The Movie Forums Top 100 Comedies Countdown

If I wasn't so stringent in the way I view genres, Re-Animator and Return of the Living Dead would've been good bets to make my ballot.

Good stuff folks, and thanks to Diehl for hosting and Yoda working his behind the scenes magic. I assume they collaborated like two kids in a trenchcoat standing on top of each other to sneak into an R-rated movie.

Here is my list:

1. The Producers (1967)
2. Hot Fuzz (2007)
3. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
4. The Party (1968)
5. The Jerk (1979)
6. The In-Laws (1979)
7. The Big Lebowski (1998)
8. Trading Places (1983)
9. Ghostbusters (1984)
10. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
11. 21 Jump Street (2012)
12. Airplane! (1980)
13. Duck Soup (1933)
14. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
15. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
16. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
17. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
18. Andaz Apna Apna (1994)
19. Duplicate (1998)
20. The Graduate (1967)
21. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
22. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
23. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
24. Clifford (1994)
25. American Babylon (1985)

1. Hot Fuzz---placed 12th
2. What We Do in the Shadows--placed 31st
3. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang--did not place, WHO TAUGHT YOU MATH?!
4. Kung Fu Hustle--placed 67th
5. Mean Girls--placed 68th
6. The Graduate--placed 27th
7. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure--did not place, totally bogus
8. The Nice Guys--placed 70th
9. Beetlejuice--placed 79th
10. The First Wives Club--did not place, and I'm just going to use the F-word: felony
11. A League of Their Own--did not place, I guess there's no crying in top 100 creation *sniff*
12. My Cousin Vinny--placed 53rd
13. Tootsie--did not place, and now I question everyone's taste
14. The Rocky Horror Picture Show--did not place, see above
15. Some Like It Hot--placed 9th
16. Say Anything...--did not place, I draw the line at 7 unplaced comedies on this list!
17. Thunder Road--did not place, *turns on child's tape player*
18. Death Becomes Her--did not place, did not place?! SHE'LL BE FURIOUS!
19. Monty Python's Life of Brian--placed 20th
20. Roman Holiday--did not place, and this is where the bias against romantic comedies becomes kind of painful
21. After Hours--placed 29th
22. Black Dynamite--placed 66th
23. Force Majeur--did not place, and I'm going to assume because it's not as widely seen
24. Frankenhooker--did not place, GOT ANY MONEY LIST PLACEMENT?!
25. Born Yesterday--did not place, I do not understand you people

I was wondering if I missed some great comedies in recent years, but that apparently was not the case: the comedy genre is dying, so we have many more comedies from the 1990s and 2000s than from the last 12 years or so. The last great comedies were like Hot Fuzz, from 2007. Sad.

Also, it is interesting that this list is dominated by English-language movies to a higher degree than other top lists. I think that is so because comedies require a greater degree of cultural understanding to be grasped by the audience than "serious" movies.

Yes I was, from '70--'75. Stage name: Ed Marimba.

only had five movies show up, which is by far the least i’ve ever had, although i suppose that’s the nature of a broader category like this.

here’s my full list:

1. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
2. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
3. They Came Together (2014)
4. Airplane! (1980)
5. The Wrong Guy (1997)
6. The Squid and the Whale (2005)
7. Lady Bird (2017)
8. Toy Story 2 (1999)
9. Toy Story 3 (2010)
10. City Lights (1931)
11. After Hours (1985)
12. Finding Nemo (2003)
13. Inside Out (2015)
14. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
15. Fletch (1985)
16. Top Secret! (1984)
17. The Incredibles (2004)
18. The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
19. The Beach Bum (2019)
20. DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (2004)
21. Elf (2003)
22. Caddyshack (1980)
23. Murder by Death (1976)
24. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
25. Frances Ha (2013)

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It's a potential Hall of Fame nomination from me sometime in the future.

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That's very cool. They were a wild band and you were great with them.

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I may go back to hating you. It was more fun.

Ha!
Neat list and neat reactions.
Rocky Horror, as you know, is actually my favorite movie of all time, genres be damned. Yet, I didn't vote for it as a comedy. My No.1 might have gotten it on the list with your and maybe one other person's help. Alas.

Funny, I told a friend of mine, who is both a big Mothers fan and a big Beefheart fan, that I was on a movie forum with you and he kinda freaked out. Hope that brightens your day.

Great job hosting Diehl. And nice presentation.

My ballot:

1. It Happened One Night (1934)
2. Ghostbusters (1984)
3. After Hours (1985)
4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
5. Annie Hall (1977)
6. Some Like It Hot (1959)
7. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
8. Young Frankenstein (1974)
9. Rushmore (1998)
10. Tootsie (1982)
11. The General (1926)
12. The Kid (1921)
13. Duck Soup (1933)
14. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
15. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
16. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
17. The Apartment (1960)
18. Clerks (1994)
19. Groundhog Day (1993)
20. Dogma (1999)
21. Caddyshack (1980)
22. Beetlejuice (1988)
23. Love and Death (1975)
24. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
25. Stardust Memories (1980)

Love this ballot.
Born Yesterday, Roman Holiday, and Tootsie are all great films that I’m surprised didn’t make the list.

I'm with you on this. However, my favorite two scenes are, like you said, the interrogation at the estate...especially where Clouseau forgets how high-pitched the gardener's voice is and when he's looking away from him, the gardener starts speaking again and Sellers pulls one of the funniest faces I've ever seen him do and he's looking up and around like there's a bee buzzing him. I still use this from time-to-time. My second favorite scene is when Clouseau returns home from grocery shopping, goes inside and Dreyfus is in the apartment below, drilling through the floor and using a mini-scope to peek to see where Clouseau is. Then Cato attacks Clouseau and thus begins a gut-busting sped-up martial arts "fight" that tears the apartment apart, completed when Clouseau and Cato are falling in time with Dreyfus below after they hit his scope and knock him off his stacked table. The morphed voices as they groan in time with each other is hilarious, punctuated by one last "Oof!" by Dreyfus. Never gets old

Just a few that I cut from my list and I don't think I mentioned, but if I did, forgive me: My Favorite Year, Kung Pow!: Enter the Fist, Being There, The Great Race, Mr. Mom, and High Anxiety, which is a terrific Hitchcock sendup by Mel Brooks.

Many thanks to Diehl and Yoda for the Countdown and all the supporting players for keeping the art and data running smooth. One of the best Countdowns---never knowing what would place kept us all on our toes and I love that!

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

I don't think Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are Dead gets enough love, to be honest. As it's described by wikipedia as "an absurdist, existential tragicomedy" I guess it was less likely to appear on a list where people are going for belly laughs, but I'd categorise It's Such A Beautiful Day similarly and that made it.

I enjoy the at times absurd bantering between the two leads, it's a sort of humour that appeals to me, similar I suppose to Withnail and I, but weirder, of course, because they're dead. Or not dead (because death isn't). Or not real, because they're fictional characters on the fringes of Hamlet who talk about death a lot.



Guildenstern: I don't believe in it anyway.

Rosencrantz: What?

Guildenstern: England.

Rosencrantz: Just a conspiracy of cartographers, then?

And the cast! Gary Oldman! Tim Roth!

Anyway, I think it's great and think more people should give it a chance.

Haven't had a chance to post much in here lately because I've been sick the exact few days it was wrapping up, so I'll just broadly say: thanks to @Diehl40 for helping, and to everyone for all the kind words, and for participating, of course.

Another fun countdown. Looking forward to the next one.

Here's my ballot:

1. Airplane! (1980)
2. Animal House (1978)
3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
4. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
5. What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
6. City Lights (1931)
7. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
8. Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
9. Delicatessen (1991)
10. Ghostbusters (1984)
11. Groundhog Day (1993)
12. The Princess Bride (1987)
13. Young Frankenstein (1974)
14. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
15. Galaxy Quest (1999)
16. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
17. The Jerk (1979)
18. The Big Lebowski (1998)
19. The Lobster (2015)
20. Local Hero (1983)
21. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
22. Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
23. Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
24. Bowfinger (1999)
25. Heavy Trip (2018)

I said it earlier in the thread and looking at the full ballots I am even more sure of it: we could easily do a Top 100 Comedies of the 1980s list.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Once we start running out of ideas, this is a great way to narrow things down and still satisfy the forums obsession with ongoing lists!

But yeah, 2010s seems a no brainer. Time to proceed

This was one of the last films I cut, and would have been in my Top 30...

Meanwhile, here are a couple of films I briefly considered, but ended up not including because of the whole "This isn't actually a comedy" thing.





When I first saw this in theaters, I found it to be wonderfully fresh and funny. A goofy, absurd take on the future. These days, I still find it funny, but also kind of terrifying, because it was so spot-on in its prognostication. A population of fragile, docile sheep, trapped in a neo-liberal authoritarian society, wandering around with their little electronic devices, without which they are lost. At least we aren't stuck eating only Taco Bell, so there is hope.






OG Trek at its lighthearted best. The constant banter between the cast, an infantilized Spock, and a fun, if heavy-handed eco time travel plot made this one of the more memorable theatrical experiences I can remember. Saw it either on, or very close to opening night, and the place was electric. Everyone was having a blast, all the jokes were landing, people cheered when the Bird of Prey decloaked and deflected the harpoon... My mother returned to the theater FIVE more times that opening week, and I went along for a couple of those.

Neither of those films are really considered proper comedies, but I recall them both as being highly fun and comedic experiences. I knew they didn't have a chance at the list, so I cut them pretty early.

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Not a bad idea and something we can save somewhere down the road, but since we already did a comedy list, it's time to move on to something else which is the 2010's list imo.

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