“An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” right? Well, a laugh a day might help keep a nagging sense of total doom at bay. At least we can hope. In many ways, it’s vital for humans to laugh whenever we can, especially in times of crisis. Laughter is a natural stress reliever, and everyone could use a few doses right now. A comedy classic is the best medicine of them all.
That brings us to the best of the best. There are comedies coming out all the time—good ones that add to the canon, but to become a great, you have to have a few things. Part of it is a little bit of time, to make sure the laughs weren’t just in the moment. The next is a die-hard fan base that will keep the story alive. And the third part is a little bit of movie magic that’s impossible to describe. Dark comedies, slapstick, rom coms… the best of their genres all have it.
Even if you’re not the type to laugh out loud at comedies, the following films are sure to elicit some small giggle, or perhaps even one of those loud, surprising guffaws. There’s no one definitive, objective list of the “best” of anything, and this is ever-evolving and expanding. From National Lampoon comedy classics to iconic stoner adventures and feminist takes on the sex comedy genre, below is a collection of some of the best comedy movies of all time.
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Animal House
The National Lampoon masterpiece continues to set the bar for cinematic depictions of collegiate debauchery. See John Belushi in one of his greatest roles as a fraternity brother at the riotous Delta house, as the brothers fight a college dean who wants to see their charter revoked and their house disbanded.
The Big Lebowski
“I’m the Dude. So that’s what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing.” Jeff Bridges’s character in this stoner classic is truly iconic. The surreal, tumultuous story of mistaken identity, bowling, and the Dude’s soiled rug is just as hilarious today as ever.
Bridesmaids
Paul Feig and Judd Apatow’s comedy follows Annie (Kristen Wiig), a single woman in her 30s who’s asked to be the Maid of Honor at her best friend Lillian’s (Maya Rudolph) wedding. Broke and alone, Annie navigates being ostracized when the bachelorette party and other wedding rites are commandeered by her seemingly perfect rival, Helen (Rose Byrne).
Superbad
There’s a reason Superbad continues to define the coming-of-age teen comedy. The highly quotable film—“I am McLovin!”—follows two inseparable best friends (Michael Cera, Jonah Hill) as they navigate the last weeks of high school and try to lose their virginity before heading off to college. Along with their geeky friend, the pair tries a series of shenanigans to score alcohol for a huge party in the hopes of getting lucky.
When Harry Met Sally
Even the uninitiated will know this 1989 romantic comedy for its “I’ll Have What She’s Having” scene, in which Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm over sandwiches at Katz’s Delicatessen. Nora Ephron’s award-winning screenplay makes this a total classic, a movie that exists to make people happy and will continue to do so for years to come. Plus: all the academic-sweater, smart-blazer 80s fashion and golden New York autumn shots your heart desires.
Dazed and Confused
Richard Linklater’s stoner comedy chronicles the events of the last day of school in a 1976 Texas town. The plot centers on Randall ‘Pink’ Floyd’s choice between the freedom to be his reefer-toking self and his commitment to his football team, and rising freshman Mitch Kramer as he evades hazing from a particularly sadistic senior (Ben Affleck). Come for famous lines Matthew McConaughey’s “Alright, alright, alright” and a fantastic 70s rock soundtrack. Stay for drill sergeant Parker Posey yelling “Air raid!” at the top of her lungs.
Coming to America
Refresh your memory with the original Coming to America before you catch the sequel. In this 1988 romantic comedy, Eddie Murphy plays the Prince of an African nation, who comes to America—specifically, to Queens—hoping to meet and marry the woman of his dreams.
Best in Show
Christopher Guest’s hilarious mockumentary follows five Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show contestants and their wacky owners as they travel to and compete in the show. Featuring all-star cast including Jennifer Coolidge, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, and Parker Posey. Fun fact: it inspired the actual National Dog Show that airs on TV every Thanksgiving.
Shaun of the Dead
One of the pioneers of the zombie comedy genre. Stuck in a dead-end job and dumped by his girlfriend, Shaun’s life is stagnant and mundane, until the zombie apocalypse strikes. Shaun must fight back against the zombies, hiding out in his local pub and fighting for his life along with his friends.
M*A*S*H
In this irreverent dark war comedy that spawned the TV series, a team of womanizing, freewheeling, heavily-drinking army doctors treat wounded soldiers and break rules left and right as the Korean War rages around them.
Meatballs
There had to be at least a couple Bill Murray movies on this list— but why Meatballs, you ask? Because Meatballs, in all its ridiculous summer camp glory, is Murray’s first starring film role and one of his most underrated movies. Murray plays a camp counselor in charge of 300 kids as they compete with a rich neighboring camp. It’s funny, it’s heartwarming, it’s Meatballs. Try watching Murray’s impassioned “It just doesn’t matter!” speech without feeling just a tiny bit better.
Napoleon Dynamite
Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder), a teenage outcast in his small Idaho town, teams up with the new kid, Pedro, to run a campaign for class president against all odds. It’s impossible to sum up the strange shenanigans Napoleon gets up to—the liger doodling, the tater tots, and of course his “Vote for Pedro” dance performance—it’s something you have to see for yourself.
Harold and Maude
In this charming and strange cult classic, a depressed, death-obsessed young man falls in love with a 79-year-old Holocaust survivor, gaining a newfound perspective on life.
Blockers
Don’t be fooled by the title: director Kay Cannon’s boundary-breaking sex comedy is fantastic, through and through. Leslie Mann, John Cena, and Ike Barinholtz play a trio of parents who try to stop their daughters (Big Little Lies’s Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan, Gideon Adlon) from following through on a prom night sex pact. Produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (the comedy duo behind Superbad).
Girls Trip
Girls Trip is a fun, raucous comedy about four best friends (Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Regina Hall) who reunite for a trip to the Essence Music Festival. They rekindle their wild partying spirits and reconnect as friends through a series of adventures in New Orleans.
Little Miss Sunshine
In this eccentric tragicomedy, a dysfunctional family takes a cross-country road trip so that their spirited 7-year-old, Olive, can compete in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. With a phenomenal ensemble cast of Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano, and Steve Carell, Little Miss Sunshine is as unique and heartfelt as it is wild and hilarious.
The Breakfast Club
Ah, John Hughes. The director defined 1980s teenagehood with his honest portrayals of everyday angst, identity, and longing. Coming-of-age dramedy The Breakfast Club follows five high school students (“a brain, a beauty, a jock, a rebel, and a recluse”) as they’re brought together for Saturday detention and realize they have more in common than they’d thought.
Clue
This campy cult comedy follows a group of seven strangers invited to a mysterious dinner party, who all become suspects after one of them is murdered. Bodies drop left and right in this slapstick whodunit based on the board game.
The Birdcage
A remake of the classic French farce, Robin Williams stars as Armand, a gay Miami drag club owner, whose son is to be married to the daughter of a conservative Republican senator (Gene Hackman). When the future in-laws are set to meet, Armand’s son asks his father and his partner Albert (Nathan Lane) to hide their true identities and pretend to be straight.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The one, the only, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Chock-full of memorable quotes, the hilarious parody of King Arthur and his knights’ quest to find the Holy Grail still holds up today.
Some Like it Hot
Billy Wilder’s 1959 screwball comedy stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon as two struggling musicians in Prohibition-era Chicago who witness a mafia massacre and escape the mob by disguising themselves as women in an all-female traveling band. Things get even more complicated (and even funnier) when they befriend Sugar (Marilyn Monroe), the band’s stunning singer.
Ghostbusters
“Who you gonna call?” The original Ghostbusters beats the sequels any day. The supernatural comedy stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson as supernatural exterminators who must save New York City from a spectral apocalypse. Featuring one of the best monster reveals of all time: the gigantic, Godzilla-like Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
Rushmore
Wes Anderson’s coming-of-age comedy stars Jason Schwartzman as Max Fischer, a precocious, eccentric teenager who rules Rushmore Academy’s extracurricular scene. Facing academic probation, he befriends his classmates’ businessman father (Bill Murray), and wars with him over the affections of a beautiful widowed first grade teacher.
Mean Girls
Produced by Lorne Michaels, starring Lindsay Lohan and Tina Fey (plus a host of other Saturday Night Live veterans), Mean Girls is at once a funny and highly quotable parody of clique-ridden high school life and a total relic of the early 2000s.
Airplane!
The classic spoof on the disaster movie genre transports us to a doomed flight, where ex fighter pilot and nervous flyer Ted Striker must take control of the plane and work with his flight attendant ex-girlfriend to safely land the plane after the crew falls ill.
House Party
Office Space
Mike Judge perfectly satirizes workplace culture in this 1999 cult classic starring Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston. The film follows a mid-level software company employee who decides he wants to get fired, and ends up promoted instead—then conspires with his two laid-off friends to embezzle money from the company.
Friday
A lot of the world might recognize Friday as the film that gave us “Bye, Felicia,” but the Ice Cube and Chris Tucker film is cult film canon and stoner comedy royalty. On top of being hilarious, co-writers Ice Cube and DJ Pooh saw the film as an opportunity to shed a new light on “the hood,” injecting a realism and sense of comedy into a type of neighborhood that often gets a stereotypically violent treatment.
Duck Soup
Is any comedy list complete without a mention of the Marx Brothers? This classic from 1933 follows Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) who is instated as leader of the fictional country of Freedonia, but his tenure is jeopardized when two spies (Harpo and Chico) infiltrate Firefly’s orbit, looking for dirt on him. The comedy wasn’t the most popular at its time of release, but in the 90 or so years since it landed in theaters, it’s been revered as a masterpiece and a must-watch classic for any comedy fan who’s anyone.
Dr. Strangelove
You know that lingering fear we had for about four years that someone might push a button and cause an international nuclear holocaust? Well, put that in comedy form and you have Dr. Strangelove—one of Stanley Kubrick’s greatest films. The picture focuses on U.S. Air Force General Jack Ripper, who deploys bomber planes to go destroy the U.S.S.R. after an unfounded suspicions that those damn Russians were meddling in the lives of the American people’s… um… bodily fluids?
Anna Grace Lee is an editorial fellow at Esquire, where she covers pop culture, music, and entertainment.
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