The Movie Forums Top 100 Comedies Countdown

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Beetlejuice - I have not seen this since I was a teenager. I saw it multiple times in my tween youth. Burton's aesthetic really appealed to me, it probably still does. I did a hard tap-out on him though after Planet of the Apes. Partly because of the debacle of Planet of the Apes and that word of mouth on nearly everything else had a word of mouth that made me think things weren't returning back to the whatever it-factor it was that I loved about his movies up until that point (I tapped back in briefly for Big Fish). In the past year or so, I've gotten an inkling to revisit some of those old Burtons. Outside of Edward Scissorhands (I'm not sure how I came across it playing), I haven't done so though. I think Beetlejuice is the one that I'm most interested in revisiting, and for whatever reason, Batman Returns. I'm almost positive this was the movie that gave me a massive crush on Winona Ryder growing up...

O' Brother Where Art Thou - For me this is a lower tier Coens. I've watched it a couple of times, including once in the past 5-7 years just to see if it'd click better this time, and it just kind of didn't. It's probably a better movie than Hail, Caesar!, but I prefer the latter, and they're probably roughly in the same neck of the woods for me when I tier their movies. As stated before, weirdly, the much dismissed Hudsucker Proxy is one that I kind of really groove with (in terms of their more light-hearted fare), though that's still well in the middle of the pack overall (I think it was at least considered for my short list, but didn't make that). Naturally I find out off-hand some odd years after seeing O' Brother, I find out it's one of their really big hits. I'm just continuing my trend of being in line with the general public there.
But hey, it's still above Intolerable Cruelty or my still only unwatched Coens full motion picture, The Lady Killers. I'm not that counter-normal.

Needless to say, O'Brother wasn't on my short list, nor my ballot. Weirdly, I think it did prime me to enjoy Sullivan's Travels a lot more when I did finally watch that movie (I did go in unknowingly about the O' Brother connection). That said, a lower tier Coens is still not terrible and is at least watchable and enjoyable.

Seen 19/24



Beetlejuice is great, but for whatever reason it didn't come to mind when I was voting. I've tried to like O Brother, but I just... can't. I want to chalk it up to my hatred of George Clooney but I really liked Burn After Reading so he alone can't be the reason.
Admittedly, is there a better use of George Clooney than in Burn After Reading?



Surprised to see it above Fargo and no longer have much hope for my favorite comedy of theirs.
Both Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski should definitely be making the list with O Brother and Fargo. Maybe an outside, ever-dwindling chance for A Serious Man? But not Hudsucker Proxy (terribly underrated) or any others. I reckon.
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Been a long time since I’ve seen O brother, but like anything the Coens put out it’s funny and enjoyable. Surprised to see if above Fargo and no longer have much hope for my favorite comedy of theirs. Definitely wouldn’t be opposed to giving this one another viewing

Have not seen Beetlejuice
If it's post-2000, the odds seem slim to me (I have a post-2000 on my ballot, but I think after 2000, my impression is the comedic ones that people like become a lot more idiosyncratic, so I don't think any of them are going to get enough people to cluster around them). Pre-2000, I see three different ones that I think have a good shot of making the list (disclaimer, I don't have a pulse on what this community finds funny).



Both Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski should definitely be making the list with O Brother and Fargo. Maybe an outside chance for A Serious Man? But not Hudsucker Proxy (terribly underrated) or any others. I reckon.
Barton Fink is the third pre-2000's that I think has a chance. It's well known, not debated to be a comedy (I hope), and it did change the rules at Cannes, I believe, because it won two of the big awards.



O Brother, Where Art Thou? [/i]is a film I rented when it was new knowing nothing about it, simply because my mom liked George Clooney. We both hated pretty much every second of it, yet watched it because we had nothing else to do. I wasn't even aware until a couple years ago that it was supposed to be a comedy.
As someone who voted for and then found themselves feeling the need to argue that Fargo is a dark-comedy, I find this anecdote weirdly gratifying.



Barton Fink is the third pre-2000's that I think has a chance. It's well known, not debated to be a comedy (I hope), and it did change the rules at Cannes, I believe, because it won two of the big awards.
How many MoFos considered Fink "funny" enough compared to the likes of Arizona, Lebowski, and O Brother we shall see. I don't think it'll show. And it is in my top three Coen Brothers films.



And... have people decided that The Princess Bride is no longer good as an adult? I haven't revisited it since roughly that age either, now that I think about it.
I only saw it for the first time a couple years ago and I absolutely loved it.

Edit: Apparently it was more than just "a couple years" ago, since it was 2016 haha. Where does the time go? Either way, I was still an adult at the time.



Been a long time since I’ve seen O brother, but like anything the Coens put out it’s funny and enjoyable. Surprised to see if above Fargo and no longer have much hope for my favorite comedy of theirs. Definitely wouldn’t be opposed to giving this one another viewing
I think that has nothing to do with quality, and more to do with how most people "perceive" Fargo not as much as a comedy, as opposed to O Brother, which is a more "obvious" choice for that genre.
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Beetlejuice is early Burton gold. It's a fun movie on its own, but as a 30-year-old movie history makes it much better.


Seen 15/24.



Beetlejuice came out when I was 18 and I watched it a ton because it was one of only a handful of movies I owned when I first moved out on my own after college and was poor, and it is pretty much the only "nostalgic" movie I included, but it does hold up for me after all these years. I had it at #22.

My List:
21. One, Two, Three (#85)
22. Beetlejuice (#78)
24. Sullivan's Travels (#100)
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And... have people decided that The Princess Bride is no longer good as an adult? I haven't revisited it since roughly that age either, now that I think about it.
If I watched The Princess Bride as a child, I have no memory of it. I watched it several years ago and didn't like it at all.



Princess Bride holds up great. What holds it back, and what likely also holds Reiner back from ever being considered a great director even though he's made at least four great movies, is that he is completely utilitarian in his style. He's got no personality as a filmmaker. But he knows how to make a film do whatever a film needs to do to resonate. He let Guest and McKean and Shearer take the floor in Spinal Tap. Dove head first into 50s childhood nostalgia in Stand By Me. Let the dynamics between the characters shine in Misery. And devoted himself to story when he had a completely aces script with PB


As a result, Princess Bride doesn't look any better than any half assed childrens storybook movie. But it is still one of the most cleverly engaging narratives of any kids movie, ever. And it's loaded loaded loaded with incredible performances.


It's a classic, and will remain so for a long time



Society ennobler, last seen in Medici's Florence
This time I've seen both #77 and #78.

Actually, I think with Beetlejuice I can apply for those thread: "Movies you couldn't finish".
About 12 years ago, I've tried this movie and, as far as I remember, it was a painful experience. I've stopped it somewhere midway.


As I've stated it before, a few years ago, I've noticed some noise about O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a film I didn't know in those years. So, I've arranged full examination and... Well, superb beautiful cinematography and... at the same time what an empty screenplay. Something like: a lot of ambition for nothing. Max
for the cameraman and scenes design.

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my stats

Top 100 seen 8/24.
(seen one pointers 4/42 • )
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My list:
1. The Gold Rush (1925) [#83.]
...
5. The Kid (1921) [#88.]
...
7. One, Two, Three (1961) [#85.]
...
25.


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I got a bit behind here!

Step-Brothers is one I haven't seen. I have a love/hate thing with Will Ferrell movies. Stuff like Anchorman is top drawer for me, but things like Land of the Lost I hate with a passion. And I still cannot believe he received the Mark Twain Prize For American Humor. He's funny, but not that funny. Steve Martin got it but he totally deserved it for a lifetime's worth of work, and he was working the comedic trenches for ages, doing magic and jokes at Knott's Berry Farm for example, and standup for years. He paid his dues. I can remember Will Ferrell's first ever appearance on SNL and was wondering what in the hell was this guy doing on the show, mostly shouting for the entire performance? That said, he did get better but when he hit the movies, they've been one good, one bad, and so on for me. Sorry, rant over.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is one I love and have from the cinema on. Not only for Chevy but for the whole cast, even on down to William Hickey in his small role as the relative with the horrible wig. Didn't vote for it but glad to see it here.

Beetlejuice Love this movie. Hilarious stuff with Keaton giving a great performance and Tim Burton's off-kilter humor hitting all the right chords. Didn't give it a vote but so glad to see it show up.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is fine Coen fun with The Odyssey getting a funny riff here. Has one of my favorite scenes in a movie with George Clooney arguing with a store manager about the lack of Dapper Dan and remarking: "Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity. Two weeks from everywhere!" If you haven't seen the movie, you at least need to pull up the scene to get the context. No listing from me though some Coen's do await in the future I'm sure.

Touching back on Mel Brooks, I guess I'm one of the few MoFos who actually likes Dracula: Dead and Loving It. The staking of Lucy still gets me rolling, along with the performance of Peter MacNicol as Renfield, which I thought was hilarious. Now, Robin Hood: Men in Tights I truly could not stand. The jokes were so stale and one that I still cringe at today is when the people say, "A black sheriff??" and Dave Chappelle looks right at the camera and says, "Why not? It worked in 'Blazing Saddles.'" Man, talk about beating the audience over the head with a "joke" so obvious instead of letting them figure it out.

Anyway, so far:
My list so far #8Stripes
THE list #90
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The first time I watched Oh Brother I thought it was ok. The next time I watched it I liked it much less. I like the music though.

Liked Beetlejuice when it came out, not sure how I'd feel now.




Harry Burns: With whom did you have this great sex?
Sally Albright: I'm not going to tell you that.
Harry Burns: Fine, don't tell me.
Sally Albright: Shel Gordon.
Harry Burns: Shel? Sheldon? No, no, you did not have great sex with Sheldon.
Sally Albright: I did too.
Harry Burns: No you didn't. A Sheldon can do your income taxes, if you need a root canal, Sheldon's your man... but humpin' and pumpin' is not Sheldon's strong suit. It's the name. 'Do it to me Sheldon, you're an animal Sheldon, ride me big Shel-don.' Doesn't work.

When Harry Met Sally was my number 20. If you've ever joined a MoFo HoF that I've participated in, you probably already know how much I love romantic comedies. They're the best! Get me a few cases of Hamms, a big pile of rom-com's on vhs (just to kill my eyes), a good supply of Takis and I'm having me a weekend! So for one of them to make my top 25 it has to be pretty special. I will say this, the only part that doesn't get a huge laugh from me is arguably the movies most famous scene. A lot of what I find funny is stuff I think has quite a bit of truth behind it. I buy the relationship, how it evolves, how it falls apart and how it comes back together. I bought everything RR was selling with this one (except the speed walking scene) plus I am a sucker for the mushy stuff (see my one pointer). Always have been. Since I was keeping my ballot limited to one movie per director, this is my favorite from RR so here it lands, but I do hope to see a couple more from him.

Wayne's World - Not my thing. It was enjoyable on SNL in small doses but the movie wasn't funny.

Christmas Vacation is ok. I'll catch parts of it every year but I never sit down for the entire movie. I think it's the second best of the series.

The Producers - Tried it a few times but never made it through this one. I like dumb comedy, I like it a lot, I don't like Mel Brooks' version of dumb comedy.

O Brother Where Art Thou - This is a weird one. I don't know if I've ever watched the entire movie but I know I've seen the first 45 minutes several times and think it's very funny. I think Clooney is great for 30-45 minutes, I think Turturro is great for 30-45 minutes but after that the characters start to grind on me or the story starts to get goofy, I don't know, but I know I've had enough.

Beetlejuice - I like this one and am glad to see it made it. Didn't crack my list. Michael Keaton is only in this for what? 10 minutes? and it's far and away the best ten minutes of the film. Saw this in the theater and I still remember people, on their way out, wishing Keaton had more screen time. His opening sales pitch is fantastic and I think he was perfect as Beetlejuice. The Day-O scene and the waiting room scenes are the Keaton-less scenes that still get me laughing. Love the "I'm trying to quit" charcoal dude with the jackhammer legs.

I've seen parts of Clueless but not enough to have an opinion. Chaplin doesn't move the needle for me. Haven't seen The Gold Rush but I did see two of his movies all the way through so I'm good with Chaplin for awhile. Did not see Step Brothers and I'm also good with that. **** Will Ferrell, I don't think he's funny at all.

My ballot so far:
 



Seen Beetlejuice. I'd put it's comedic value somewhere in the same category as Flubber, and I think I'd give the edge to Flubber.


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I've seen Beetlejuice several times. It's a fun movie, and I love Michael Keaton in it, but it didn't make my list.

BTW, did anyone else notice that the actors listed in the #78 post for the movie Beetlejuice don't include Michael Keaton?




I watched O Brother, Where Art Thou? for the 2000s Countdown, and I liked it, but I liked the soundtrack more than the movie, so it didn't make my list either.
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