TheQuietAct at 2012-07-17 18:28:54:
THE HANGOVER (1) - Award for biggest surprise in film history= The trailer was a teaser! TRADING PLACES- No matter how many times I watch it, I still root for Louis. Comedy Genius. JUNO-I'm a planet! Pregnant Teenage Angst. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE- Could have gone horribly wrong, if Granpaw had made it. THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY- He he, she thinks it's gel. BRIDGET JONES- The P.J.s. The inept cooking.The juvenile friends, just like ours. Plus turns out when beautiful film stars put on weight, they can get chipmunk fat too. What is not to love? SHREK- My friend's kid recently saw Shrek 1, having already seen the rest of the series. She cried. Her lament? "Why wasn't Fiona GREEN?" Lesson- context creates story. FINDING NEMO- I laughed like a whale anyways. Comedy Drama Underwater Road Trip/ Thriller. INTERMISSION- Comedy Heist,or "How to make savoury tea". SOME LIKE IT HOT-Is it the characters, the acting, the set-up or Marilyn Monroe? Or men in hosiery? Some things are just always funny. Like sausages. DELICATESSAN- French comedy. I haven't watched this in years, last time I did the film looked a little lacklustre compared to my memory but the story is still filled with brilliant dark humour. SsswwChop! GROUNDHOG DAY... ok I'll stop now. No now, no now. No now... Austin Powers, Meet the Parents, Shallow Hal, East is East, Clueless?
TheQuietAct at 2012-07-17 18:35:23:
AMERICAN PIE! Can't believe I forgot the Pie
Scott Squires at 2012-07-17 18:48:22:
In addition: MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN AIRPLANE! GHOSTBUSTERS NATION LAMPOON VACATION AFI has a top 100 comedy list http://www.afi.com/100years/laughs.aspx
plinytheelder_t at 2012-07-17 19:00:50:
Duck Soup Some Like it Hot The Producers MASH Blazing Saddles/Young Frankenstein Life of Brian Annie Hall/Love and Death Trading Places When Harry met Sally South Park, The Movie Bad Santa
Mike Ohrenberger at 2012-07-17 19:11:56:
The Hangover Forgetting Sarah Marshall Annie Hall Kicking and Screaming (1995 Noah Baumbach) Funny People Monty Python Holy Grail A good read is "Fuck Buddies" by Liz Meriweather... it was top of the 2008 Blacklist and it is interesting seeing what went wrong from script to screen (in my opinion, Natalie Portman) Also maybe a bit of KISS KISS BANG BANG... good study in crossing/parodying genres.
Jordan Paige at 2012-07-17 19:16:32:
I think most Monty Python movies are excellent pieces to study, especially for post modern comedy as they essentially built the foundations. Life of Brian is my favorite, personally. Also, every Gene Wilder movie... Except Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I find that movie horribly creepy. I second: American Pie Young Frankenstein/Blazing Saddles Life of Brian/Holy Grail Ghostbusters National Lampoon Vacation AND Christmas Finding Nemo There's Something About Mary The Hangover Some Like it Hot I might also suggest: Knocked Up or 40-Year Old Virgin The Princess Bride Super Troopers Pineapple Express --> ESPECIALLY if we can delve into action-comedy territory with this list.
Amanda Pendolino at 2012-07-17 19:19:19:
THE PHILADELPHIA STORY ANNIE HALL BRIDGET JONES' DIARY WORKING GIRL WAYNE'S WORLD CLUELESS SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH THE PRINCESS BRIDE ROMANCING THE STONE ELECTION THE APARTMENT JUNO THE GRADUATE HOME ALONE AMERICAN GRAFFITI
TheRealKevMcDev at 2012-07-17 19:38:26:
Excuse the quantity, but I couldn't convince myself any of these were less than perfect movies... Modern Times Wet Hot American Summer Annie Hall After Hours Anchorman The Royal Tenenbaums Caddyshack Back to the Future Animal House Ferris Bueller's Day Off Duck Soup Superbad The 40 Year Old Virgin The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! Clerks The Foot Fist Way Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-17 20:40:16:
I feel like "10 Movies You Must See" is secretly masking a request for two different lists: 1. 10 Movies You Must See to be able to TALK business about the genre (e.g., at a pitch meeting) 2. 10 Movies You Must See to be able to understand and write in the genre The first list skews recent, blockbuster, and American*. The second list is much wider. I'm no insider, so I'm not in a good position to commend on criteria for the first list (but I'm hoping Scott and others may weigh in). *Notable exceptions of international films that should be on the first list (and the second): Of the nine international films that grossed more than $20 million in the US, three were comedies-- Life is Beautiful (1997), at $57,563,264 Amelie (2001), at $33,225,499 La Cage Aux Folles (1978), at $20,424,259 (via Kottke) [La Cage Aux Folles also bundles well with the Trifecta of American cross-dressing comedies: Some Like it Hot (1959) Tootsie (1982) Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)] As for the second list, I'm still working mine up, but unquestionably #1 on my list is The Dinner Game (1998), by the writer-director of La Cage Aux Folles, Francis Veber. The movie is a master-class in the structure of comedy, or at least a key structural component: establish a pattern, break a pattern, escalate/raise the stakes. . . . I have a personal soft spot for a certain style of ensemble cast comedy, and I'm wondering if there's an industry term for it, and if it's a recognized subgenre. They may technically be dramedies, but there's also a unifying theme to them of a group of people banding together against the odds to accomplish a high-stakes impossible goal, those little-engine-that-could, underdog-with-a-heart comedies. -- A collection of them are sports comedies: - Slap Shot (1977) - The Bad News Bears (1976) - Cool Runnings (1993) --they can also be "putting the band (back) together movies": - The Commitments (1991) - Still Crazy (1998) --and there was a period where the UK was churning them out: - Waking Ned Devine (1998) - Greenfingers (2000) - Saving Grace (2000) - Calendar Girls (2003) - Kinky Boots (2005) -- and some good examples from outside the US & UK include: - La grande séduction / Seducing Dr. Lewis (2003, Canada) - Allt flyter / The Swimsuit Edition (2008, Sweden) Is there a name for this subset of comedy? (And, if they perform well on the spec market, is there any merit in looking at this as a subgenre?)
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-17 20:40:59:
Ah! Bolding run amok. Sorry.
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-17 20:45:36:
> Or men in hosiery? Some things are just always funny. Men in drag is comedy gold. It worked for Shakespeare and it works today. I'm a fan of Delicatessen, too. Have you seen any of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's other films? Micmacs (2009) is good, but his zenith in my books is The City of Lost Children (1995), very much in the same vein as Delicatessen, and with an amazing performance from Ron Perlman.
Michaela Karen Apruzzese at 2012-07-17 20:46:01:
Tootsie When Harry Met Sally The Hangover Groundhog Day Big Four Weddings and a Funeral Some like it hot Annie Hall As Good As It Gets Knocked Up
chrisoakes at 2012-07-17 21:46:52:
Once again, lots of cross-genre controversy. Tootsie? Sleepless? Working Girl? I must second: Home Alone Some Like It Hot Trading Places The Hangover Borderline: Tommy Boy was pretty funny. Bridesmaids was a game-changer.
Kenneth Kleemann at 2012-07-17 23:23:07:
The Life Of Brian Duck Soup The Fatal Glass of Beer The Dentist Airplane Monty Python's The Meaning Of LIfe Doctor Strangelove
Brandon Cohen at 2012-07-17 23:59:10:
Airplane Wet Hot American Summer Swingers Old School Billy Madison / Happy Gilmore Me, Myself and Irene Bad Santa The 40 Year Old Virgin Knocked Up Borat Groundhog Day Dumb and Dumber Office Space Superbad
Adam Chilton at 2012-07-18 00:29:35:
I'm surprised no one mentioned "Bringing Up Baby" Great movie with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. Talk about genre essentials. In my mind, it set the tone and structure for most comedies that came after it. Interesting fact about the movie from IMDB, the original screenplay clocked in at 202 pages!
Sean Z P Harris at 2012-07-18 01:49:02:
Clerks Trading Places Ghostbusters Some Like it Hot Big Horrible Bosses Airplane! Arsenic and Old Lace The Apartment Groundhog Day
Scott at 2012-07-18 03:25:09:
Wow, these are some great suggestions. Almost every title I read made me want to watch that movie right NOW! Great suggestions!
Anthony Jackson at 2012-07-18 03:39:35:
Airplane! "Shirley you can't be serious?" "I am serious. And don't call me Shirley." Dumb and Dumber "What's the soup du jour?" "It's the soup of the day." "Mmm. That sounds good. I think I'll have that." Caddyshack "I want you to kill every gopher on the course!" "Check me if I'm wrong Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers, they're gonna lock me up and throw away the key..." "Gophers, ya great git! The gophers! The little brown furry rodents!" "We can do that; we don't even have to have a reason." In Bruges "What's an ice cream man doing knowing fucking kung fu!" Happy Gilmore "Can I trouble you for a glass of warm milk?" "You can trouble me for a glass of shut the hell up. Now you will go to sleep or I will put you to sleep. Check out the name tage. You're in my world now grandma!" Groundhog Day " was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over, and over, and over..." Anchorman "They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time." Dr Strangelove "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room." Some Like It Hot "Real diamonds! They must be worth their weight in gold!" When Harry Met Sally "There are two kinds of women: high maintenance and low maintenance." "Which one am I?" "You're the worst kind; you're high maintenance but you think you're low maintenance."
David Komer at 2012-07-18 04:01:07:
I have no idea if these are ever brought up in meetings... but some personal fav's in a top 23 (and I cheated to get it down to that, but the groupings make sense to me... and on further thought I might switch some of 'em around): 1) Back to School & Caddyshack (Rodney Dangerfield) 2) Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, Wedding Singer (Adam Sandler) 3) Three Amigos 4) Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Something about Mary, Flirting with Disaster, Tropic Thunder (Ben Stiller) 5) The Princess Bride 6) Spaceballs & Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks) 7) UHF 8) Tenacious D, Year One (Jack Black) 9) Now for something completely different / Holy Grail (Monty Python) 10) Pineapple Express, Zombieland, Rush Hour 11) Naked Gun, Police Academy, Super Troopers 13) Half Baked 14) The Toy & Trading Places (Richard Pryor) 15) The Hangover 16) Blankman, Meteorman 17) Superbad & American Pie 18) Mallrats & Dogma (Clerks and Chasing Amy had their moments too) 19) Stir Crazy, The Frisco Kid (Gene Wilder) 20) Crazy People 21) Waynes World (and other SNLish spinoffs- I'd count Tommy Boy and Anchorman here too) 22) National Lampoon (Chevy Chase), Animal House 23) Office Space
David Komer at 2012-07-18 04:09:01:
Ooh... I skipped a number- Biodome, Encino Man (Pauly Shore) And I'd also add Baseketball, Team America, Orgasmo (Trey Parker/Matt Stone) To bring it to a clean 25, I'd put in the spoof types (Scary Movie, etc.) Though I see I don't really have older B&W movies on here... :\
David Joyner at 2012-07-18 06:25:13:
Duck Soup (1933) Dr Strangelove (1964) The Graduate (1967) Blazing Saddles (1974) Annie Hall (1977) Monty Python Life of Brian (1979) Airplane (1980) Mr and Mrs Smith (2005) Ratatouille (2007) In Bruges (2008) That's 10 but there are too many good movies in this category!
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 07:45:30:
This list probably won't help you in pitch meetings, but it's a great viewing list for comedy screenwriters: Any comedy by French writer-director Francis Veber (in addition to the already listed La Cage Aux Folles and The Dinner Game) - at his best, he's on a par with Billy Wilder; try to find the French originals rather than the many American remakes The films of writer-director Jean-Pierre Jeunet Un Air de Famille / Family Resembles (1996) - and any other comedy by actor/writer/director Agnès Jaoui--very small-scale, intimate, character-driven comedy; also, The Taste of Others* (2000) 3 hommes et un couffin* (1985, France) The King of Hearts (1965, France) Highway 61 (1991, Canada) - best portrayal of Satan on film Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006, Canada) by Alex Epstein Strictly Ballroom (1992, Australia) The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994, Australia) Shall We Dance? (1996, Japan) Tampopo (1985, Japan) Battle Royale (2000, Japan) Eat Drink Man Woman* (Taiwan, 1994) My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (2002, Hong Kong) As It is in Heaven* (2004, Sweden) Pauline and Paulette (2001, Belgium) Jacob, the Liar* (1976, Germany) Mostly Martha (2001, Germany) Adam's Apples (2005, Denmark) *Academy Award Foreign Film Nominee
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 08:05:46:
Thank you for the AFI link, Scott. What a goldmine! The AMC Filmsite has some great commentary about the AFI list: - Woody Allen and Billy Wilder both wrote five films in the top 100, and they both had the most nominations with 11 each. Billy Wilder also directed three of the top 100 comedies: Some Like It Hot (# 1), The Apartment (# 20), and The Seven Year Itch (# 51). - Actors appearing in the most films were: * Cary Grant, with eight films (none in the top 10), the Marx Brothers and Woody Allen with five each, Spencer Tracy, Charlie Chaplin, and Bill Murray with four each * Peter Sellers was represented by three films: Dr. Strangelove (# 3), Being There (# 26), and A Shot in the Dark (# 48) * Katharine Hepburn won the title as the most represented actress on the list with four films * Marilyn Monroe, Myrna Loy, Rosalind Russell, and Robin Williams were each represented by two films * Dustin Hoffman also had two films on the list, but both made the top 10 -- Tootsie (2nd) and The Graduate (9th) - Danny Kaye, W.C. Fields, Laurel & Hardy, Jerry Lewis, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin and Mae West only made the list once - In the list of 500 nominated films, Cary Grant was the most represented actor with 17 films, and Myrna Loy was the most represented actress with 10 films. Jack Lemmon (at the time of the survey) was the most represented living actor with 14 films, and Shirley MacLaine was the most represented living actress with nine movies. - Ruth Gordon co-wrote the screenplay for one film on the list -- Adam's Rib (# 22), and starred in another film -- Harold and Maude (# 45) - The 1980s were easily considered the funniest decade, claiming 22 films on the list, while the 1930s were next on the list with 19 total. The 1920s (the heyday of slapstick) and the 1990s, however, were considered unfunny -- each with a total of only five films on the list. - Unfortunately, there were no comedies from Ron Howard (e.g., Night Shift (1982), Splash (1984), Cocoon (1985), and Parenthood (1989)) or from John Hughes (e.g. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Sixteen Candles (1984), Home Alone (1990) (as producer), The Breakfast Club (1985), Weird Science (1985) and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)). A number of other great "comedy" omissions included the following (in alphabetical order): All of Me (1984) Animal Crackers (1930) Babe (1995) Bachelor Mother (1939) Back to the Future (1985) The Blues Brothers (1980) Charade (1963) A Christmas Story (1983) The Circus (1928) Clerks (1994) Dumb and Dumber (1994) Fletch (1985) Foul Play (1978) The Great Race (1965) Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) The Kid Brother (1927) Life with Father (1947) Married to the Mob (1988) Mary Poppins (1964) Midnight Run (1988) No Time for Sergeants (1958) One, Two, Three (1961) Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) Pillow Talk (1959) The Princess Bride (1987) Risky Business (1983) Romancing the Stone (1984) Sabrina (1954) Safety Last (1923) Smokey and the Bandit (1977) The Sting (1973) Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969) Toy Story (1995) Trading Places (1983) Trouble in Paradise (1932) The Truth About Cats and Dogs (1996) Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 08:32:34:
If I had to pick just one Marx Brothers movie, I might pick A Night at the Opera (1935) over Duck Soup, if only for the stateroom scene.
TheQuietAct at 2012-07-18 08:48:25:
No Shaula, I haven't seen Micmacs or the City of Lost Children but I'm going to check them out. One of my all time favourite films is Amelie (also by him), which I forgot to include but I see others online here haven't been so remiss. I also considered including Annie Hall because for years it was my favourite film but it must be two decades since I've watched it. I thought maybe it has been sugar-coated in the sentimental recesses of my memory but I'll have to check it out again now too. At the time I'm typing there's 24 comments and the lists just make me feel warm & fuzzy & want to kick back with popcorn & films all day. Tickled pink by your BOLD comments. I can't figure out how to be bold on site?
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 08:55:26:
I'm glad you're enjoying the bolding. Makes me feel moderately less mortified. When open a comment box, there's an HTML guide underneath, that shows you how to hand-code the mark-up on your comment. The tags listed are the opening tags; put the same tag at the end of the text you want to mark up but include a slash. E.g., do this for [b]bolding[/b], but use angled rather than square brackets. And...ahem...make sure to use the preview feature so you don't leave any tags open by accident. This thread has me itching for films, too...looks like it will be a movie night around here tonight. :)
David Komer at 2012-07-18 09:10:04:
Got to slip one more in... Kentucky Fried Movie B)
Traci Nell Peterson at 2012-07-18 09:25:18:
Great point, Adam. Here's some more 'back in the day' favorites of mine: Philadelphia Story (w/ Kate & Cary, not so much Grace & Bing) It Happened One Night The Lady Eve Ball of Fire Arsenic and Old Lace His Girl Friday My Favorite Wife The Awful Truth In all of these, the comedic timing ROCKS! Especially His Girl Friday--talk about rapid-fire dialogue.
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 09:54:00:
Time Out London has their own 100 Best Comedies List, that looks a little broader in scope than the AFI's list and a little more recent. Their #1 choice is... This is Spinal Tap (How has no one suggested TIST yet?)
Joan Adamaitis Agerholm at 2012-07-18 10:07:27:
Dear Scott and fellow GITSonians, We’ve lived in the BRICS countries for most of the past 15 years. So the part of the Academy Awards that we like best is when Hollywood hands out the Oscar for “Best Foreign Film” (“Foreign”? Wasn’t a Hollywood crew shooting location footage down at Red Square just last week?). Therefore, our suggested list of 10 Comedy Genre films will have an international flavor. John A + Joan A Really Funny Stuff From Afar: * From Russia: 1.) The Diamond Arm (by Leonid Gaidai – 1969). - Features the 2 comedy icons of the Soviet-era acting together in the same film: Yuri Nikulin and Andrei Mironov. 2.) The Irony of Fate, or, Enjoy Your Steam [Banya] (by Eldar Ryazanov – 1975) - In America, the Christmas tradition is to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”. In Russia, the New Year’s Eve classic everyone enjoys is “The Irony of Fate”. 3.) Mimino (by Georgi Daneliya – 1978) - A simple Georgian village delivery helicopter pilot dreams of flying the SST; moves to Moscow; then gets a job with Aeroflot. 4.) Peculiarities of the National Hunt (by Aleksandr Rogozhkin – 1995) - A Finnish man enters the fantasy world of the aristocratic Russian hunt with the Czar. 5.) Peculiarities of the National Fishing (by Aleksandr Rogozhkin – 1998) - To paraphrase historian Jacques Barzun: “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of Russia had better learn fishing.” (*note: We’re not sure this film has subtitles yet. Things take longer over here). * From India: 6.) 3 Idiots (by Rajkumar Hirani – 2009) - An incredible satire on the Indian educational system. - Another plus (for Americans): there are minimal dancing scenes! Now, Bollywood had to include some, of course, but they snuck them in ? You almost don’t even notice. * From Egypt: 7.) Al-irhab wal kabab (a.k.a. “Terrorism and B.B.Q.” - 1993) - Starring Eqypt’s top comedian, Adel Imam. This was probably his funniest film. * From France: 8.) Welcome to the Sticks (written by, and starring, Dany Boon – 2008) - This comedy is the # 1 all-time box office champion in France. * From Australia: 9.) Strictly Ballroom (by Baz Luhrmann – 1992) - Wonderful satire on the culture of the competitive ballroom dancing world and its rabid stage parents. Very funny movie. Similarities to “Dirty Dancing”. And behold – the pasodoble! - Luhrmann would go on to direct “Moulin Rouge”; “Australia”; and “Romeo & Juliet”. His take on “The Great Gatsby” premiers this December 25th. * From Japan: 10.) And if you’re a foodie, you might enjoy : Tampopo (by Juzo Itami – 1986) - This Japanese comedy features several intersecting stories where the common denominator is food. Another plus – a fascinating commentary on the inner workings of a humble noodle shop and the endless quest for quality. - Received a score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Not too shabby. Okay, okay, we know what you’re thinking: “What the hell kind of a list is this? There isn’t one British comedy on there!” Jolly right. And an excellent point – highlighting that you could easily craft a Top Ten Movie List of just British humor (or, humour, to be precise). So, to right this wrong, let’s toss a couple of productions from Great Britain into the stew for debate: * From Great Britain and Ireland: 11.) The Full Monty (1997) – the highest-grossing UK film in history at $ 257 M. - Yes, the men were great. But so was the unforgettable job interview scene with those rascal garden gnomes ? To this day, every time we pass by a ceramic lawn gnome . . . . - Trivia: actor Robert Carlyle went from playing in this male stripper comedy to the 007 flick “The World Is Not Enough” (1999), where he played the evil villain Renard. Wow. That’s range. 12.) The Italian Job (by Peter Collinson – 1969) *note: We recommend the ORIGINAL action/comedy, a UK production from 1969, featuring Michael Caine, Noel Coward, and perhaps the most unique car chase scene to ever end a movie. The REMAKE from Hollywood came out in 2003, starring Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron. 13.) Waking Ned Devine (by Kirk Jones - 1998) (an Irish movie that was filmed in the Isle of Man). - movie logline: “When a lottery winner dies of shock, his fellow townsfolk attempt to claim the money”. (Sounds perfectly reasonable to us. So where’s the problem?). Those are our recommendations. So enjoy, and before purchasing any of them for gifts, always make sure you order the correct DVD region product, so that the foreign movie will play on your DVR back home ?
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 10:10:45:
John + Joan, thank you so much for all of these recommendations. I can't wait to track them down. I feel like it's Christmas. :)
David Joyner at 2012-07-18 11:35:01:
I second "Lady Eve" and "His Girl Friday" - favorites of mine too:-)
Lynelle White at 2012-07-18 11:49:42:
I haven't seen anyone mention Ace Ventura: Pet Detective yet. I second the recommendations below: Office Space Horrible Bosses The Hangover Pee Wee's Big Adventure Little Miss Sunshine (although this seemed more than a comedy to me...a dramedy perhaps?)
Kenneth Kleemann at 2012-07-18 12:39:30:
I thought of a few more. Some Sixties movies: The Great Race Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Some early Woody Allen: Sleeper Bananas Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask Movies Carl Reiner did with Steve Martin: The Jerk Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid The Man With Two Brains
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 12:59:44:
Fantastic movies there, Adam and Traci. My own "black and white" list would be: At least one Mae West - my pick would be She Done Him Wrong (1933) but I haven't seen all her films and I'm open to suggestions At least one Hepburn-Tracy At least one Preston Sturges At least one George Cukor At least one Ernst Lubitsch At least one Frank Capra At least one Joseph L. Mankiewicz I don't know any of them well enough to pretend to be able to pick the "best" or "most representative" film, though. (As with Billy Wilder's films, I'm working on seeing all of them.) Any recommendations?
Joan Adamaitis Agerholm at 2012-07-18 13:19:15:
Dear Shaula, Thank you for your kind words. You certainly made our day! Ssshh - here's 2 more for you: 1.) Italian for Beginners (written by Lone Scherfig 2000). - It's actually a Danish film, sponsored by The Danish Film Institute. Well worth watching. A RomCom with a quest to Italy. 2.) Whiskey mit Wodka (directed by Andreas Dresen - 2009) - written by Wolfgang Kohlhasse. - really funny stuff about people in the movie business. Enjoy! John A + Joan A
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 13:23:55:
I shall, I shall! Thank you so much. :)
Mark H at 2012-07-18 13:26:59:
It's already been mentioned, but I quote it so much: Dumb & Dumber And, I haven't seen it mentioned yet: Top Secret
Chase Wrenn at 2012-07-18 16:04:19:
CLUE Any few others I would suggest have already been mentioned, but this is my absolute favorite film.
TheQuietAct at 2012-07-18 19:05:03:
Ta Missus
TheQuietAct at 2012-07-18 19:07:48:
I don't know how I did it....But I seem to have managed to bold the whole article. My angled brackets have superpowers
TheQuietAct at 2012-07-18 19:11:41:
Logging out before I do any additional damage, maybe I'll go to sleep, wake up and it will all have been a bad dream (or a software quirk).
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 21:27:52:
Welcome to my world of emboldened mortification! It makes it look like we're all very emphatic about our comedy around here! Your misstep was in placing the slash after on the wrong side. Should be like this: [/b] No harm done, so long as no one feels we're shouting at them. (And if Scott wants to fix it, he can delete that comment, or go in and fix the tag.)
Teddy Pasternak at 2012-07-18 21:38:29:
Hehehe. I did the same thing but with italics a while back.
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 21:42:13:
(This is an attempt at a makeshift fix, to put in some html to make (some) of the crazy bolding go away. Just ignore the man behind the curtain.)
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 21:58:35:
Lynelle, what I especially like about your suggestion of Little Miss Sunshine is that it was a spec script.
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 22:00:56:
You've saved us from some glaring omissions, Ken. I saw It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World not too long ago, and I still love it. I think the word "madcap" may have been coined specifically for that movie.
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 22:32:07:
I left one movie out of the landmarks of cross-dressing comedy list: Victor Victoria (1982) by Blake Edwards, Hans Hoemburg, & Reinhold Schünzel
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-18 22:40:07:
Wow, what a great comedy film collection this is turning out to be. After wracking my brains, there's just a handful of films I'm surprised haven't been listed yet: Eating Raoul (1982) by Paul Bartel & Richard Blackburn Private Benjamin (1980) by Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer, & Harvey Miller The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) by Luis Buñuel & Jean-Claude Carrière The Ruling Class (1972) by Peter Barnes Harold & Maude (1971) by Hal Ashby The Party (1968) by Blake Edwards, Tom Waldman, Frank Waldman The Nutty Professor (1963)by Jerry Lewis & Bill Richmond The Pink Panther (1963) by Maurice Richlin & Blake Edwards The Mouse that Roared (1959) by Roger MacDougall & Stanley Mann The Court Jester (1956) by Norman Panama & Melvin Frank Kind Hearts & Coronets (1949) by Robert Hamer & John Dighton The Thin Man (1934) by Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich The General (1926) by Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman, et al. The Gold Rush (1925) by Charlie Chaplin The films of French writer/director Jacques Tati Plus I'm hoping that someone may yet surface who can fill in more blanks for us with important early comedy films. Do we have anything from Fatty Arbuckle or Harold Lloyd? Laurel & Hardy, Abbot & Costello, the Three Stooges? And, of course, K-9--not yet mentioned perhaps because everyone assumes that everyone here has seen it, which is quite possibly true. (I hope so!)
Kenneth Kleemann at 2012-07-18 22:49:07:
For Laurel and Hardy I suggest The Flying Deuces. (Stan and Ollie join the Foreign Legion). For Harold Lloyd, how about Safety Last?
David Komer at 2012-07-19 02:31:09:
For spoof types, got to lump Hot Shots (and part deux) in there ;)
David Komer at 2012-07-19 02:32:15:
YES!
TheQuietAct at 2012-07-19 13:46:05:
It didn't go away Shaula. It's just getting worse.
ohai_sjay at 2012-07-19 20:09:46:
The 'Burbs Young Frankenstein Animal House O Brother Where Art Thou? Groundhog Day The Princess Bride Raising Arizona Dazed and Confused 10 Things I Hate About You Anchorman
David Joyner at 2012-07-19 20:20:18:
> At least one Preston Sturges I vote "The Lady Eve" I have about 5 or 6 of them and have watched 3 or 4 recently. IMHO, it is hard to beat the acting (Barbara Stanwick and Henry Fonda in top form) and writing in "Lady Eve" for any film, regardless of genre.
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-19 20:50:07:
Holy Cow. How are we ever going to winnow this down to a list of 10 movies? Everyone has done such a great job of building the list. I'd love to get your help on winnowing it down. I'm listing a bunch of "challenge" questions below, and if you have a strong opinion on any of them, please share your answer to those questions. Bonus points throughout if you use movies that come from other people's suggestions here. 1. The Biz List A friend comes to you with great news: she has an important meeting coming up about a comedy project with a major, big name Hollywood executive. She can watch one comedy a day for the next day days to get up to speed for the meeting. What 10 movies do you recommend she watches. Dinner's ready! More challenge questions to follow this evening...stay tuned.
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-19 21:23:40:
2. Challenge Question Surely some of these movies might be better considered in some of the upcoming discussions. (Translation: I'm punting.) - Scott's said we'll look at rom-coms in their own week, so let's pull all of those out of our list--including The Apartment, The African Queen, Harold & Maude, etc. - Can we move "dramedies" that are more drama than comedy into July 23-July 27: Drama? - We've got some Disney and Pixar films up there. Let's move those to July 30-August 3: Family, along with Home Alone. What else would be better served that week? - Princess Bride and Brazil might work better in August 6-10: Fantasy. What else? - I've wanted to suggest Shaun of the Dead (I don't think it's come up yet), but it might work better as Horror-Comedy, or some other discussion of hybrids. Is there interested in a specific look at Horror-Comedy cross-genre? And shall we put those films aside for the moment? - August 20-24: Science Fiction -- I think we can leave Men in Black, etc. for Sci Fi week, if you're good with that. - August 27-31: Thriller -- I'd say Charade goes here more than comedy. What else can we punt into Thriller week? If you have other thoughts on how to re-categorize some of the great suggestions that have come up in this thread, please share your thoughts.
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-19 21:50:23:
3. Elimination Round aka There Can Be Only One Clearly, in a list of just 10 movies, we're won't have room for more than one Woody Allen, or Cohen Brothers, or Wes Anderson, or...whoever makes your favourite comedies. So can we put our heads together and figure out what is the best and most representative comedy in a bunch of categories? It won't get the list down to 10, but it should make it much shorter. Your criteria: this film exemplifies some key element of comedy film writing and watching it will make you a better writer Please only answer where you have a strong, informed opinion--we're hoping to make the list shorter, not longer. If you want to make a pitch for why you think a film should be included and/or what we can learn from it, it may help it make the cut. Rather than fight for your 'own' films, bonus marks for supporting a suggestion that came from someone else. And if the fans of a particular artist or genre can reach a concensus among yourselves, that would be fantastic! In the following categories: -which comedy best exemplifies this artist's work/ is best to study? Pick one -There's only one seat left in the lifeboat. This artist (or category) they won't take it. What movie do you put in, in its place? Please answer those questions for the following categories (that are relevant to you): 1. Silent film era 2. Golden Age Hollywood (for our purposes let's say the advent of talkies through the 1950's, which is a cheat, but I can live with it) 3. 1990's/2000's Raunch comedy 4. Dark Comedies 5. Ensemble Cast Comedies 6. International (non-US and probably non-UK) films 7. Spoofs (the ZAZ movies, This is Spinal Tap, the Wayan Brothers, etc.) 8. Woody Allen 9. Wes Anderson 10. Mel Brooks 11. Coen Brothers 12. Adam Sandler 13. SNL alumni / National Lampoon 14. Billy Wilder 15. None of the Above I think *most* of the movies suggested fall into one of these categories. If not--please suggest a category, and the films that go in it, and make your case. Also, please remember: no rom-coms, family comedies, fantasy comedies, horror comedies, thriller comedies, or other strong cross-genres. And if you think a category is so important and viable on the spec market that it needs its own week of examination, make your case on that, too! On your marks, get set, E-LIM-IN-ATE! (Say it out loud in your best Dalek voice)
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-19 22:06:06:
My top two pics for The Biz List would be The Hangover and Bridesmaids--because they are both current, record setters, and game changers. What else would you add? And what are your criteria for the Biz list? Your friend is panicking...she's already on our 9th latte...Hurry!
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-19 22:07:20:
Animation is such a different world of filmmaking. How do you feel if we put the animated features to the side for the purposes of this discussion, too?
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-19 22:34:54:
While I wait on all y'all, I may as well put myself through this wringer. 1. Silent film era I'm agnostic. 2. Golden Age Hollywood (for our purposes let’s say the advent of talkies through the 1950?s, which is a cheat, but I can live with it) I have a gut feeling that Bringing Up Baby or The Lady Eve is going to win, but I don't have a strong vote myself. 3. 1990?s/2000?s Raunch comedy Not my cup of tea at all, but The Hangover and Bridesmaids are the obvious choices. Forced to pick just one, I'd say Bridesmaids, because in the aggregate list so far there's very few roles for women represented, especially after the rom-coms are cut. 4. Dark Comedies The Dinner Game, if I can sneak in a foreign film here. If not, hands down it's Dr. Strangelove for me, on the basis of being iconic (and fantastic, and Peter Sellers). 5. Ensemble Cast Comedies Little Miss Sunshine--because it was a Nichol Finalist and a spec script sale. Runner up: The Full Monty 6. International (non-US and probably non-UK) films La Cage Aux Folles (part 1, the French original) -- This movie for me is what The Apartment is for Scott, I think, in its own way representing the pinnacle of what can be achieved in the genre. 7. Spoofs (the ZAZ movies, This is Spinal Tap, the Wayan Brothers, etc.) Airplane!--the one that set the standard. (Kentucky Fried Movie doesn't reach this level, and the later movies...just don't have the same magic for me.) 8. Woody Allen Agnostic 9. Wes Anderson Agnostic 10. Mel Brooks The Producers. The pinnacle of his ouevre. 11. Coen Brothers Raising Arizona -- but that's a very weak vote. 12. Adam Sandler Agostic to antagonistic 13. SNL alumni / National Lampoon Groundhog Day 14. Billy Wilder The Apartment--but I think we'll want to visit that with the rom-coms. 15. None of the Above - K-9, for obvious reasons - The Ruling Class (1972) by Peter Barnes--surreal and fantastic. What category would this go in?--musical comedies? Stage Adaptations? 70's comedies? British Comedies? - The Party (1968) by Blake Edwards, Tom Waldman, and Frank Waldman. It's really tough to pick just one Peter Sellers movie (the original 1963 Pink Panther is a great film, too), but I might pick The Party, if pressed, even over Dr. Strangelove, because it is such brilliant comedy writing: strong (!) characters, physical comedy, and still funny to watch today. Also great examples of reincorporation and escalation. - Do we need a "feel good comedy category? If yes, it's a tough choice for me between The Full Monty and Kinky Boots, but I'll go for The Full Monty partly because it does such a good job of character arcs for the supporting characters, and hangs the comedy on such a strong story spine. Comedies I love that didn't make the list: - Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Harold & Maude--saving these all for Rom-Com week; - Lots of foreign films (if we can make room for one on a list of 10, I think we're doing well)
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-19 22:44:15:
Ack. I missed Tootsie! It's iconic, great writing, lots to learn from. What category would you put it in? In your mind, what movies is it up against?
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-20 02:08:09:
Hey, folks. This afternoon I tried my hand at putting together an Action Movie Biz List. What I found was...we haven't had much discussion yet on HOW to go about choosing movies to prep for a business discussion, and most of the movies I came up with wearing my business hat...weren't on our already long list of movie suggestions. I want to replicate my experiment over here, and see what kind of list it generates. My method: look at Box Office Mojo, at the top movies in terms of domestic-adjusted-for-inflation, and all-time worldwide grosses (not really in any particular order as I’m merging three lists by eyeball). My first list is just top-grossing films on the inflation-adjusted domestic that have strong comedy elements (but excluding animation or musicals). The categorization comes from BoxOfficeMojo: 1. The Graduate (comedy/drama) 2. Forrest Gump (comedy/drama) 3. Ghostbusters (horror/comedy) 4. Home Alone (family/comedy) 5. Beverly Hills Cop (action/comedy) 6. American Graffiti (period comedy) 7. Blazing Saddles 8. National Lampoon's Animal House 9. Tootsie 10. Smokey & The Bandit (action/comedy) (PS Number 12 is..It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World!) Once again...interesting list, but I don't know how well it's going to prepare our friend for a business meeting. All good scripts to study from a writing perspective, though. Second list: domestic grosses, unadjusted. This list should skew towards current movies. 1. Forrest Gump 2. Home Alone 3. Meet the Fockers 4. The Hangover 5. Bruce Almighty 6. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 7. Ghostbusters 8. Rush Hour 2 9. Mrs. Doubtfire 10. Austin Powers in Goldmember Okay...not the list I was expecting, either. Interesting. Third list: all-time Worldwide grosses. Hollywood increasingly makes significant profits in the international market, so this list is worth looking at. 1. Forrest Gump 2. MIB 3 / Men in Black 3. Meet the Fockers 4. Bruce Almighty 5. Mr. & Mrs. Smith 6. The Hangover 7. Pretty Woman 8. Mrs. Doubtfire 9. Ocean's 11 (2001) 10. True Lies Okay, I could give our friend all three lists and...I still don't feel like she'd be well-prepared for her meeting. And one pattern I'm seeing really strongly here is that there are very few "pure" comedies and lots and lots of cross-genre films.* (*Scott, can we consider looking at action-comedy, drama-comedy, and horror-comedy on their own? They're getting short shrift right now.) Back to our friend. Her career is on the line, she's itching to watch these movies, the clock is ticking...and I don't feel like we've done right by her yet. So let's look at more recent films: yearly box office for 2012, 2011, and 2010 (in no particular order): - MIB3 - Ted - Magic Mike - Bridesmaids - Horrible Bosses - Hop - Bad Teacher - Grown Ups - Little Fockers - The Other Guys Hmm. I feel like this list is going to serve her a little better. Maybe. I'm still not satisfied. How do we do a better job of this list? What are your criteria for which movies to include from a business perspective? How would you go about finding them? I look forward to your suggestions. (PS I'm making these lists fairly late at night and there are sure to be errors and omissions. Feel free to go back to the source material and look around for yourself.)
screenwrites at 2012-07-20 04:23:59:
I would like to suggest The Full Monty by Simon Beaufoy. The Full Monty is a wonderful piece of writing in terms of comic structure, specifics of the world and scenarios of people in Sheffield and of course, it is a heartfelt emotional story.
screenwrites at 2012-07-20 04:38:26:
A few years ago, I was also introduced to the film "How To Murder Your Wife" by George Axlerod (1965). The dialogue has charming comic conflict coupled with sophistication and glamour. There are so many funny moments in this film but I wanted to give a special mention to the A storyline ending mirroring the C storyline in an emotionally satisfying but surprising way.
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-20 07:27:27:
Here's a different take on compiling a Biz List. I went through the Academy Awards* (nominees and winners) going back 10 years, looking for comedy films. (If you want to win an Oscar, write a drama or a thriller, folks.) Here are the films I found: Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) Juno (2007) Little Miss Sunshine (2006) Sideways (2004) You may want to go back further for your own lists--how far do you think it's prudent to look? At any rate, I definitely want our screenwriting friend to check these out before her big meeting, too. *Why Academy Awards? Because these films are not just critically acclaimed, but everyone has heard of them and talked about them (whether they've seen them or not).
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-20 13:46:58:
Wow, David. You're clearly a comedy aficionado. That's an impressive list of 45 movies! In the spirit of helping us get the collective list down to 10...would you care to whittle that down to your absolute top 10? It's Sophie's Choice all over again, I know, I know...but do your best. Maybe start by picking the absolute best movie in each sub-list, and then pull out the rom-coms and other strong cross-genres and sub-genres, and then work from there. Here's an alphabetized list to help you out: 1. Anchorman 2. Back to School 3. Baseketball 4. Billy Madison 5. Blankman 6. Blazing Saddles 7. Caddyshack 8. Chasing Amy 9. Clerks 10. Crazy People 11. Dogma 12. Flirting with Disaster 13. Half Baked 14. Happy Gilmore 15. Hot Shots 16. Kentucky Fried Movie 17. Mallrats 18. Meet the Parents 19. Meteorman 20. Monty Python - Now for something completely different 21. Monty Python and the Holy Grail 22. Naked Gun 23. Orgasmo 24. Pineapple Express 25. Police Academy 26. Rush Hour 27. Something about Mary 28. Spaceballs 29. Stir Crazy 30. Super Troopers 31. Team America 32. Tenacious D 33. The Frisco Kid 34. The Hangover 35. The Toy 36. Three Amigos 37. Tommy Boy 38. Trading Places 39. Tropic Thunder 40. UHF 41. Waynes World 42. Wedding Singer 43. Year One 44. Zombieland 45. Zoolander Das Commandant says: there can be only 10! (Hey, that's 9 more than Sophie got.) Choose, Sophie, choose.
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-20 14:10:55:
Good morning, Comedy Fans. I thought our Action Films list was impressive...but right now, the Comedy Film list tops out at 236 unique suggestions. That we need to ultimately get down to a list of 10. Here's what we've got so far: 1. 10 Things I Hate About You 2. 3 hommes et un couffin* (1985, France) 3. 3 Idiots (by Rajkumar Hirani – 2009) 4. 40-Year Old Virgin 5. A Night at the Opera (1935) 6. Adam’s Apples (2005, Denmark) 7. After Hours 8. Airplane! (1980) 9. Al-irhab wal kabab (a.k.a. “Terrorism and B.B.Q.” – 1993) 10. Amelie (2001) 11. American Graffiti 12. American Pie 13. Anchorman 14. Animal House 15. Annie Hall 16. Annie Hall (1977) 17. Arsenic and Old Lace 18. As Good As It Gets 19. As It is in Heaven*(2004, Sweden) 20. Austin Powers 21. Austin Powers in Goldmember 22. Back to School 23. Back to the Future 24. Bad Santa 25. Bad Teacher 26. Ball of Fire 27. Bananas 28. Baseketball 29. Battle Royale (2000, Japan) 30. Beverly Hills Cop 31. Big 32. Billy Madison 33. Billy Madison 34. Blankman 35. Blazing Saddles 36. Blazing Saddles (1974) 37. Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006, Canada) by Alex Epstein 38. Borat 39. Bridesmaids 40. BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY 41. Bringing Up Baby 42. Bruce Almighty 43. Caddyshack 44. Chasing Amy 45. Clerks 46. Clue 47. Clueless 48. Crazy People 49. Dazed and Confused 50. Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid 51. Delicatessen 52. Dogma 53. Dr Strangelove (1964) 54. Duck Soup (1933) 55. Dumb and Dumber 56. East is East 57. Eat Drink Man Woman* (Taiwan, 1994) 58. Eating Raoul (1982) by Paul Bartel & Richard Blackburn 59. Election 60. Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask 61. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 62. Finding Nemo 63. Flirting with Disaster 64. Forgetting Sarah Marshall 65. Forrest Gump 66. Four Weddings and a Funeral 67. Funny People 68. Ghostbusters 69. Groundhog Day 70. Grown Ups 71. Half Baked 72. Happy Gilmore 73. Happy Gilmore 74. Harold & Maude (1971) by Hal Ashby 75. Highway 61 (1991, Canada) – best portrayal of Satan on film 76. His Girl Friday 77. Home Alone 78. Hop 79. Horrible Bosses 80. Hot Shots 81. How To Murder Your Wife by George Axlerod (1965) 82. In Bruges (2008) 83. Intermission 84. It Happened One Night 85. It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World 86. Italian for Beginners written by Lone Scherfig (2000) 87. Jacob, the Liar* (1976, Germany) 88. Juno (2007) 89. K-9 90. Kentucky Fried Movie 91. Kicking and Screaming (1995 Noah Baumbach) 92. Kind Hearts & Coronets (1949) by Robert Hamer & John Dighton 93. Knocked Up 94. La Cage Aux Folles 95. Life is Beautiful (1997) 96. Life of Brian/Holy Grail 97. Little Fockers 98. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) 99. Love and Death 100. Magic Mike 101. Mallrats 102. MASH 103. Me, Myself and Irene 104. Meet the Fockers 105. Meet the Parents 106. Men in Black 107. Meteorman 108. MIB3 109. Mimino (by Georgi Daneliya – 1978) 110. Modern Times 111. Monty Python - Now for something completely different 112. Monty Python and the Holy Grail 113. Monty Python Life of Brian (1979) 114. Monty Python’s The Meaning Of LIfe 115. Mostly Martha (2001, Germany) 116. Mr and Mrs Smith (2005) 117. Mr. & Mrs. Smith 118. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) 119. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 120. My Favorite Wife 121. My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (2002, Hong Kong) 122. Naked Gun 123. National Lampoon Christmas 124. National Lampoon Vacation 125. National Lampoon’s Animal House 126. Brother Where Art Thou? 127. Ocean’s 11 (2001) 128. Office Space 129. Old School 130. Orgasmo 131. Pauline and Paulette (2001, Belgium) 132. Peculiarities of the National Fishing (by Aleksandr Rogozhkin – 1998) 133. Peculiarities of the National Hunt (by Aleksandr Rogozhkin – 1995) 134. Pee Wee’s Big Adventure 135. Philadelphia Story (w/ Kate & Cary, not so much Grace & Bing) 136. Pineapple Express 137. Planes, Trains and Automobiles 138. Police Academy 139. Pretty Woman 140. Private Benjamin (1980) by Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer, & Harvey Miller 141. Raising Arizona 142. Ratatouille (2007) 143. Romancing the Stone 144. Rush Hour 145. Rush Hour 2 146. Safety Last (Harold Lloyd) 147. Shall We Dance? (1996, Japan) 148. Shallow Hal 149. She Done Him Wrong (1933) 150. Shrek 151. Sideways (2004) 152. Sleeper 153. Sleepless in Seattle 154. Smokey & The Bandit 155. Some Like it Hot (1959) 156. Something about Mary 157. South Park, The Movie 158. Spaceballs 159. Stir Crazy 160. Strictly Ballroom (by Baz Luhrmann – 1992) 161. Super Troopers 162. Superbad 163. Swingers 164. Tampopo (by Juzo Itami – 1986) 165. Team America 166. Ted 167. Tenacious D 168. The ‘Burbs 169. The 40 Year Old Virgin 170. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994, Australia) 171. The Apartment 172. The Awful Truth 173. The Court Jester (1956) by Norman Panama & Melvin Frank 174. The Dentist 175. The Diamond Arm (by Leonid Gaidai – 1969) 176. The Dinner Game 177. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) by Luis Buñuel & Jean-Claude Carrière 178. The Fatal Glass of Beer 179. The Flying Deuces (Laurel & Hardy) 180. The Foot Fist Way 181. The Frisco Kid 182. The Full Monty (1997) by Simon Beaufoy 183. The General (1926) by Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman, et al. 184. The Gold Rush (1925) by Charlie Chaplin 185. The Graduate (1967) 186. The Great Race 187. The Hangover 188. The Irony of Fate, or, Enjoy Your Steam [Banya] (by Eldar Ryazanov – 1975) 189. The Italian Job (by Peter Collinson – 1969) 190. The Jerk 191. The King of Hearts (1965, France) 192. The Lady Eve 193. The Life Of Brian 194. The Man With Two Brains 195. The Mouse that Roared (1959) by Roger MacDougall & Stanley Mann 196. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! 197. The Nutty Professor (1963) by Jerry Lewis & Bill Richmond 198. The Other Guys 199. The Party (1968) by Blake Edwards, Tom Waldman, Frank Waldman 200. The Philadelphia Story 201. The Pink Panther (1963) by Maurice Richlin & Blake Edwards 202. The Princess Bride 203. The Producers 204. The Royal Tenenbaums 205. The Ruling Class (1972) by Peter Barnes 206. THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH 207. The Thin Man (1934) by Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich 208. The Toy 209. There’s Something About Mary 210. This is Spinal Tap 211. Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines 212. Three Amigos 213. Tommy Boy 214. Tootsie (1982) 215. Top Secret 216. Trading Places 217. Tropic Thunder 218. True Lies 219. UHF 220. Un Air de Famille / Family Resembles (1996) 221. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) 222. Victor Victoria (1982) by Blake Edwards, Hans Hoemburg, & Reinhold Schünzel 223. Waking Ned Devine (by Kirk Jones – 1998) 224. Wayne’s World 225. Wedding Singer 226. Welcome to the Sticks (written by, and starring, Dany Boon – 2008) 227. Wet Hot American Summer 228. When Harry Met Sally 229. Whiskey mit Wodka (directed by Andreas Dresen – 2009) 230. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 231. Working Girl 232. Year One 233. Young Frankenstein 234. Young Frankenstein 235. Zombieland 236. Zoolander You folks who have been really generous in your own suggestions: could you try to get your own lists under 10 please? And everybody: any thoughts on how we can winnow this list together? My own suggestions: 1. Take out any movies that would better in another category 2. Go through a process of elimination What other ideas do you have for how to go about thinning the list? Criteria for what to cut and what to keep? Thank you again for your help! Shaula
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-20 14:26:54:
I'll definitely try to find this. Thank you, screenwrites!
ShortofStories at 2012-07-20 20:58:38:
Oh, Comedy. This is a TOP10 films i'd recommend: 1. The General; everything by Buster Keaton actually, as people forgot how to use physical gags. 2. Shop Around the Corner; This beautifully well-structured rom-com by Lubitsch is a must see. 3. His Girl Friday 4. Some Like it Hot; You should watch this with the Billy Wilder interview, so you get enlightened by the decision taken at the script. 5. Airplane! 6. Groundhog Day 7. Annie Hall 8. Tootsie 9. Mr Hulot's Holiday 10. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
ShortofStories at 2012-07-20 20:59:34:
And someone forgot to close the /b tag...
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-21 19:42:54:
Great list, ShortofStories, and it's great to finally see Jacques Tati on a list!
Genre Essentials: Comedy — 10 Comedy Books [Non-Fiction] You … | The Comedy Website Blog at 2012-07-22 00:18:02:
[...] To read your suggestions for 10 Comedy Movies You Must See, go here. [...]
antonsays at 2012-07-23 05:51:15:
Alphabetical order... Airplane! Big Coming to America Dumb & Dumber Groundhog Day Little Miss Sunshine Naked Gun Pulp Fiction So I Married An Axe Murderer Some Like It Hot
TheQuietAct at 2012-07-23 19:30:02:
Ouch, that's a long list to whittle down. I wonder who forgot to close the bold tag??? Looks around innocently... Damn I still can't fix it!
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-27 19:32:46:
Bless your heart for alphabetizing your list, antonsays. I'm just tidying up the final list to send to Scott and I wanted to let you know your comment made it in in time.
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-30 18:06:31:
And, here's a recap with the suggestiosn from antonsays included: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 10 Things I Hate About You 3 hommes et un couffin* (1985, France) 3 Idiots (by Rajkumar Hirani – 2009) 40-Year Old Virgin A Fish Called Wanda A Night at the Opera (1935) Adam’s Apples (2005, Denmark) After Hours Airplane! (1980) Al-irhab wal kabab (a.k.a. “Terrorism and B.B.Q.” – 1993) Amelie (2001) American Graffiti American Pie Anchorman Animal House Annie Hall (1977) Arsenic and Old Lace As Good As It Gets As It is in Heaven*(2004, Sweden) Austin Powers Austin Powers in Goldmember Back to School Back to the Future Bad Santa Bad Teacher Ball of Fire Bananas Baseketball Battle Royale (2000, Japan) Beverly Hills Cop Big Billy Madison Billy Madison Blankman 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. Blazing Saddles Blazing Saddles (1974) Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006, Canada) by Alex Epstein Borat Bridesmaids BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY Bringing Up Baby Bruce Almighty Caddyshack Chasing Amy Clerks Clue Clueless Coming to America Crazy People Dazed and Confused Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid Delicatessen Dogma Dr Strangelove (1964) Duck Soup (1933) Dumb and Dumber East is East Eat Drink Man Woman* (Taiwan, 1994) Eating Raoul (1982) by Paul Bartel & Richard Blackburn Election Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Finding Nemo Flirting with Disaster Forgetting Sarah Marshall Forrest Gump Four Weddings and a Funeral Funny People Ghostbusters Groundhog Day Grown Ups Half Baked Happy Gilmore Happy Gilmore Harold & Maude (1971) by Hal Ashby Highway 61 (1991, Canada) – best portrayal of Satan on film His Girl Friday Home Alone Hop Horrible Bosses Hot Shots How To Murder Your Wife by George Axlerod (1965) 83. In Bruges (2008) 84. Intermission 85. It Happened One Night 86. It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World 87. Italian for Beginners written by Lone Scherfig (2000) 88. Jacob, the Liar* (1976, Germany) 89. Juno (2007) 90. K-9 91. Kentucky Fried Movie 92. Kicking and Screaming (1995 Noah Baumbach) 93. Kind Hearts & Coronets (1949) by Robert Hamer & John Dighton 94. Knocked Up 95. La Cage Aux Folles 96. Life is Beautiful (1997) 97. Life of Brian/Holy Grail 98. Little Fockers 99. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) 100. Love and Death 101. Magic Mike 102. Mallrats 103. MASH 104. Me, Myself and Irene 105. Meet the Fockers 106. Meet the Parents 107. Men in Black 108. Meteorman 109. MIB3 110. Mimino (by Georgi Daneliya – 1978) 111. Modern Times 112. Monty Python - Now for something completely different 113. Monty Python and the Holy Grail 114. Monty Python Life of Brian (1979) 115. Monty Python’s The Meaning Of LIfe 116. Mostly Martha (2001, Germany) 117. Mr and Mrs Smith (2005) 118. Mr Hulot’s Holiday 119. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) 120. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 121. My Cousin Vinny 122. My Favorite Wife 123. My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (2002, Hong Kong) 124. Naked Gun 125. National Lampoon Christmas 126. National Lampoon Vacation 127. National Lampoon’s Animal House 128. Brother Where Art Thou? 129. Ocean’s 11 (2001) 130. Office Space 131. 132. 133. 134. 135. 136. 137. 138. 139. 140. 141. 142. 143. 144. 145. 146. 147. 148. 149. 150. 151. 152. 153. 154. 155. 156. 157. 158. 159. 160. 161. 162. 163. 164. 165. 166. 167. 168. 169. 170. 171. 172. 173. 174. 175. 176. 177. 178. Old School Orgasmo Pauline and Paulette (2001, Belgium) Peculiarities of the National Fishing (by Aleksandr Rogozhkin – 1998) Peculiarities of the National Hunt (by Aleksandr Rogozhkin – 1995) Pee Wee’s Big Adventure Philadelphia Story (w/ Kate & Cary, not so much Grace & Bing) Pineapple Express Planes, Trains and Automobiles Police Academy Pretty Woman Pulp Fiction Private Benjamin (1980) by Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer, & Harvey Miller Raising Arizona Ratatouille (2007) Romancing the Stone Rush Hour Rush Hour 2 Rushmore Safety Last (Harold Lloyd) Shall We Dance? (1996, Japan) Shallow Hal She Done Him Wrong (1933) Shop Around The Corner Shrek Sideways (2004) Sleeper Sleepless in Seattle Smokey & The Bandit So I Married An Axe Murderer Some Like it Hot (1959) Something about Mary South Park, The Movie Spaceballs Stir Crazy Strictly Ballroom (by Baz Luhrmann – 1992) Super Troopers Superbad Swingers Tampopo (by Juzo Itami – 1986) Team America Ted Tenacious D The ‘Burbs The 40 Year Old Virgin The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994, Australia) The Apartment The Awful Truth 179. 180. 181. 182. 183. 184. 185. 186. 187. 188. 189. 190. 191. 192. 193. 194. 195. 196. 197. 198. 199. 200. 201. 202. 203. 204. 205. 206. 207. 208. 209. 210. 211. 212. 213. 214. 215. 216. 217. 218. 219. 220. 221. 222. 223. 224. 225. 226. The Court Jester (1956) by Norman Panama & Melvin Frank The Dentist The Diamond Arm (by Leonid Gaidai – 1969) The Dinner Game The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) by Luis Buñuel & Jean-Claude Carrière The Fatal Glass of Beer The Flying Deuces (Laurel & Hardy) The Foot Fist Way The Frisco Kid The Full Monty (1997) by Simon Beaufoy The General (1926) by Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman, et al. The Gold Rush (1925) by Charlie Chaplin The Graduate (1967) The Great Race The Hangover The Irony of Fate, or, Enjoy Your Steam [Banya] (by Eldar Ryazanov – 1975) The Italian Job (by Peter Collinson – 1969) The Jerk The King of Hearts (1965, France) The Lady Eve The Life Of Brian The Man With Two Brains The Mouse that Roared (1959) by Roger MacDougall & Stanley Mann The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! The Nutty Professor (1963) by Jerry Lewis & Bill Richmond Office Space The Other Guys The Party (1968) by Blake Edwards, Tom Waldman, Frank Waldman The Philadelphia Story The Pink Panther (1963) by Maurice Richlin & Blake Edwards The Princess Bride The Producers The Royal Tenenbaums The Ruling Class (1972) by Peter Barnes THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH The Thin Man (1934) by Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich The Toy There’s Something About Mary This is Spinal Tap Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines Three Amigos Tommy Boy Tootsie (1982) Top Secret Trading Places Tropic Thunder True Lies UHF 227. 228. 229. 230. 231. 232. 233. 234. 235. 236. 237. 238. 239. 240. 241. 242. 243. Un Air de Famille / Family Resembles (1996) Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) Victor Victoria (1982) by Blake Edwards, Hans Hoemburg, & Reinhold Schünzel Waking Ned Devine (by Kirk Jones – 1998) Wayne’s World Wedding Crashers Wedding Singer Welcome to the Sticks (written by, and starring, Dany Boon – 2008) Wet Hot American Summer When Harry Met Sally Whiskey mit Wodka (directed by Andreas Dresen – 2009) Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Working Girl Year One Young Frankenstein Zombieland Zoolander
Shaula Evans at 2012-07-30 18:08:29:
Wow. That was a fascinating ugly mess that looks nothing like the preview. Hmm. I guess this thread is the official HTML Comedy Meta Thread, isn't it? (Speaking of which, thanks for the solidarity on the open tag, Teddy.) Let's try that again. 1. 10 Things I Hate About You 2. 3 hommes et un couffin* (1985, France) 3. 3 Idiots (by Rajkumar Hirani – 2009) 4. 40-Year Old Virgin 5. A Fish Called Wanda 6. A Night at the Opera (1935) 7. Adam’s Apples (2005, Denmark) 8. After Hours 9. Airplane! (1980) 10. Al-irhab wal kabab (a.k.a. “Terrorism and B.B.Q.” – 1993) 11. Amelie (2001) 12. American Graffiti 13. American Pie 14. Anchorman 15. Animal House 16. Annie Hall (1977) 17. Arsenic and Old Lace 18. As Good As It Gets 19. As It is in Heaven*(2004, Sweden) 20. Austin Powers 21. Austin Powers in Goldmember 22. Back to School 23. Back to the Future 24. Bad Santa 25. Bad Teacher 26. Ball of Fire 27. Bananas 28. Baseketball 29. Battle Royale (2000, Japan) 30. Beverly Hills Cop 31. Big 32. Billy Madison 33. Billy Madison 34. Blankman 35. Blazing Saddles 36. Blazing Saddles (1974) 37. Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006, Canada) by Alex Epstein 38. Borat 39. Bridesmaids 40. BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY 41. Bringing Up Baby 42. Bruce Almighty 43. Caddyshack 44. Chasing Amy 45. Clerks 46. Clue 47. Clueless 48. Coming to America 49. Crazy People 50. Dazed and Confused 51. Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid 52. Delicatessen 53. Dogma 54. Dr Strangelove (1964) 55. Duck Soup (1933) 56. Dumb and Dumber 57. East is East 58. Eat Drink Man Woman* (Taiwan, 1994) 59. Eating Raoul (1982) by Paul Bartel & Richard Blackburn 60. Election 61. Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask 62. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 63. Finding Nemo 64. Flirting with Disaster 65. Forgetting Sarah Marshall 66. Forrest Gump 67. Four Weddings and a Funeral 68. Funny People 69. Ghostbusters 70. Groundhog Day 71. Grown Ups 72. Half Baked 73. Happy Gilmore 74. Happy Gilmore 75. Harold & Maude (1971) by Hal Ashby 76. Highway 61 (1991, Canada) – best portrayal of Satan on film 77. His Girl Friday 78. Home Alone 79. Hop 80. Horrible Bosses 81. Hot Shots 82. How To Murder Your Wife by George Axlerod (1965) 83. In Bruges (2008) 84. Intermission 85. It Happened One Night 86. It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World 87. Italian for Beginners written by Lone Scherfig (2000) 88. Jacob, the Liar* (1976, Germany) 89. Juno (2007) 90. K-9 91. Kentucky Fried Movie 92. Kicking and Screaming (1995 Noah Baumbach) 93. Kind Hearts & Coronets (1949) by Robert Hamer & John Dighton 94. Knocked Up 95. La Cage Aux Folles 96. Life is Beautiful (1997) 97. Life of Brian/Holy Grail 98. Little Fockers 99. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) 100. Love and Death 101. Magic Mike 102. Mallrats 103. MASH 104. Me, Myself and Irene 105. Meet the Fockers 106. Meet the Parents 107. Men in Black 108. Meteorman 109. MIB3 110. Mimino (by Georgi Daneliya – 1978) 111. Modern Times 112. Monty Python - Now for something completely different 113. Monty Python and the Holy Grail 114. Monty Python Life of Brian (1979) 115. Monty Python’s The Meaning Of LIfe 116. Mostly Martha (2001, Germany) 117. Mr and Mrs Smith (2005) 118. Mr Hulot’s Holiday 119. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) 120. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 121. My Cousin Vinny 122. My Favorite Wife 123. My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (2002, Hong Kong) 124. Naked Gun 125. National Lampoon Christmas 126. National Lampoon Vacation 127. National Lampoon’s Animal House 128. Brother Where Art Thou? 129. Ocean’s 11 (2001) 130. Office Space 131. Old School 132. Orgasmo 133. Pauline and Paulette (2001, Belgium) 134. Peculiarities of the National Fishing (by Aleksandr Rogozhkin – 1998) 135. Peculiarities of the National Hunt (by Aleksandr Rogozhkin – 1995) 136. Pee Wee’s Big Adventure 137. Philadelphia Story (w/ Kate & Cary, not so much Grace & Bing) 138. Pineapple Express 139. Planes, Trains and Automobiles 140. Police Academy 141. Pretty Woman 142. Pulp Fiction 143. Private Benjamin (1980) by Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer, & Harvey Miller 144. Raising Arizona 145. Ratatouille (2007) 146. Romancing the Stone 147. Rush Hour 148. Rush Hour 2 149. Rushmore 150. Safety Last (Harold Lloyd) 151. Shall We Dance? (1996, Japan) 152. Shallow Hal 153. She Done Him Wrong (1933) 154. Shop Around The Corner 155. Shrek 156. Sideways (2004) 157. Sleeper 158. Sleepless in Seattle 159. Smokey & The Bandit 160. So I Married An Axe Murderer 161. Some Like it Hot (1959) 162. Something about Mary 163. South Park, The Movie 164. Spaceballs 165. Stir Crazy 166. Strictly Ballroom (by Baz Luhrmann – 1992) 167. Super Troopers 168. Superbad 169. Swingers 170. Tampopo (by Juzo Itami – 1986) 171. Team America 172. Ted 173. Tenacious D 174. The ‘Burbs 175. The 40 Year Old Virgin 176. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994, Australia) 177. The Apartment 178. The Awful Truth 179. The Court Jester (1956) by Norman Panama & Melvin Frank 180. The Dentist 181. The Diamond Arm (by Leonid Gaidai – 1969) 182. The Dinner Game 183. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) by Luis Buñuel & Jean-Claude Carrière 184. The Fatal Glass of Beer 185. The Flying Deuces (Laurel & Hardy) 186. The Foot Fist Way 187. The Frisco Kid 188. The Full Monty (1997) by Simon Beaufoy 189. The General (1926) by Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman, et al. 190. The Gold Rush (1925) by Charlie Chaplin 191. The Graduate (1967) 192. The Great Race 193. The Hangover 194. The Irony of Fate, or, Enjoy Your Steam [Banya] (by Eldar Ryazanov – 1975) 195. The Italian Job (by Peter Collinson – 1969) 196. The Jerk 197. The King of Hearts (1965, France) 198. The Lady Eve 199. The Life Of Brian 200. The Man With Two Brains 201. The Mouse that Roared (1959) by Roger MacDougall & Stanley Mann 202. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! 203. The Nutty Professor (1963) by Jerry Lewis & Bill Richmond 204. Office Space 205. The Other Guys 206. The Party (1968) by Blake Edwards, Tom Waldman, Frank Waldman 207. The Philadelphia Story 208. The Pink Panther (1963) by Maurice Richlin & Blake Edwards 209. The Princess Bride 210. The Producers 211. The Royal Tenenbaums 212. The Ruling Class (1972) by Peter Barnes 213. THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH 214. The Thin Man (1934) by Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich 215. The Toy 216. There’s Something About Mary 217. This is Spinal Tap 218. Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines 219. Three Amigos 220. Tommy Boy 221. Tootsie (1982) 222. Top Secret 223. Trading Places 224. Tropic Thunder 225. True Lies 226. UHF 227. Un Air de Famille / Family Resembles (1996) 228. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) 229. Victor Victoria (1982) by Blake Edwards, Hans Hoemburg, & Reinhold Schünzel 230. Waking Ned Devine (by Kirk Jones – 1998) 231. Wayne’s World 232. Wedding Crashers 233. Wedding Singer 234. Welcome to the Sticks (written by, and starring, Dany Boon – 2008) 235. Wet Hot American Summer 236. When Harry Met Sally 237. Whiskey mit Wodka (directed by Andreas Dresen – 2009) 238. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 239. Working Girl 240. Year One 241. Young Frankenstein 242. Zombieland 243. Zoolander
TheQuietAct at 2012-08-01 10:56:44:
Haw haw ha ha haw. Funny! You're really taking your comedic role seriously here Shaula....
Shaula Evans at 2012-08-03 00:35:17:
If you were kind enough to help compile our must-see comedy movie list (or if you're coming late to this discussion), please remember to come on over to the Comedy Essential Voting List and cast your votes for the top 10 films and top 10 scripts.
David Komer at 2012-08-03 10:26:57:
haha, sorry it took so long to get back to this! Thanks for alphabetizing them for me. The truth is... now that I think about it... I *love* comedy. I don't know if I can write it at all, but I love watching it, because it's such an escape. Who doesn't love to laugh? :) Here's my top 10, but it's probably due more to sentimental value than writing value (for example- I saw three amigos with some good friends I haven't seen in years, and it leaves a great taste in my mouth. I have no idea if it's written better than any others or if it would really be as funny if I watched it again now) These 10 aren't in any particular order: 1) Three Amigos 2) Spaceballs 3) Billy Madison 4) UHF 5) Hot Shots 6) Something About Mary 7) Monty Python- now for something completely different 8) Mallrats 9) Back to School 10) Team America
Shaula Evans at 2012-09-09 15:37:37:
I apologize that this message will go to everyone who has signed up for updates on this thread, but I'm trying to reach TheQuietAct, and I don't have her email address--I'm hoping this reaches her. TheQuietAct, if you get this, could you send me a note at shaulaevans AT gmail DOT com ? Thanks very much. If anyone else knows how I could contact her directly, thank you for your help. And thank you everyone again for your patience. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Shaula Evans at 2012-10-09 16:48:01:
If you haven't cast your vote already, voting has re-opened on the forum! VOTING: 10 Must-See Comedy Movies Please come and cast your vote, especially if you helped us compile this great list.