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100 best comedy movies
The 100 best comedy movies, picked by experts from across film, TV and comedy
Explore the full list of 100 films
Read our contributors' top tens
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The experts have spoken
From Dan Aykroyd to Edgar Wright, browse through the film lists submitted by over 200 contributor...
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100 Best British Films
The 100 best British films as chosen by a panel of 150 film industry experts, including directors Sam Mendes, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach and Wes Anderson.
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Time Out's 50 greatest animated films
Time Out ushers in the help of master animator Terry Gilliam to run down 50 of the greatest animated features of all time.
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50 Essential comic-book Movies, with Edgar Wright
Strap on your utility belt, starch up your cape, pull your underpants over your trousers and prepare to fly faster than a speeding bullet with Time Out's superheroic countdown.
By Tom Huddleston, David Jenkins, Adam Lee Davies, Derek Adams, Edward Lawrenson, Wally Hammond, Ben Walters, Gabriel Tate and Phil Harrison. Explore the individual top tens of every contributor.
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80
John Cleese in 'Clockwise'
Clockwise (1986)
Dir Christopher Morahan (John Cleese, Sharon Maiden, Penelope Wilton)
‘It’s not the despair. I can stand the despair, Laura. It’s the hope.’
From a script by Michael Frayn, this classic farce starring John Cleese as a punctilious headmaster on a calamitous journey to a conference is something of a dry run for the actor’s turn in ‘A Fish Called Wanda’. The plot moves along at a fair old lick, with Cleese’s Mr Stimpson roping in disaffected sixth-former Laura (Sharon Maiden) to get him to his destination. There’s plenty of spark to the dialogue and a very English sense of panic at the failure to meet conventional expectations. The real treat of it is Cleese’s performance, its elements of priggishness ultimately overcome by sympathy at his ordeal. BW
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79
Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper, Rose Byrne , Wendi McLendon-Covey, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig in 'Bridesmaids'
Bridesmaids (2011)
Dir Paul Feig (Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne)
‘You smell like pine needles, and have a face like sunshine!’
The most recent film on this list makes a pretty strong showing, but it's hardly surprising: ‘Bridesmaids’ isn’t just the comedy smash of 2011, it’s one of the funniest movies in recent memory. The idea of taking the tired-old ‘Hangover’ lad-com template and simply switching genders doesn’t sound like an automatic win, but the appeal here isn’t in the bad-taste trappings, it’s in the silly-but-smart script, the lively direction from ‘Freaks and Geeks’ legend Paul Feig and the note-perfect casting. It’s hard to remember a performance more effortlessly star-making than Kristen Wiig delivers, showcasing a woman equally at home with satire and slapstick. You go girl. TH
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78
Abigail Breslin in 'Little Miss Sunshine'
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Dir Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris (Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear)
‘Everybody just pretend to be normal!’
When their seven-year-old daughter is accepted to a beauty contest in California, her parents decide to drive from their Albuquerque home, with dysfunctional family members in tow. A wish-list of US indie stars – Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell and a wonderfully irascible Alan Arkin – are crammed into a VW camper van, the journey inevitably involves bumpy confrontations but, with a script that zings with one-liners and note-perfect performances, the trip is an utter blast. EL
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77
Richard Pryor in 'Stir Crazy'
Stir Crazy (1980)
Dir Sidney Poitier (Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor)
‘125 years... I'll be 161 when I get out!’
Could ‘Stir Crazy’ be the best prison comedy of all time? Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor – as innocent New York buddies Skip and Harry who get banged-up for 125 years apiece for armed robbery – were both at the height of their considerable powers, and given room to improvise by both scriptwriter Bruce Jay Friedman and director Sidney Poitier (wisely, as it turned out, considering the filmmakers' other works were notably laugh-free). It’s a tale of fear, ridicule and humiliation resounding with protestations: Wilder’s wild cries and motormouth mitigations competing with Pryor’s craven wimperings and gibbering incoherence. The plot does get bogged down – in some overextended business involving Skip’s unexpected rodeo skills and the pair’s escape plans – and the tension does slacken off, but the first half is comically inspired and hysterically funny. WH
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76
Will Ferrell in 'Old School'
Old School (2003)
Dir Todd Phillips (Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn)
‘Every now and then I get a little bit nervous then I see the fuckin’ look in your eyes...’
If you’re looking for the best comedy film of recent years, it might not be ‘Old School’: the film has bags of charm, cracking one-liners, memorable supporting characters (‘You’re my boy, Blue!’) and pitch-perfect performances from its three zeitgeist-grabbing leads as the ageing college buddies who move back on to campus in an effort to revitalise their fading youths, but it’s not quite ‘Rushmore’ or ‘Superbad’. But if you’re looking for the biggest single laugh of the decade – the spit-out-your-popcorn, drop-your-coke, didn’t-see-it-coming zinger to end ’em all – this movie’s wedding scene takes some beating. Its fabulously earnest, foul-mouthed version of ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ performed by regular frat-pack cameo artist Dan Finnerty in a wide-collared concierge outfit, is a powerfully strong contender. TH
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75
Woody Allen writes, directs and stars in 'Bananas'
Bananas (1971)
Dir Woody Allen (Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, Carlos Montalbán)
'Blood! That should be on the inside!'
Before he became overly preoccupied with love and death, Woody Allen was primarily a gag man, and the jokes are never more silly and inspired as they are in this early directorial effort. Mixing silent cinema buffoonery with the absurdity of his '60s stand-up routines, the movie sees Woody head down south to join a revolution in a small fictional Latin American country. With Woody adopting radical politics to win the affections of right-on Louise Lasser, ‘Bananas’ is Allen’s most avowedly Marxist film – Groucho, that is, not Karl. EL
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74
Hugh Grant and Charlotte Coleman in 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Dir Mike Newell (Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell)
'Fuck-a-doodle-do!'
For a film that celebrates English reserve and self-deprecation, it seems somehow wrong that 'Four Weddings... ' garnered such huge international success. And yet this modestly budgeted British ensemble comedy was a massive hit, thanks to a sparkling script by Richard Curtis and winning performances by its cast of wedding-hopping well-to-do Londoners, not least Hugh Grant whose floppy charm and even floppier hair turned him into one of the decade’s leading romantic men. EL
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73
Peter Sellars in Blake Edwards' 'The Party'
The Party (1968)
Dir Blake Edwards (Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet)
‘Birdie num nums.’
And there I was thinking I was the only one who put this bundle of slapstick hilarity in their final top-ten list. This is, after all, the least politically correct title in the pack. Back in 1968, of course, much of the general public thought nothing of one of the country’s most beloved comedians darkening his face to play a bumbling Indian actor at the party of a high-ranking studio exec. But the truth is, the filmmakers needn’t have bothered with questionable identities and extra make-up because Peter Sellers could have pulled it off by simply being himself. From the moment Sellers’s overly inquisitive extra arrives at the party, a battery of slapstick misfortunes begins to evolve as the clumsy but well-meaning guest crashes from one hilarious mishap into another. A near silent comedy that clearly inspired elements of ‘Naked Gun’ and ‘Mr Bean’, 'The Party' is warmly deserving of a place in the kingdom of comedy. DA
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72
Dudley Moore in 'Bedazzled'
Bedazzled (1967)
Dir Stanley Donen (Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Eleanor Bron)
‘I, Stanley Moon, hereinafter and in the hereafter to be known as “the damned”… The damned?’
Forget the underwhelming remake with Brendan Fraser and Liz Hurley. The original ‘Bedazzled’ is a vintage piece of Swinging London comedy and probably Pete and Dud’s finest big-screen outing. Dudley Moore is a sad-sack cook mooning after a waitress (Eleanor Bron) and Peter Cook plays the devil, who procures his soul in exchange for seven wishes. What follows is a Faustian series of set-pieces – some witty, some garish, some a tad aged – that offer plenty of opportunities for the duo’s distinctive power-play. BW
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71
Woody Allen and Mia Farrow in 'Broadway Danny Rose'
Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
Dir Woody Allen (Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Nick Apollo Forte)
‘If you take my advice I think you'll become one of the great balloon-folding acts of all time!’
Woody Allen comes to both bury and praise Danny Rose in this lyrical note to the dimmer lights of the Great White Way. A cock-eyed optimist and full-time dreamer, guileless theatrical agent Danny (Allen) dotes over his woeful stable of one-shot novelty acts – blind xylophonists, uniped tap dancers, ice-skating penguins dressed, naturally, as hassidic rabbis – but it is clear to everyone else that an age is swiftly passing. It would be an easy scene to mock, but Allen forgoes the easy yuks in favour of a generous, mournful, affectionate send-off that pays far richer, far funnier dividends. And as a monochrome snapshot of early-’80s, pre-Giuliani Times Square, the film is a true museum piece. ALD
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Comments
Elf deserves to be there despite whatever the comments say - it is the funniest Christmas movie I have ever seen. Why isn't Coming to America in the top 10? Why isn't Office Space in the top 10? This is Spinal Tap is NOT FUNNY. There were way too many Woody Allen movies and where is Superbad? Galaxy Quest - are you serious? Movies 100 - 91 were not funny. How can you have a movie that is not funny at number one? Are you at all serious?
Down with the naysayers, This is Spinal Tap at No. 1 - need I say more
Egregious omissions:
"Death at a Funeral" had me in apoplectics more than 90% of these films.
"The In-Laws" (original with Peter Falk) and "Blazing Saddles" are also superior to many of these picks.
I do agree with "Top Secret" and "Galaxy Quest".
Spinal Tap at number one? Above Life Of Brian?
Nah mate, nah.
Spinal Tap is one of the most overated THINGS ever, let alone comedies.
Spinal Crap more like....
the list is made by a moron who are the the morons who are supposed to be these experts
This list sucks. I don't think that top 10 movies r really top ten.. I give you 2 out of 10. The point 2 is for your hardwork to make this list not for the movies you add. It's ridiculous.
Wow...most best of lists are awful but this is among the worst Ive seen :(
Shows how subjective a genre comedy is...well any genre to be honest, because I have watched Spinal Tap twice now, and I still think it's not really very funny at all... maybe it's something about the rock n roll attitude thing, but apart from a few very funny moments I thought it was a pretty limp, flat experience. Each to their own...but I would personally have Duck Soup well above Spinal Tap -- it's 50 years younger and about 4 times as funny.
Placing The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) at place 95 makes this list a joke!!
sorry
Travis Bickle's list is a helluva lot better than yours. Were the people who made this list list born in 1990?
Missing in action:
Bringing Up Baby
Our Man Godfrey
The Awful Truth
The Palm Beach Story
The Lady Eve
Ninotchka
Love Me Tonight
It Happened One Night
Modern Times
The Gold Rush
City Lights
Our Hospitality
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Christmas Story
MASH
Moonstruck
My Favorite Year
The Twelve Chairs
A Shot In The Dark
The Lavender Hill Mob
Mon Oncle
Paper Moon
The Graduate
Election
Sideways
Honeymoon In Vegas
Ruthless People
Clueless
Thank You For Smoking
The Cooler
Welcome To The Dollhouse
Something's Gotta Give
As Good As It Gets
Jerry McGuire
Porkies (Just kidding!)
This list is complete b.s. These guys have a chubby for Woody Allen... No 'dazed and confused',happy Gilmore, but no billy Madison? Dont think I saw one John Hughes film... HorsePoop
ok why so much woody allen films? and furthermore where is beetlejuice, brother, where art thou?, in bruge, grosse point blanke and to a lesser extent the exorcist.
This list is absolutely terrible. Napoleon Dynamite was entertaining but should NOT be in the top 100
How much did Woody Allen pay you to take so many spots with his outdated unfunny films?
Factor in the omission of Spaceballs, Idiocracy, Super Troopers, Beverly Hills Cop, PCU and Out Cold and this list is pretentious pointlessness.
Anybody who thinks Will Ferrell is funny ought not to be allowed out of The Home for the Bewildered.
I only had time to look at the top 10, and was astonished that the two laugh-out-loud funniest films ever were not there: Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday, both directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant. I assume they are lower down the list, but not in the top 10?!!!
its a mad mad mad mad world
the private war of harry frigg
the tiger makes out
THislist is very imcomplete! and the expert used to make that list are from most of them old generation 40 to up...years old, so as we can most of the movies selected are oldies...or unknown at all....There are a lot great cool comedy missing on it....like super heroes parodies or SC-FI parodies are totaly absent that clearly show partiality in jugment....
Napoleon Dynamite is on this list, thus rendering it invalid. Move along.
The downside of the internet is that even someone who ranks Borat and Team America above The Big Lebowski is allowed to publish their "thoughts" to a wide audience.
The Big Lebowski should be number 1, one of the greatest (and funniest) films of all time. Good list though, Spinal Tap had a monumental influence, a deserving candidate for the top spot :)
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I like the choices on this list, for sure, and althought I think some should've been higher than others, I think its a decent list, except for the following:
1) Glaring omission of two Pink Panther jewels: "The Return of the Pink Panther" and, especially, "A Shot in the Dark", both of which are funnier than the original film itself, and as funny as "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" (really happy to see this one included, I must note). "A Shot in the Dark:", especially, showcases, along wtih to "Dr. Strangelove", Peter Sellers's complete comedic forte as a perfomer, and in contrast to Kubrick's opus, while portraying only one role. Just genius.
2) The placing of "Spinal Tap" as number One. Why not "Life of Brian"?
3) Baseketball?! Really? The film is free-loading bunch of BS. Its painfully unfunny, steretypical scatology at its best. Its not only nowhere near Team America or South Park, but its nowhere near the top 500 - no, I did mean five hundred.
4) Glarring omission of M*A*S*H? One of the greatest, bravest anti-war satires of all time is not here - but Baseketball is?
5) Glarring omission of "Spaceballs", aka Mel Brooks's Final Laugh. Why? Maybe it didn't have Gene Wilder in it... Although it should've!!
6) Not-as-glarring omission of "Beverly Hills Cop" and "48 Hrs". Eddie Murphy's shining in them. i can understand not having them, but still missed anyhow.
Otherwise, not a bad list. But the omissions are just glaring - did I mention that? :-D
I hate the number one choice,that doesn`t mean i hate the film but number 1,come on! Also no MASH,no Lost in America,no What About Bob? no Bringing Up Baby?
Not as atrocious as the recent 100 songs list but still a very poor list. And any 100 greatest comedy films list that doesn't include Clueless is not to be taken seriously. And where is Happiness, Love Me Tonight, Singin' in the Rain, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and Welcome to the Dollhouse? A joke.
Team America is much funnier than Ghostbusters.. Anchorman, also, definitely top 10 IF YOU HAVE SMOKED AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF CRACK COCAINE.
Ghostbusters is the best action/comedy to ever grace the silver screen. It is a work of comedic art, true genius, and should be in the top 5 of this list, if not top 3. That is all.
Baseketball?
REALLY?!
Any semblance of respectability goes out of the window with that dross there.
And this is coming from someone who absolutely loves South Park, Team America & The Book of Mormon!
The Annie Hall quote is not actually Woody Allen's, and he mentions that in the film.
The snubbing of the better side of Apatow Productions in this list is disgraceful.
A mockumentary? Really? I hate bloated, self-aggrandizing deadpan bs. Comedies are supposed to be funny.
List is rubbish. It includes Elf, Dodgeball, GalaxyQuest, etc, but leaves out many others far more deserving such as Idiocracy.
Fantastic that Monty Python is in the top 10 twice. Fantastic. I'm a little sad that StepBrothers isn't on the list, though (unless I missed it?).
This was rather awkward way to try to see if my movie is in there but I love the movie "Real Genius" with a teenage Val Kilmer.
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