Edgar Wright succeeds in bringing a comic strip series to the big screen with style, and sees himself mainly helped by his actors, the design, the combat choreography, and the camera work of Bill Pope. A must see.
Filmmaker Will Gluck has made a career out of crafting surprisingly good-to-great movies that look kind of terrible, which is certainly the case with “Easy A”. The film arrived in the wake of the raunchy Apatow-influenced, male-focused films of the mid-to-late 2000s and presented a teen-centric take on “The Scarlet Letter”. But the movie consistently charms when in the wrong hands it may have induced eyerolls. This is the film that made me fall in love with Emma Stone, who is at once supremely confident and crippling self-conscious, echoing the experience of many teenagers. And also noteworthy, the world best on-screen parents played by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson.
Brendan Gleeson and writer-director Martin McDonagh teamed up for “In Bruges” in 2007, which is one of the finest comedies of the 21st century. In 2011, however, Gleeson paired up with Martin’s brother John Michael McDonagh. And instead of having a supporting role, Gleeson is the star of the film. And he proves to be a capable leading man. It’s the best kind of offensive comedy because there’s more to the film’s story than trying to incite courage.
Buddy comedies are often an excuse to let a group of white men be raunchy and sexist. So when Paul Feig’s comedy “Bridesmaid” was released in 2011, it felt like a breath of fresh air. It let women be gross, raunchy, messy and funny without turning them into two-dimensional stereotypes. Feig uses comedy to address how feelings of inadequacy will never fo away no matter how old you are. “Bridesmaids” let women be total messes without shaming them or making them a punchline. Instead it showcases the comedy behind struggling through your best friend’s wedding when you’re barely hanging on yourself.
The film is populated with many familiar faces from the ‘Apatow Bro Comedy’ era, but they’re all playing a version of themselves on the eye of the apocalypse. It’s a brilliant yet risky hook, but it works so well.
Compared to “Hot Fuzz” and “Shaun of the Dead”, “The World's End” feels much more self-contained. This is mainly because there's a much higher tempo in the film, mainly created by a load of energetic action scenes. The fact that “The World's End” has become a bit messier as a result, is not at all seen as negative by the combination of the faint but intelligent British humor and the wonderfully immature Simon Pegg and Hulky angry Nick Frost. Combine this with solid directing by Edgar Wright and you have one of the best comedies ever made.
Director Nicholas Stoller succeeds very well and delivers on a few silly jokes after an excellent comedy that makes the viewer think. The underlying message of the film causes “Neighbors” to rise above the average comedy.
Wes Anderson’s entire filmography is fantastic and solid. And all embued with a certain subtle humor. But as far as comedy goes, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” raises things to the next level by putting the outrageous M. Gustave front and center. The humor in most of Anderson’s other films might be described as a gentle simmer, “The Grand Budapest” is a rolling boil. I never thought Ralph Fiennes could be this funny.
This vampire mockumentary is clever, creative, and insanely funny. It’s bursting at the seams with ideas, and the obvious signs of its shoestring budget somehow only add to the film’s charm. “What We Do in the Shadows” didn’t just bring Taika Waititi to international attention, it made vampires cool again after they got thoroughly de-fanged by the “Twilight”- franchise. “What We Do in the Shadows” is the sort of comedy that, quite like a vampire, never really gets old.
“The Lego Movie” is a much better film than its name suggests. In fact, this is an animated film that can compete with and sometimes even exceed the classics of Disney and Pixar. It's a very smart film with a lot of humor, which also has a great design.
If candy-coated sentiments about ‘love is blind’ and whatnot have ever left you rolling your eyes to the heavens or vaguely itching to punch someone in the mouth, “The Lobster” is the movie for you. Yorgos Lanthiamos’ sci-fi satire on societal norms and genuinely insane lengths to which many of us will go in the service of appearing ‘normal’ is bleak, bitter, and if you’re in the right mind frame, really fucking funny.
“Hunt for the Wilderpeople” is one of those everything movies that packs basically every human emotion into less than two hours. It’s undeniably sweet, at times sad enough to give your heartstrings a good twang, and its robust sense of humor has something for everyone. there are jokes about “Lord of the Rings” and “Terminator”, a delightful hokey birthday song, and a manic conspiracy theorist who calls himself Psycho Sam and likes to pretend he’s a tree. If you are not charmed by this film then your heart is made out of stone. I’m officially a fan of director Taika Waititi.
“The Nice Guys” is, hands down, one of the best and funniest films Shane Black has made (“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” is still the best). Neither Ryan Golsing nor Russell Crowe is particularly known as a comedic actor, but they play off each other masterfully here.
Combine R-rated comedy raunch with the most successful genre of the 2010s and you get “Deadpool”, one of the highest-grossing R-rated films of all time. The film’s self-refirential screenplay and visual style cop to the fact that it’s a superhero movie made on a much smaller budget, but Ryan Reynolds’ pitch-perfect casting goes a long way. “Deadpool” is able to take the ‘superhero movie’ in directions others can’t simply because its lead character knows he’s in a superhero movie.
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has consistently taken a certain approach to storytelling ever since “Iron man”, but Taika Waititi’s delightful MCU debut is the only one that feels like it could honestly be classified first and foremost as a comedy film. It’s a goddamn delight from start to finish (and Taika Waititi is on this list 3 times).
Simply put, Armando Ianucci makes clever commentary about the depths of human stupidity. In other words, he’t the hero we deserve and the one we need right now. “The Death of Stalin” is set in the mid-50s, USSR and is downright hilarious.
The trials and tribulations of being a female adolescent have had something of a screen renaissance as of late. Greta Gerwig’s directorial debur “Lady Bird” is easily among the most beloved thus far, and for good reason. Featuring the always excellent Saoirse Ronan front and center as Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson, the film is the sort of dramedy where the comedic and dramatic elements work in perfect sync to heighten each other by contrast.
Where to begin it “Paddington 2”, a magical, wonderful bear and one of the purest forces for good our world has ever known. His comedic charms delighted in the first film, but the sequel is really where this series took off, where it found its footing and won our hearts. “Paddington 2” is a genuine showstopper.
Debatably the most surprising film on the list, “Game Night” looked like and underwhelming attempt at dull, forgettable comedy. But directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein apparently had us all fooled. A perfect stage for Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams’ blunt brand of realist comedy. Although, Jesse Plemons’ timeless creppy performance might be the most memorable aspect, which is saying a lot for a movie that inspires belly laughs multiple times a minute.
Humor is subjective and as far as filmmakers go, few people evidence this simple truth more than Yorgos Lanthiamos. With bone-dry wit and flat affect. If you like him, you love him and if you don’t you find all of his movies utterly strange. But to those who do enjoy him, Lanthimos’ take on the notoriously buttoned-up world of British royalty, is the perfect film.
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