The 30 Best Comedy Movies Ever Made

The 30 Best Comedy Movies Ever Made Comedy is the hardest genre to get right and the easiest to get wrong. Drama can coast on a good performance. Horror can lean on a jump scare. Comedy has one job: make you laugh. And if it doesn't, nothing else matters. The best comedies don't just land jokes - they create worlds you want to live in, characters you want to quote forever, and moments that get funnier on every rewatch. This list leans towards films that are still funny today. Some sacred cows have been left off because they haven't aged well. Some recent films are ranked higher than classics because they're simply funnier. Come at us. 30. Bridesmaids (2011) Kristen Wiig and the ensemble cast proved that women-led comedy could gross $300 million and be genuinely, explosively funny. The food poisoning scene in the bridal shop is a masterwork of escalating horror. Melissa McCarthy's Megan steals every scene she's in - the plane sequence alone launched her to stardom. Paul Feig directed with perfect comic timing, knowing exactly when to let the camera linger on a face. 29. The Nice Guys (2016) Shane Black's 1970s LA detective comedy with Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe is criminally underseen. Gosling's physical comedy - the bathroom stall, the ankle gun, the dead body discovery - reveals a comedic talent that his pretty-boy roles never hinted at. Crowe is the perfect straight man. The fact that this didn't get a sequel is one of Hollywood's great modern tragedies. 28. Best in Show (2000) Christopher Guest's mockumentary about a dog show is so perfectly observed that actual dog show people reportedly couldn't tell it was satire. Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara as the couple with "two left feet" are heartbreaking and hilarious. Fred Willard's commentary is some of the best improvised work in comedy history. "How much do you think I can bench?" said to no one, about nothing, for no reason. 27. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) Wes Anderson's most narratively satisfying film is also his funniest. Ralph Fiennes as Gustave H. delivers every line with the timing of a Swiss clock - "She was dynamite in the sack, by the way" lands because Fiennes plays it completely straight. The chase down the ski slope, the prison escape, the painting swap - Anderson turns screwball energy into something architecturally precise. 26. Shaun of the Dead (2004) Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost made a zombie film that's also a romantic comedy that's also a meditation on arrested male development, and it's hilarious from start to finish. The "Don't Stop Me Now" pub fight is one of the greatest comedic set pieces of the 2000s. The fence-jumping gag. The plan on the whiteboard. It works as horror, it works as comedy, and the emotional gut-punch at the end earns real tears. 25. Dumb and Dumber (1994) Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels at their most unhinged. The Farrelly Brothers built an entire film around two genuinely stupid people, and the commitment to that stupidity is what makes it work. The bathroom scene. "So you're telling me there's a chance." The dead parakeet. Daniels matches Carrey beat for beat, which is a feat almost no one else has managed. It's lowbrow comedy executed with highbrow precision. 24. Borat (2006) Sacha Baron Cohen's Kazakh journalist is the most effective satirical creation of the 21st century. The dinner party. The running of the Jew. The naked hotel fight. Cohen puts himself in genuinely dangerous situations to expose the casual prejudice lurking beneath American politeness, and the results are both excruciating and hysterically funny. The Pamela Anderson kidnapping was so convincing that security genuinely tried to stop filming. 23. The Big Lebowski (1998) The Coen Brothers made a Raymond Chandler mystery where the detective is a stoned bowler in a bathrobe and the case makes no sense. Jeff Bridges' Dude is an icon of slacker philosophy - "The Dude abides" has become a genuine life motto for millions. John Goodman's Walter is one of the great comic creations, turning every conversation into Vietnam. The bowling dream sequence is Busby Berkeley on acid. It bombed on release. It's now the most quoted film of its generation. 22. In Bruges (2008) Martin McDonagh's debut is technically a crime film, but it's so funny it earns its place here. Colin Farrell doesn't want to be in Bruges. Brendan Gleeson loves it. Ralph Fiennes shows up with murderous intent and impeccable manners. The dialogue is so sharp that every line could be someone's favourite quote. "One gay beer for my gay friend, and one normal beer for me because I am normal." It's also genuinely moving, which it has no right to be. 21. Groundhog Day (1993) Bill Murray reliving the same day forever. Harold Ramis took a high-concept premise and used it to tell a story about becoming a better person, and Murray - at his most sardonic and eventually his most tender - carries every iteration. The ice sculpture. The Jeopardy scene. The suicide montage played for laughs. It's a comedy that becomes philosophical without ever stopping being funny. The structure has been copied endlessly and never matched. 20. This Is Spinal Tap (1984) Rob Reiner invented the mockumentary and nobody's topped it in forty years. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer as the world's loudest band improvised most of their dialogue, and every scene produces a new quotable moment. "These go to eleven." The Stonehenge debacle. The bread-sized stage. Real rock bands have confirmed they've lived through versions of everything in this film, which is the highest compliment a satire can receive. 19. Superbad (2007) Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote this when they were thirteen, and that teenage authenticity is what makes it sing. Jonah Hill and Michael Cera's friendship is the genuine emotional core - the sleeping bag scene at the end is surprisingly moving. McLovin became a cultural phenomenon. The cops (Rogen and Bill Hader) get their own parallel comedy film within the film. It's the definitive coming-of-age comedy of its generation. 18. Ghostbusters (1984) Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson hunting ghosts in New York. Ivan Reitman directed what is essentially a workplace comedy where the workplace involves proton packs and a giant marshmallow man. Murray's Peter Venkman is the sarcastic heart of the film - he treats ghosts with the same disinterest he treats everything else. "Back off, man. I'm a scientist." The library ghost. The fridge. The keymaster. Perfection. Think you know your comedy classics? Test yourself with our Ultimate Movie Trivia Card Pack - 500+ questions for £3.99. 17. The Hangover (2009) Todd Phillips' Las Vegas blackout comedy shouldn't have worked this well. Zach Galifianakis as Alan Garner is a comedy creation for the ages - infantile, dangerous, and oddly loveable. The tiger in the bathroom. Mike Tyson singing Phil Collins. The baby on the roof. The end credits photo montage fills in the blanks and makes the whole thing funnier retroactively. The sequels proved that lightning doesn't strike twice, let alone three times. 16. Annie Hall (1977) Woody Allen's neurotic New York romance essentially invented the modern romantic comedy. The lobster scene, the split-screen therapy session, the subtitled balcony conversation - Allen broke every rule of filmmaking and the result feels completely natural. Diane Keaton is luminous and funny in equal measure. Love it or hate Allen, this film's influence on every comedy about relationships that followed is undeniable. 15. Blazing Saddles (1974) Mel Brooks took every Western convention, set them on fire, and danced around the flames. Cleavon Little as the Black sheriff of a racist frontier town is a performance of incredible coolness, and Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid is his perfect partner. The campfire beans scene. The fourth-wall demolition at the end. It couldn't be made today, and that's precisely what makes it so vital to watch today. 14. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) Will Ferrell's Ron Burgundy is the comedy character of the 2000s. Adam McKay let his cast improvise extensively and the results are a stream of non-sequitur brilliance - the news team street fight, the jazz flute, "I'm in a glass case of emotion!" Steve Carell's Brick Tamland spawned an entire career pivot toward absurdist comedy. The outtakes are funnier than most finished comedies. 13. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Made for about twelve pounds and a bag of coconuts, the Pythons' Arthurian quest is the most quoted comedy in the English language. The Black Knight. The Knights Who Say Ni. The Holy Hand Grenade. The killer rabbit. The entire coconut-instead-of-horses conceit born from having no budget. Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones co-directed a film that's fifty years old and still makes teenagers howl with laughter on first viewing. 12. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) John Hughes gave Matthew Broderick the greatest sick day in cinema history and the result is a pure joy machine. The parade sequence with "Twist and Shout." The Ferrari. The fourth-wall breaks. But the secret hero is Alan Ruck's Cameron, whose arc from anxiety to liberation gives the film genuine emotional stakes. Hughes understood teenagers better than any filmmaker alive, and this is his masterpiece of wish fulfilment. 11. Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) The Pythons' religious satire is funnier, sharper, and better constructed than Holy Grail. Yes, we said it. The stoning scene. "What have the Romans ever done for us?" The spaceship. "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" sung by crucified men. It was banned, protested, and condemned by religious groups worldwide, which only proved its point about blind devotion. The fact that it's still controversial makes it timeless. 10. Dr. Strangelove (1964) Stanley Kubrick made a comedy about nuclear annihilation and it's the funniest film about the end of the world ever made. Peter Sellers plays three roles, each one a masterclass. Sterling Hayden's General Ripper is terrifyingly plausible. Slim Pickens riding the bomb is the greatest visual gag in cinema. Kubrick originally planned a serious thriller, realized the subject was inherently absurd, and pivoted to comedy. The result is satire so sharp it draws blood. 9. Step Brothers (2008) Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as forty-year-old men forced to share a bedroom when their parents marry. The premise is thin. The execution is flawless. The bunk bed collapse. The drum set. "Did we just become best friends?" The Catalina Wine Mixer. Adam McKay let Ferrell and Reilly riff and the chemistry between them is so natural that scenes feel less like performance and more like eavesdropping on actual man-children. Richard Jenkins steals the whole film as the exhausted father. 8. Airplane! (1980) The joke density in Airplane! is scientifically unmatched - roughly three gags per minute for ninety minutes, and an absurd percentage of them land. Leslie Nielsen's deadpan reinvented his career. "Don't call me Shirley." The jive-talking passengers. The inflatable autopilot. Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers created the spoof genre and then retired it because nobody else could match this pace. Every frame has a sight gag you missed the first ten times. 7. The Princess Bride (1987) Rob Reiner's fairy tale adventure is the most perfectly quotable film ever made. "As you wish." "Inconceivable!" "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya." Mandy Patinkin, Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Billy Crystal, Andre the Giant - every cast member is operating at peak charm. It's simultaneously a genuine romance, a genuine adventure, and a gentle parody of both. Children love it. Adults love it more. It only gets better with age. 6. Some Like It Hot (1959) Billy Wilder's cross-dressing comedy with Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe is the oldest film on this list and still one of the funniest. Lemmon in full drag, being pursued by a millionaire, doing a tango, and loving every second of it, is comedy acting at its highest level. Monroe is incandescent. The final line - "Well, nobody's perfect" - is the greatest punchline in cinema history. 5. Coming to America (1988) Eddie Murphy at his absolute peak. Playing an African prince who moves to Queens to find a wife, Murphy also plays four additional characters in the barbershop scenes, each one a fully realised comic creation. Arsenio Hall matches him beat for beat. The barbershop arguments, the Soul Glo commercial, James Earl Jones as the king - John Landis directed a film that's warm, funny, and bursting with charisma in every frame. 4. Withnail and I (1987) Bruce Robinson's semi-autobiographical tale of two unemployed actors in 1960s London is the greatest British comedy ever made. Richard E. Grant's Withnail - perpetually drunk, perpetually outraged, perpetually magnificent - delivers every line like Shakespeare. "We want the finest wines available to humanity." The Penrith tea rooms. Uncle Monty. The final speech in the rain to the wolves. It's a comedy about friendship, failure, and the end of youth, and it's devastating. 3. The Apartment (1960) Billy Wilder again, because he was the best. Jack Lemmon lends his apartment to executives for their affairs in exchange for career advancement, and Shirley MacLaine is the elevator operator he's falling for. It's a comedy that's also a sharp critique of corporate America and toxic masculinity decades before the term existed. Lemmon straining spaghetti through a tennis racket is the perfect visual metaphor for a man making do with the wrong tools. It won Best Picture. It deserved it. 2. Life of Brian (1979) Already covered above. We're putting it at number two and number eleven because it's that good and because we can. Fine. The real number two is... 2. Airplane! (1980) Also already covered. The real number two is Monty Python's Life of Brian. The real number one is: 1. Some Like It Hot (1959) We toyed with putting a modern film at number one because there's always pressure to prove you're current. But we can't lie. Billy Wilder's film about two musicians hiding from the mob in an all-girl band is the funniest, most perfectly constructed comedy ever made. Every scene builds on the last. Every joke lands. Curtis and Lemmon are the greatest comedy duo that only made one film together. Monroe transcends the material. And that last line - delivered by Joe E. Brown with total sincerity - is the perfect ending to the perfect comedy. Nobody's topped it in sixty-seven years. Nobody will. Honourable mentions: Trading Places, Hot Fuzz, Mean Girls, The Producers, Caddyshack, and every Christopher Guest film ever made.