Top Funny movies (list in Ottawa Citizen newspaper 14 June 2000). No idea who compiled the list 1.Some like it hot; Tootsie; Dr Strangelove; Annie Hall; Duck soup; Blazing saddles; MASH; It happened one night; The graduate; 10. Airplane!; The Producers; A night at the opera; Young Frankenstein; Bringing up baby; The Philadelphia Story; Singing in the rain; The odd couple; The General; His girl Friday; The apartment; A fish called Wanda; Adam’s rib; When Harry met Sally; Born yesterday; The gold rush; Being there; There’s something about Mary; Ghostbusters; This is Spinal Tap; Arsenic and old lace; Raising Arizona; The Thin Man; Modern times; Groundhog day; Harvey; national Lampoons Animal House; The Great Dictator; City Lights; Sullivan’s travels; 40. Its a mad mad mad mad world; Moonstruck; Big; American graffiti; My man Godfrey; Harold and Maude; Manhattan; Shampoo; A shot in the dark; To be or not to be; 50. Cat ballou; The 7 year itch; Ninotchka; Arthur; The miracle of Morgan’s creek; The lady Eve; Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein; Diner; It’s a gift; A day at the races; 60 Topper; What’s up doc; Sherlock Junior; Beverly Hills cop; Broadcast News; Horsefeathers; Take the money and run; Mrs Doubtfire; The awful truth; Bananas; 70 Mister Deeds goes to town; Caddyshack; Mister Blandings Builds his dream house; Monkey business; Nine to Five; She done him wrong: Victor Victoria; The Palm Beach Story; Road to Morocco; The Freshman; 80. Sleeper; The Navigator; Private Benjamin; Father of the Bride; Lost in America; Dinner at 8; City Slickers; Fast Times at Ridgemount High; Beeteljuice; The Jerk; 90 Woman of year; The heartbreak kid; Ball of fire; Fargo; Auntie Mame; Silver streak; Sons of the desert; Bull Durham; The court jester; The nutty Professor; 100 Good Morning Viet Nam
Lot of good films here for sure but newsflash - they make comedy outside of North America. Favourites here are Some Like it Hot and The General. Basically perfect.
How do they judge this stuff? I mean some comedy doesn't hold up all that well from this list. Personally, I'd rank Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, My Cousin Vinny, Office Space, Deadpool and Deadpool 2 above probably 90 of the movies listed here off the top of my head. Some of the movies on the list are more dramedy like Good Morning Vietnam which to me is more drama than comedy (or at least that element of the film is superior to the comedy).
Regarding the Jane Fonda movies on this list, ranking Cat Ballou above 9 To 5 is an... interesting choice. I like both, but still prefer the latter. I mean, it's got Jane, Lily and Dolly plus a great soundtrack AND Dabney Coleman as their boss. That's like a recipe for comedy greatness!
Seeing this list reminded me of another list from years ago. A guy I knew was looking it over and said : " They left out ' Dude Where's My Car?' " He was serious.
I like sixteen of the films if Father of the Bride is the Steve Martin version and if The Nutty Professor is Eddie Murphy's. Otherwise I'm down to fourteen.
Despite the name, The Pink Panther bares no relation to the other movies in the series (other than Trail of the Pink Panther where characters from The Pink Panther appear) other than the character of Inspector Clouseau, who isn't even the main character of the movie and is a different character from the ones in the other movies. A Shot in the Dark is the first true (and funniest) Pink Panther movie and sets up everything that we associate with the Pink Panther series.
The list is the American Film Institute's 100 Laughs, revealed June 2000, hence the absence of Gregory's Girl and any Monty Python. Delighted to see What's Up, Doc? and Silver Streak, but Safety Last! needs to be here.
Since it has been over a century since the beginning of films, I think that it might be better to do a decade by decade of the Top 20 Funny Films. That way, worthy films won't be crowded out because of great funny films from other eras. Would this be good as a new thread that we could create and add to?
The list should include more Steve Martin and funnier Peter Sellers IMO, Man With 2 Brains, Murder by Death, and Pink Panther Strikes Back. The problem with these comedy rankings is that they seem to consider artistic quality over laughs, so a bunch of comedies on the serious side make the list, like Manhattan, Broadcast News and Being There. At least Court Jester made it, but where is Support Your Local Sheriff? I laughed hardest on first watch at Weekend at Bernie’s, Army of Darkness and Noises Off. In retrospect this list would include The Big Lebowski, but this list was made when its cult status hadn’t hit yet.
Return of the Pink Panther was truly a return to the first film but with Plummer instead of Niven and may be the funniest of the series, if not the most memorable.
A few I've enjoyed: Roxanne Pee Wee's films, Big Adventure Airplane Dumb & Dumber Borat Mel Brooks Fankenstein Vacation Me, Myself, & Irene Idiocracy Meatballs The Big Labowski Kingpin What About Bob?
Some of my favorites: The Big Lebowski Airplane! Young Frankenstein Dr. Strangelove Bedazzled (1967 version) A Hard Day’s Night The Thin Man The Producers Tropic Thunder Groundhog Day
I love the earlier Marx stuff, hard to choose between Duck Soup and A Night At the Opera, both are brilliant. To Be or Not to Be, have watched this 100 times, Jack Benny is so funny, the only Jack Benny that really knocks it out of the park. Holy Grail has by far the best ending, I saw it in a theater and the audience just stared at the screen for awhile. I love all of Keaton's stuff, thank goodness we have it all. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek has always had a special place in my heart. Great Great script. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943) - Quotes - IMDb One of my favorite lines I don't see in the quotes "I did it for the boys" or something like that, if Firesign Theater had written that line, they would be proud. Added note, some of the episodes of Documentary Now are better than we deserve...especially "Globesman" and "Original Cast Album Co-op" both are so brilliant that they surpass what they are making fun of, Just brilliant, near perfect. As far as I am concerned Peter Sellers best stuff is not on film, but radio, The Goon Shows, should be raised to high lit status, brilliant stuff
