The Movie Forums Top 100 Comedies Countdown

The Great Dictator combines slapstick with poignancy. The closing speech was originally seen as a big mistake, but now it's iconic, especially when you consider the fact it was released over a year before Pearl Harbor. I tend to find the humor in most situations because if you're in a hopeless situation, the only thing which can keep you going is humor. I voted for a different Chaplin.

Singin' in the Rain has the greatest collection of classic songs (most are from the '20s and have been in other films of that era) and dances of any original movie musical. Donald O'Connor and Gene Kelly spend the movie trying to outdance each other. It's also the best Hollywood satire ever made. Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen also contribute mightily. Left off my ballot because of the musical aspect (I didn't include any).

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Halfway through the countdown. Now, for the good stuff!





My ballot: *3/51 (1-ptr hit)
My 2nd ballot: 6/51
Seen: 43/51
1-ptrs seen: 16
Put on watch list: 4
Meh, Huh, WTF: 4

You're just plumb too logical!

Ive got to rewatch Great Dictator since I haven't seen it since I was a kid. Ive obviously since seen all of the iconic moments, and they are iconic for a reason, and everything that has already been mentioned about its importance is true. But as a kid, to me it just seemed too serious. Too many people sitting at desks. Too many people in uniforms. I already had school to ruin my life with those things, so it never really registered with me as a favourite.


Singin in the Rain is stupendous, marvelous, magnificent, a real barn burner. As a person who once hated musicals I can firmly state what a disastrous opinion it is to write them off if one just loves watching films which transcend simply staying put on the screen. Musicals and horror films are strangely two of the most maligned genres, and yet the two that seem most malleable to reaching the heights of pure cinema. Singin in the Rain is close to as good as it gets as a musical. But, sadly, that's what it is to me, even though it is almost just as equally a comedy. I just don't happen to think of it that way

The Hustle was terrible, easily the weakest version of the story, thanks primarily to Rebel Wilson

I present here the rank of the films by the arithmetic average rating according to 19 world wide movie communities + one group of critics. In a few words, That's what the World thinks!




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Rank List (scale made equal to 1-10)
▽
1. 56. Sherlock Jr. 8,45
2. 88. The Kid 8,30
3. 86. To Be or Not To Be 8,25
4. 83. The Gold Rush 8,23
5. 61. It's Such a Beautiful Day 8,11

6. 99. Fargo 7,96
7. 73. Snatch 7,80
8. 100. Sullivan’s Travels 7,74
9. 85. One, Two, Three 7,73
10. 68. Ed Wood 7,63
11. 98. The Lady Eve 7,55
12. 53. Rushmore 7,51

13. 64. Clerks 7,49
14. 93. Evil Dead II 7,45
15. 84. When Harry Met Sally... 7,40
16. 94. Withnail and I 7,38
17. 77. O Brother, Where Art Thou? 7,38
18. 89. House 7,32
19. 55. Ferris Bueller's Day Off 7,32
20. 59. What's Up, Doc? 7,25
21. 97. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut 7,20
22. 78. Beetlejuice 7,19
23. 82. The Producers (1967) 7,18
24. 76. M*A*S*H 7,16
25. 66. Kung Fu Hustle 7,15
26. 75. Dazed and Confused 7,12
27. 51. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 7,12
28. 70. The Hangover 7,09
29. 52. My Cousin Vinny 7,01

30. 65. Black Dynamite 6,98
31. 69. The Nice Guys 6,95
32. 96. Home Alone 6,92
33. 72. Big Trouble in Little China 6,87
34. 62. The In-Laws 6,77
35. 74. Best in Show 6,62
36. 71. Napoleon Dynamite 6,61
37. 54. National Lampoon's Vacation 6,60
38. 57. Spaceballs 6,51
39. 79. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 6,50

40. 60. Fast Times at Ridgemont High 6,46
41. 81. Wayne's World 6,45
42. 67. Mean Girls 6,44
43. 87. Clueless 6,42
44. 91. Pee Wee's Big Adventure 6,36
45. 58. Tropic Thunder 6,35
46. 63. Happy Gilmore 6,25
47. 92. The 40 Year Old Virgin 6,19
48. 95. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery 6,18
49. 80. Step Brothers 6,06
50. 90. Stripes 6,04
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More stats:

Most known/unknown titles (Number of people in all film communities who have seen the film)

1. 96. Home Alone - 4,778,345
2. 70. The Hangover - 3,721,991
3. 73. Snatch - 2,714,137
4. 67. Mean Girls - 2,482,449
5. 99. Fargo - 2,042,891
...
...
46. 85. One, Two, Three - 88,652
47. 59. What's Up, Doc? - 84,649
48. 100. Sullivan’s Travels - 82,873
49. 98. The Lady Eve - 68,953
50. 62. The In-Laws - 22,179

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"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
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Two movies I completely overlooked when I made my list. Both are like 9-10/10 for me. Amazing stuff.

But Singin in the Rain is also more a musical than a comedy. I mean, it’s both of course, but I would have it higher on a musical list than a comedy list.

As for Dictator, one of Chaplins greatest. I think I actually would have voted for this had I remembered it. I voted for another Chaplin though.

Finally, a twofer for me!


Great Dictator has a lot of Chaplin's best slapstick, but he's also telling stories and I felt the story fell a LITTLE flat in comparison to the humor. 9/10.


Singin' in the Rain is a childhood favorite. I always cracked up at that movie, largely due to Kelly's charisma. 10/10.


Seen 33/52.

It's a fair question, to which I don't have a good answer. Granted, I go with, "as a rule of thumb, I don't care for musicals," which has room for a lot more nuance. If you take out the singing and dancing, you're usually left with rom-coms, and I'm mostly not as big on rom-coms from the era either, contrary to a lot of love given to them by other critical segments. However, there are some whose comedy still works for me, and I think for Singin' in the Rain, it's kind of a similar phenomenon - particularly on the comedic part. If the comedy didn't work for me in that movie, I'd probably care for it a lot less.

Interesting note, Singin' in the Rain is also makes fun of the Buzbee Berkeley musicals of the 30s, because at the time Donen hated them and thought they were terrible (apparently, he grew up a big fan of the Fred Astair musicals).
At some point in his life, his view of them shifted on them.*
*: From The Story of Film: An Odyssey, episode 5. Interview with him on it starts at about 48:55 in. (His interview starts before that time mark)

It takes a bit of googling if someone wants to watch the clip, but the episode is up on youtube somewhere if someone wants to see the source (how long it is for the world, unclear).

What exactly is so funny about Singin in the rain? Sorry if I missed it

People of course can have strong likes/dislikes in movie genres. Which is more than fine, as we all get to be who we are...but I'm thinking if someone really loves Singin' In the Rain, maybe they should seek out some other musicals from the same time period and give them a try. Gene Kelly made a lot of musicals in the 40s-50s just a few that I think are good:

1957 Les Girls
1955 It's Always Fair Weather
1954 Brigadoon
1951 An American in Paris

Probably Les Girls and An American in Paris would be the ones to go to first for a non musical fan.

Neither the The Great Dictator nor Singin' in the Rain are on my list.
I am not that familiar with The Great Dictator. I only saw it once. I do remember the WWI big gun section. Very funny. Adenoid Hinkel I think was the dictators name. Singin' in the Rain I have seen numerous times. I love it and I love Jean Hagan. It is very funny especially when the play the initial cut of The Gay Cavalier. Neither is on my list. I think the only thing from my list that has come up so far is The Lady Eve.

Kelly's sarcastic charisma, the occasional slapstick, LaMont's voice, no no no yes yes yes.

An American in Paris is one I'll probably see before I die, just because I've heard the name so many times.


Priorities, limited time, and my interest doesn't stem from necessarily thinking I'm going to click with it and all that.


It'll probably be some podcast I'm following that's doing some type of marathon on something that includes it that'll probably end up being the catalyst.


Admittedly, I'm someone who enjoys Singin' in the Rain, but unless it's something like a best of musicals (or iconic/important movies) list, probably wouldn't be going to it.


It's late 40's, but I'm seeing IMDb list The Ref Shoes as a musical. That's one I've been wanting to see for a while.


On the topic of musicals, due to the lack of streaming options, I did finally blind buy All That Jazz (podcast I'm listening to right now is doing Fosse).


Neither of the last two really have anything to do with this list though, but since the topic of musicals came up...

I totally understand that, me too...I have to chose what I'll watch based on how much I think I might like it as I can only watch one movie at a time and they made a lot of movies!
A lot of MoFos seen to love that movie, I did but I'm also do for a rewatch. From what I remember it's not a musical like Singin' In the Rain, it's about a ballet performer.

If you're going to check out Fosse's work, starting with All That Jazz is the way to go

Two excellent entries and I especially loved Singin' in the Rain. It will do well on my ballot for the musical countdown in 2057 when there's no longer any other options to do instead.

For me, Fosse films are the great gateway for musicals. Cabaret and All That Jazz very well may be my top two of all time.

All the supporting characters in it were pretty forgettable, so it's not one of my favorites, but its best moments hit pretty hard.

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Nice, two absolute classics! The Great Dictator never fails to make me laugh until the serious speech at the end, which, by contrast, never fails to make me get a lump in my throat. Very strong viewing.

Singin' in the Rain is one I can watch over and over. The songs are terrific and the comedy is great. Jean Hagen almost steals the movie from the bigger stars, she's so funny. When I was first introduced to this as a child, I was reticent to see it but I started laughing and found myself enjoying the music, which was made all the more enjoyable by the setups for the musical sequences, like, of course, "Make 'em Laugh," "Good Morning," and the title song.

Two super films I'm glad to see here that I didn't include on my picks.

My list:
#4.The In-Laws
#8.Stripes
#18.Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

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