"Well, nobody's perfect..."

June 13, 2000 11:16 PM

"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?
posted by wendell (28 comments total)

Two words:

Spinal Tap.
posted by mathowie at 11:31 PM on June 13, 2000

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.
posted by Ezrael at 11:53 PM on June 13, 2000

Three little words: Bringing Up Baby.
posted by m.polo at 4:35 AM on June 14, 2000

Kind Hearts and Coronets
posted by plinth at 6:10 AM on June 14, 2000

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead would seem appropriately self-referential. At least, I think I'd classify it as a comedy.
posted by harmful at 6:12 AM on June 14, 2000

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
posted by ZachsMind at 6:26 AM on June 14, 2000

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.
posted by tiaka at 6:35 AM on June 14, 2000

EVIL DEAD, EVIL DEAD 2, ARMY OF DARKNESS
posted by corpse at 6:36 AM on June 14, 2000

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.
posted by holgate at 6:37 AM on June 14, 2000

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.)
posted by holgate at 6:40 AM on June 14, 2000

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.
posted by ZachsMind at 6:41 AM on June 14, 2000

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.
posted by solistrato at 7:33 AM on June 14, 2000

1941!
posted by aaron at 7:55 AM on June 14, 2000

Rushmore.
posted by thirteen at 9:06 AM on June 14, 2000

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?
posted by holgate at 9:10 AM on June 14, 2000

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!!!).
posted by mmanning at 9:14 AM on June 14, 2000

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).
posted by grumblebee at 9:17 AM on June 14, 2000

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!

posted by wendell at 9:37 AM on June 14, 2000

Smokey and the Bandit 1 & 2
Cannon Ball Run

I think Burt Reynolds is a seriously overlooked comedian.
posted by inviolable at 10:12 AM on June 14, 2000

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.
posted by snarkout at 12:04 PM on June 14, 2000

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?
posted by wendell at 2:15 PM on June 14, 2000

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
posted by y6y6y6 at 6:49 PM on June 14, 2000

Ew! Ew! Ew! I forgot:

Ferris Bueller's Day Off
posted by y6y6y6 at 7:12 PM on June 14, 2000

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)

posted by cCranium at 7:46 PM on June 14, 2000

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?"
posted by wendell at 9:27 PM on June 14, 2000

Battlefield Earth.
posted by aaron at 9:53 PM on June 14, 2000

1. Raising Arizona

2. the Big Lebowski

3. Harold and Maude





posted by pixelboy at 4:34 AM on June 16, 2000