltered life. There are not twenty movies I would watch unless bored stiff and chancing upon them (e.g. CC’s good-natured, rambling “Vacation,” or taking a shot at “16 Candles” out of bored nostalgia).
Am I blind, or is there really no Chaplin at all (checking…[sigh]…no!), no W.C. Fields, no Buster Keaton, no Cary Grant, no Preston Sturgis, no Marx Brothers, no musical comedies, no goddam nothing that’s been funny longer than fifty years. “Smiles of a Summer Night”? “Tampopo”? “Weekend”? “Clowns”? What the fu….! “Funny” evidently is only made in ‘mer’ka, and even being in the mother tongue doesn’t matter since “The Ladykillers” (UK-made, not the surprisingly bad Coen Bros. remake) and “Kind Hearts & Coronets” are missing.

This list and most of the comments have depressed me about as much as reading the pissiest Creationist objections to ToE ever have, and perhaps more.

Well, the bright side is that one hell of a lot of interesting people have one hell of a lot of good movies still to enjoy.
#24 Ginger Yellow
May 30, 2006

I’ve got to agree with Goddogit – this is the worst “best 100″ list I’ve seen in any medium. Whoever compiled it has serious issues with the past and screwed up priorities. Almost all the really interesting comedies are in the middle third. It’s also a bit schizophrenic. I mean, it seems to favour relatively low-brow stuff – look at the top 20, yet there’s only one good Steve Martin film. Where’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid or The Man With Two Brains. Similarly slapstick and farce gets more than a fair shake (Dodgeball, which I like a lot, does not deserve to be ahead of Best In Show), yet as numerous people have pointed out there’s no Marx Brothers, no Chaplin, no Keaton, no Lloyd, no screwball comedy and no Some Like It Hot, which if I’m not mistaken the AFI called the best American comedy ever. What the hell is that about?

Finally, the list is depressingly Americo-centric. Where are the Ealing comedies? Withnail & I? Shaun of the Dead? And that’s just Britain. At a bare minimum you’d have to include Delicatessen, Goodbye Lenin, a couple of Almodovar films from other countries.
#25 Nuytsia
May 30, 2006

Yep, a pretty shoddy list, with a definite lack of older films and British ones eg the previously mentioned “Ladykillers” & “Kind Hearts & Coronets”.

How about the “The Mouse that Roared” or “The Early Bird”?

On the US side I’m surprised to see that “Arsenic & Old Lace” isn’t there or “Ruthless People” for that matter.
A very bizarre list but then it’s funny what makes you laugh and what doesn’t.
The 1973 version of the “Three Musketeers” has me in fits but it’s classified as an action film? Must be just me…
#26 Roman Werpachowski
May 30, 2006

To people complaining about Americano-centrism: comedies are often very non-universal. If I were to compile MY list of Top 100 comedies, it would contain several Polish comedies totally obscure to foreign audience, like “Rejs”, “Sami swoi”, “How I started the Second World War”, “Miś”, etc. What would such a list be worth to an American not interested in Polish culture? Not much. Even if you include Ealing comedies, you switch from being Americano-centric to “just” Anglo-centric. Still way below the expectations of a continental European (what about Mr. Hulot? what about Louis de Funes comedies?).
#27 Ginger Yellow
May 30, 2006

That’s a valid point, Roman, but some comedies do cross over to work in the anglophone world – I listed a few, and there are a lot more. Truffaut’s films, for instance, are probably more highly regarded in the US than in France. Shoot the Pianist and Finally, Sunday! are both hilarious.

Furthermore, there’s a lot of foreign films that I wouldn’t exactly call comedies that are nonetheless extremely funny, such as Takeshi Kitano’s Yakuza films, the sillier end of the martial arts spectrum (eg Shaolin Soccer) or Toto le Héro.

I didn’t notice any Jarmusch on the list either. Ghost Dog and Mystery Train should
certainly be on there.
#28 Beaming Visionary
May 30, 2006

Ed’s commentary was itself pretty funny, far funnier than many of the movies on the list. I would imagine that he would be a fan of physical comedy, given his unfettered suggestions that the makers of this list be merrily beaten and flogged with various implements for their short-sightedness — an assessment with which I must concur.

The omission of “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” singlehandedly destroys any chance of this list being remotely complete. However, I understood what was happening once I got down to around number 45 or so — there was a clear tend toward increasingly schizophrenic and ramshackle selections, and I understood that once I saw “Meet the Parents” as high as I did, I should not be surprised to find the decidedly less funny sequel, “Meet the Fockers,” in the top quartile. And I did.

I personally think the original “Little Shop of Horrors” classifies as a grand comedy even if its makers did not intend it to be one, but then again I thought “The Toxic Avernger” was funny when I was a teenager, and my mind has probably only become ever more denatured since that time.
#29 Ginger Yellow
May 30, 2006

If they only put Lebowski at 31, they were hardly going to rate Oh Brother much. I love it and think it’s much better than it’s usually given credit for, but it’s still nowhere near the genius of Lebowski.
#30 RickD
May 30, 2006

Is it true that the only films included that were made before 1970 are Dr. Strangelove and The Pink Panther? (I’m giving the listmakers the benefit of the doubt, but they probably prefer the Steve Martin version of the Pink Panther, based on the rest of the list.) No Chaplin, Abbott & Costello, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Alec Guinness, Cary Grant, Tracy & Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Laurel & Hardy, Buster Keaton, or Marx Brothers’ comedy could make the list when faced with the daunting competition of Anchorman, Meet the Fockers, or Wedding Crashers? Kentucky Fried Movie? Half Baked? Puh-lease!

This is a horrible list.
#31 Roman Werpachowski
May 30, 2006

I didn’t notice any Jarmusch on the list either. Ghost Dog and Mystery Train should
certainly be on there.

Those are comedies??
#32 chezjake
May 30, 2006

Whoever made up the list has almost no feel or knowledge of movie comedy from before about 1960, or for some of the greats who got their starts early on. The Brits have been way undervalued, especially Alec Guinness. Then where are such classics as Mr. Roberts and The Odd Couple? Nothing with Danny Kaye? Nothing with Kate Hepburn and Spencer Tracy? What about Walter Matthau in Hopscotch? What about the whole zany cast of Bell, Book and Candle, which includes Tony Randall, Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold and Elsa Lanchester?

I can do without Jerry Lewis, but leaving out the early greats, Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and Buster Keaton is criminal.
#33 Jon Rowe
May 30, 2006

“but at least with Aykroyd, once he did Doctor Detroit, the studios got the clue that he couldn’t carry a movie.”

??? He carried Trading Places.
#34 David Mazel
May 30, 2006

Gotta agree with the vote for Meaning of Life and Life of Brian–funny, smart, and wicked social commentary. I mean, a guy being crucified on Golgotha says “Things could be worse” and breaks out singing “Always look on the bright side of life”–what film ends on a funnier note than that?

And I’d choose Kidz in the Hall: Brain Candy over a lot of the films on the list.
#35 dogscratcher
May 30, 2006

I’ve got two words for you: “Midnight Run.”

Not to mention “Big Trouble in Little China.”
#36 Ginger Yellow
May 30, 2006

I didn’t notice any Jarmusch on the list either. Ghost Dog and Mystery Train should
certainly be on there.

Those are comedies??

More like the foreign films I mentioned that aren’t explicitly comedies but are very funny, and obviously not foreign.
#37 Ed Brayton
May 30, 2006

Jon Rowe wrote:

He carried Trading Places.

Oh, I disagree. Trading Places was an ensemble movie with a terrific cast all the way around. Aykroyd was only one part of a very strong cast, which is when he works best. Put him in a movie where he has to carry the film and it bombs badly.
#38 KeithB
May 30, 2006

No:
“The God’s Must be Crazy”?
“The Thin Man”?
“Arsenic and Old Lace”?

Bah.
#39 Dave L
May 30, 2006

Inconceivable (and unlike Wallace Shawn, I know what the word means).

This has been bugging me for a while now. I’ve seen Princess Bride a few times, and at risk of appearing to be humor/vocabulary-impaired, I don’t understand when ‘inconceivable’ was incorrectly used by Vizzini. The line I’m thinking of is:

Vizzini: He didn’t fall? Inconceivable!
Inigo: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

To Vizzini, it was ‘inconceivable’ (“unlikely or surprising as to have been thought impossible; unbelievable”) that Wesley climbed the the Cliffs of Insanity or something like that without falling. How is Vizzini’s use of the word ‘inconceivable’ incorrect, as opposed to just an exaggeration, like saying ‘impossible’?
#40 RickD
May 30, 2006

Dave L: uh, it’s a joke.

Vizzini repeatedly uses the word “inconceivable” to mean “utterly impossible”. And everything he describes as “inconceivable” actually happens.

Inigo Montoya floats the possibility that Vizzini is having a language difficulty, as a way of poking fun at this phenomenon.

As for Dan Aykroyd carrying a movie by himself, no, it’s never happened. Doctor Detroit is a great example of his limitations when he works in isolation. He was at his best working with Belushi, but has also done good work with Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Tom Hanks, and as a minor player in a larger ensemble. He works very well as a straight man or as the nerdy guy in a larger group. Ed is right about this.

Actually, I think after Doctor Detroit bombed, nobody ever again tried to have him carry a film by himself. (Checks IMDB.) Yeah, that seems right.
#41 Morat
May 30, 2006

For the record, A Mighty Wind was far superior to Best in Show. Best in Show was funnier, I admit.

But A Mighty Wind is really his masterpiece. It all came together perfectly, and hit exactly the right notes throughout.
#42 Ginger Yellow
May 30, 2006

He never carried a movie on his own, but he is better than Belushi in The Blues Brothers.
#43 natural cynic
May 30, 2006

“You can’t fight in here. This is the war room” from Dr. S

Funnier than all the inanity in the whole Police Academy series combined.

But I do think Animal House, Shrek and Blazing Saddles do belong in the top 10
#44 Ed Brayton
May 30, 2006

The thing about Animal House and Caddyshack, undeniably two of the funniest movies ever, is that the plots barely exist. The same is true of The Blues Brothers. The movies were largely improvised and the plot just barely exists. That made for some of the funniest scenes ever filmed, but it also means they don’t hold up very well to watch from start to finish. If moviemaking is storytelling, these movies are horrible. But you’ll likely laugh more at them than at almost any other movies. That’s why I particularly like films like A Fish Called Wanda, where there are not only lots of hilarious scenes, but the movie also has a flow to it that makes sense. It’s not just rolling the cameras and letting funny people be funny, it’s a real movie.
#45 Wesley R. Elsberry
May 30, 2006

That’s why “Jabberwocky” is higher on my personal favorites list than “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”. There is a plot in “Jabberwocky”.
#46 Sexy Sadie
May 30, 2006

JoeMax, you’re not the only one who missed the humor in “Napoleon Dynamite.” I can think of numerous non-comedies that were funnier.
#47 goddogit
May 30, 2006

Check http://imdb.com/chart/comedy for a defensible list of great comedies. It puts this one to absolute shame.

Warning: personal insult follows.

BTW, Roman W. really bores the s— out of me on EVERY subject, and his brainless comments on Jim Jarmusch finally are on a something that I can claim to be reasonably knowledgable about. Roman, you’re an idiot. And a bore. Every time about everything. Just scrolling past your posts annoys the p— out of me!
#48 beervolcano
May 30, 2006

Movies that should have been Top 10, but were not.

TEAM AMERICA – One of the funniest movies OF ALL TIME

Young Frankenstein – One of the funniest movies OF ALL TIME

The Man with Two Brains – One of the funniest movies OF ALL TIME

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – One of the funniest movies OF ALL TIME

Raising Arizona – One of the funniest movies OF ALL TIME

Water Boy – Adam Sandler’s best hands down and One of the funniest movies OF ALL TIME

What I think they did with the list is order it as the BEST funny movies of all time (Sister Act?) but they did not order it in terms of funniness.
#49 beervolcano
May 30, 2006

Where’s Planes Trains and Automobiles?

Where’s The Great Outdoors?
#50 beervolcano
May 30, 2006

Where’s Modern Problems?

Where’s Fletch?
#51 Matthew
May 30, 2006

These types of lists always play by certain rules. First off, all of the movies must be new enough that people 35 and younger, the target demographic, has likely seen them. Their not as likely to tune in to watch about movies they’ve never heard of, let alone seen. Secondly, it must be actor driven. Bonus points for being considered a “breakout performance”. Additionally it absolutely has to have 2 or 3 memorable one-liners. In truth, Charlie Chaplin could regurgitate on a napkin and it would make a better script than most of the movies listed here.
#52 ArtK
May 30, 2006

On my own blog, I commented that almost any Bugs Bunny short would be funnier than 50% of the stuff on this list.

Sorry Ed, but I think that Caddyshack was horrible.
#53 Squiddhartha
May 30, 2006

Let me add a vote for Danny Kaye’s brilliant The Court Jester. A true classic (with a young Angela Lansbury, rawr).
#54 Matthew
May 30, 2006

Wow, that IMDB list is pretty incredible. I might have to print it off and take it to the rental store. A lot of the top 20 I’m not familiar with, but the ones I am I absolutely love.
#55 Roadtripper
May 30, 2006

Am I the only human being on this planet who laughed at “What’s Up Doc?”
#56 lanwolf
May 30, 2006

[nuytsia] How about the “The Mouse that Roared” or “The Early Bird”?

On the US side I’m surprised to see that “Arsenic & Old Lace” isn’t there or “Ruthless People” for that matter.
[/nuytsia]

So I’m not the only person to remember (and reqatch just a few weeks ago) “The Mouse that Roared”

As with “The Italian Job”, the USA remakes of “Arsenic and Old Lace” and “The Lady-Killers” missed what it is that makes for essential Brit humor. Very few have made the transition, and those not movies but TV shows.

Ealing Studios, Pinewood Studios – lots of strong funny stuff back in the WWII and early post-WWII days, when we brits had the most character of all time.

“but at least with Aykroyd, once he did Doctor Detroit, the studios got the clue that he couldn’t carry a movie.”

??? He carried Trading Places.[/john roe] No, Jamie Lee Curtis did. Dan may have had the lead role,, but it was Jamie who brought in the perceptual twist that made the whole thing work. But lets not denigrate being a funny second string, that’s an essential part of a funny with story (otherwise we’re talking HBO specials, not movies). “Best Supporting …” recognizes that.

[me]
“Young Frankenstein” – one of the very few movies had me falling off my seat, literally. I still laugh just thinking about it. “Blazing Saddles” also, but does not take muliple viewings as well. Too silly.

Catch-22 anywhere? No? Why not? Another seminal comedy.

What about Jimmy Stewart?

60′s/70′s were good years for comedies. Era-defining ones. “Whats new, Pussy-Cat?”. “I Love You, Alice B. Toklas”. “The Party”. Hmmm. I see a Peter Sellers trend here.
[/me]
#57 Ginger Yellow
May 31, 2006

I love The Italian Job, but it’s not really a comedy. It’s a very silly caper movie.
#58 Andrew
May 31, 2006

I see others have already noted the lack of Some Like It Hot.

What about “The Great Race”, or
“Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines”

or (more recently) “Wallace and Gromit:The Curse of the Were-Rabbit”?
#59 MoonThystle
June 4, 2006

Wathching Bravo’s supposedly Top 100 Comedy Movies of All Time was the Number one Biggest Waste of All Time. Reader’s Digest had a similar idea a while back and in my opinion, a much better list. Check it out.

http://www.rd.com/content/openContent.do?contentId=13866
#60 RedSonja
June 10, 2006

What about Christmas Vacation or Parenthood?

These lists are interesting and infuriating. Check out AFI’s top 100 funny movies list. They have Some Like it Hot at #1. I don’t think that was on this list at all. They have Animal House at #36 and Caddyshack at #71. It’s very different. Not necessarily better, but different. A lot more older movies on the list. Makes sense to me. There are a lot of very new movies on Bravos list. If a movie is still funny years later, then it is truly funny. I don’t know if Napoleon Dynamite will seem as funny in 20 years. A movie should be re-evaluated (if remembered at all), at LEAST 5 years after release before getting on a list of any kind. I still laugh at Christmas Vacation and Parenthood as much now as I did when I first saw them years ago, and they’re not even on the list. Timeless humor that everyone can relate to. Everyone has family members that remind them of people in these movies, and it’s funny to see them torture someone other than you.

And, if you are going to put Jack Black on the list…it should be Orange County. Overall, a much funnier and smarter comedy than any of his others.

All the debate goes to show you how different peoples sense’s of humor can be I guess. It’s like politics. No point in arguing…but it’s still fun.
#61 RedSonja
June 10, 2006

What about Christmas Vacation or Parenthood?

These lists are interesting and infuriating. Check out AFI’s top 100 funny movies list. They have Some Like it Hot at #1. I don’t think that was on this list at all. They have Animal House at #36 and Caddyshack at #71. It’s very different. Not necessarily better, but different. A lot more older movies on the list. Makes sense to me. There are a lot of very new movies on Bravos list. If a movie is still funny years later, then it is truly funny. I don’t know if Napoleon Dynamite will seem as funny in 20 years. A movie should be re-evaluated (if remembered at all), at LEAST 5 years after release before getting on a list of any kind. I still laugh at Christmas Vacation and Parenthood as much now as I did when I first saw them years ago, and they’re not even on the list. Timeless humor that everyone can relate to. Everyone has family members that remind them of people in these movies, and it’s funny to see them torture someone other than you.

And, if you are going to put Jack Black on the list…it should be Orange County. Overall, a much funnier and smarter comedy than any of his others.

All the debate goes to show you how different peoples sense’s of humor can be I guess. It’s like politics. No point in arguing…but it’s still fun.
#62 rayne
July 22, 2006

What the heck happened to Porky’s, Monty Python’s The Holy Grail, Liar Liar, Once Bitten, Bruce Almighty, Stir Crazy, Waterboy, Super Troopers, Scary Movie 1, Committed, Smokey and the Bandit, and Friday? These aren’t on the list at all!! It’s a shame!! How can Napoleon Dynamite be funnier than Waterboy? How can Ace Ventura: Pet Detective be funnier than Liar Liar? You can put Animal House and Caddyshack in the top ten and not include Porky’s?? HOW??? Most of the movies on this list may have some funny parts, but to keep you in stitches? I DON’T THINK SO!
#63 Jeff
September 10, 2006

I’m not saying he’s a great actor-I’m not even saying he’s a good actor but Norm MacDonald is the king of what I call blunt comedy and no movie epitomizes this kind of humor more than Bob Saget’s 1998 classic “Dirty Work” about two guys that can’t do anything right except play really good practical jokes on people so they start a revenge for hire business. The humor might be crude and tasteless but that’s the whole point. I know this movie has a lot of fans but Norm always gets snubbed by the critics-even the POPULAR ones for God’s sake! Even though Norm’s follow-up “Screwed” really made you feel that you did indeed get screwed “Dirty Work” does definitely deserve high marks.
#64 KRIS
January 10, 2007

I WAS GONNA READ YOUR OPINIONS ON ALL THE MOVIES, BUT I COULDNT GET PAST #100, ANCHORMAN. YOU ARE RETARDED. SO I READ FURTHER. 4 WEDDINGS AND A FUNURAL?? SO NOW YOUR NOT ONLY RETARDED BUT YOU MAY BE GAY. FURTHER MORE YOU LIKE WEDDING CRASHERS BUT NOT ZOOLANDER?? SO YOU LIKE A COMEDY THAT IS BASED IN REALITY BUT IN NO WAY IS REALISTIC, BUT YOU DONT LIKE A MOVIE THAT IS OFF THE WALL WITH COUNTLESS ONE LINERS IN IT. ITS UPTGHT JERKOFFS LIKE YOU THAT MAKE MOVIES HORRIBLE THESE DAYS
#65 Ed Brayton
January 10, 2007

You forgot “poopyhead”. What a fucking idiot.
#66 Ben
April 15, 2007

Ok no offense Ed Brayton! But your anaylsis of this list pretty much blows. Lets see where do I even begin.

First of all you find Adam Sandler, Will Ferrel, Ben Stiller, Jim Carey, and Jack Black not to be funny! Are you crazy!!!!

You don’t even mention that Ferris Bueller is way low number 54 what the hell is up with that!

You cry out that Ace Ventura is even on the list? Another crazy statement.

It seems pretty clear you cant handle stupid comedies. Where they are doing stupid things. Yet you actually liked Harold and Kumar now that is shocking!

Overral you said some nice things but they were pretty much obivious things that anyone would point out. Its the stupidity statements that really blow my mind.