Comments on: Comments on 2119

Post number 2119

wendell — Tue, 13 Jun 2000 23:16:27 -0800

"Well, nobody's perfect..." Men in Skirts honored by #1 and #2 in AFI's all-time best movie comedies list ("Some Like It Hot" and "Tootsie") Nuclear War got #3 ("Dr. Strangelove"). So what would the MeFi Top 100 Comedies look like?

By: aaron

aaron — Tue, 13 Jun 2000 23:26:26 -0800

Blues Brothers.

Broadcast News.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Tue, 13 Jun 2000 23:31:12 -0800

Two words: Spinal Tap.

By: Ezrael

Ezrael — Tue, 13 Jun 2000 23:53:51 -0800

Well, I'm a big fan of the Monty Python films, especially The Meaning of Life and Life of Brian. I also liked Waiting for Guffman.

By: m.polo

m.polo — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 04:35:26 -0800

Three little words: Bringing Up Baby.

By: plinth

plinth — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 06:10:19 -0800

Kind Hearts and Coronets

By: harmful

harmful — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 06:12:40 -0800

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead would seem appropriately self-referential. At least, I think I'd classify it as a comedy.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 06:26:40 -0800

When Harry Met Sally This is Spinal Tap The Princess Bride Joe vs the Volcano Monty Python and the Holy Grail Duck Soup (actually all Marx Bros movies) Clerks Go Time Bandits Buckaroo Banzai Fargo Doctor Strangelove Running Scared Pulp Fiction Back to the Future 1-3 Lovesick My Bodyguard A Clockwork Orange Annie Hall Attack of the Killer Tomatoes The Great Dictator Shakespeare In Love Young Frankenstein L.A. Story Run Lola Run (I thought it was funny) Galaxy Quest (hey it was funny!) Erik the Viking Groundhog Day Fisher King Big Trouble in Little China Noises Off Baron Munchausen City Slickers Kindegarten Cop About Last Night Hardware Wars Godzilla vs Bambi George Lucas in Love ...and anything spoofed by Mystery Science Theater 3K

By: tiaka

tiaka — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 06:35:10 -0800

I was, and this is very uncommon of me, channel searching, and there was the AFI thing. I saw it half-way though, reading the results now. Dr. Strangelove #3. YES! I would place it in first place, but 3's ok. And - KUBRICK IS GOD. so there. end of post.

By: corpse

corpse — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 06:36:26 -0800

EVIL DEAD, EVIL DEAD 2, ARMY OF DARKNESS

By: holgate

holgate — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 06:37:59 -0800

The top 100 list is all US films, so here are a few of my favourite Britcoms to offset the unfunny stuff ("Moonstruck" and "Caddyshack", purlease...): The Lavender Hill Mob The Man in the White Suit The Ladykillers Withnail and I Gregory's Girl The Italian Job A Fish Called Wanda Kind Hears and Coronets Two-Way Stretch Carry on Cleo ("Infamy, infamy: they've all got it in for me!") And yeah, I like "Sleeper" lots and lots.

By: holgate

holgate — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 06:40:04 -0800

And, for Euro-ponce value: "Cyrano de Bergerac" with Gerard Depardieu is bloody funny. (And surprisingly, "Roxanne" and "The Man With Two Brains" don't make it to the AFI list: now that's disgusting.)

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 06:41:04 -0800

I purposefully made the above list (in no particular order) before looking at the link. In some cases I agree with them. But Fast Times at Ridgemont High? Yuck! Clerks is infinitely better. They include The Jerk but totally disregard L.A. Story? That should be the other way around.

By: solistrato

solistrato — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 07:33:21 -0800

I second that emtion on Fast Times, Zach - while it had a few moments, it's one of the most depressing movies ever. These lists are always meaningless. And I would have put Strangelove at #1. But that's just me.

By: aaron

aaron — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 07:55:52 -0800

1941!

By: thirteen

thirteen — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 09:06:19 -0800

Rushmore.

By: holgate

holgate — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 09:10:57 -0800

Can we redirect this a little, and come up with a list of "classic comedy" films that no-one actually finds funny, but you're not allowed to admit it?

By: mmanning

mmanning — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 09:14:45 -0800

Raising Arizona is my fave comedy that most other people like. my fave that makes most other people groan (or go "huh?") is Shakes the Clown (the dolphins are in the jaccuzzi!!!).

By: grumblebee

grumblebee — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 09:17:20 -0800

I was sure that my favorites wouldn't appear on the list. Most people seem to like "idea" comedy--political comedy, parody, etc (DR STRANGELOVE), physical comedy (HARPO MARX), gag/joke comedy (GROUCHO MARX), or farce/plot comedy (BRINGING UP BABY). My favorite type of comedy is CHARACTER comedy, and I've noticed that most people don't appreciate this style the way I do. Usually, it involves odd couplings of people. My favorites are KING OF COMEDY, HOUSEKEEPING, BRINGING UP BABY (which is also a farce, but I like the character element more), MANY WOODY ALLEN FILMS (especially HANNAH AND HER SISTERS) and LOLITA (Kubrick's version--which I enjoy much more than his more political-cartoonish DR. STRANGELOVE).

By: wendell

wendell — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 09:37:33 -0800

Yeah, why "Philadelphia Story" and "Palm Beach Story" but NOT L.A. Story? Buckaroo Banzai and Killer Tomatoes were also very worthy... But my all-time never-miss-it-on-the-TV-rerun-circuit is the spy-spoof/'60s-time-capsule: The President's Analyst Why? Theodore J. "barney miller" Flicker! James Coburn NOT playing a spy! Godfrey Cambridge playing the spy! Severn "the lost alumnus of the original second city" Darden! Hippies! Gun Nuts! Future TV Stars in Small-but-funny roles! A plot device about NANOTECHNOLOGY! And the Ultimate Evil Threatening All Freedom and Humanity is THE PHONE COMPANY!

By: inviolable

inviolable — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 10:12:20 -0800

Smokey and the Bandit 1 & 2 Cannon Ball Run I think Burt Reynolds is a seriously overlooked comedian.

By: snarkout

snarkout — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 12:04:33 -0800

Bull Durham is one of the 100 greatest comedies of the century? Ummm... At least Being There and The Gold Rush beat Ghostbusters and There's Something About Mary. (I'm surprised to see The General finish so much higher than Sherlock, Jr., though I agree that it's a funnier movie.) I wish foreign films weren't disqualified. I think The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk is hellaciously funny.

By: wendell

wendell — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 14:15:55 -0800

Or we could always do the "100 Funniest Movies That Weren't SUPPOSED to Be Comedies..." Plan 9 from Outer Space is a given... Try to find some that were NOT on MST3K... And can somebody who actually SAW Battlefield Earth tell me if it qualified?

By: y6y6y6

y6y6y6 — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 18:49:53 -0800

Without comment: Time Bandits Buckaroo Banzai Christmas Vacation Caddyshack Animal House Tommy Boy Blues Brothers Big Trouble in Little China The Princess Bride There's Something About Mary

By: y6y6y6

y6y6y6 — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 19:12:29 -0800

Ew! Ew! Ew! I forgot: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

By: cCranium

cCranium — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 19:46:55 -0800

In the order I confirm them in my mind as "really funny" but not ranked beyond that. Since I agree with pretty much every movie listed, and there's still lots of room in the MeFi 100, I'll only list those I didn't see mentioned. (although I Killer Nerd. Galaxy Quest. Hackers (that was a comedy, wasn't it?) And if foreign films aren't excluded. Drunken Master 2. ...And Now For Something Completely Different (does that count as a movie? It's by far my favorite Monty Python piece)

By: wendell

wendell — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 21:27:55 -0800

Of course, Ferris Bueller and Election, if only for the "Matthew Broderick Bookends"... And for "Kathleen Turner Bookends", Romancing the Stone and Serial Mom... And somewhere, somehow, every Terry Gilliam film is SOMEBODY'S favorite comedy (though I wouldn't like to meet anyone who'd pick 12 Monkeys)... For me, Spinal Tap IS Rock and Roll... It's The Road to Utopia, not Morocco... Albert Brooks? Mother AND Defending Your Life Neither Mel Brooks nor Gene Wilder ever topped The Producers... Do documentaries count? Roger and Me And how can I forget the 8-year old Wendell begging his parents to let me stay for the second showing of the 3-hour It's a Mad Mad Mad World... "C'mon, ma, just 'til Jonathan Winters levels the gas station?"

By: aaron

aaron — Wed, 14 Jun 2000 21:53:24 -0800

Battlefield Earth.

By: pixelboy

pixelboy — Fri, 16 Jun 2000 04:34:10 -0800

1. Raising Arizona 2. the Big Lebowski 3. Harold and Maude