The Top 100 Comedies: Screwball Dames and Male Auteurs
Tuesday, August 22, 2017 at 8:37PM by Seán McGovern
The limit of list culture is the absolute bias of the person compiling it (except of course the Dewey Decimal System which is without imperfection). To compile theirs, the BBC polled 253 film critics - 118 women and 135 men - from 52 countries to determine what exactly are the "100 Greatest Comedies".
It's good to look at these lists to remind ourselves that since the majority of films are made by men, so too is the work that's considered both the funniest and the best. Right-on caveat aside, some great, female-centred comedies make the list: 2016's Toni Erdmann at 59; Mean Girls, which we can now call a modern classic, at 57; and Clueless (iconic) at a very healthy 34...
Major gripe: Tootsie is only at 31? And coming in at number 100, The King of Comedy could sooner be described as terrifying than hilarious.
What seems consistent throughout are the perennial classics who always end up on lists like this - so what do you think made the cut?
THE TOP 20
20. Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974)
19. The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941)
18. Sherlock Jr (Buster Keaton, 1924)
17. Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938)
16. The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin, 1940)
15. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, 1975)
14. His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)
13. To Be or Not To Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1942)
12. Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936)
11. The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1998)
10. The General (Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton, 1926)
9. This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)
8. Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)
7. Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, 1980)
6. Life of Brian (Terry Jones, 1979)
5. Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
4. Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
3. Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
2. Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
1. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
Perhaps the most shocking thing about the top 20 is that the most recent film on the list is The Big Lebowski from 1998. What - if anything - from 2000 deserves to be in the Top 20?
And more interestingly... here are the individual ballots of each of the 253 critics.
Reader Comments (38)
Funniest movie since 2000 has gotta be In Bruges!
Where the HELL is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?
Not really a fan of the Apatow brand, but I really liked The 40-year-old virgin.
Blazing Saddles just doesn't hold up anymore.
Bridesmaids and Eternal Sunshine are the only omissions I can think of since 2000, for me. 40 Year Old Virgin, Borat, Best in Show or Royal Tenembaums maybe.
What about All About Eve or Defending Your Life? Or are those considered dramadies? And I would rather see more Woody Allen movies on the list instead of some of these low brow men comedies like Step Brothers (but maybe I am a snob).
Biggest Surprise: This is a British list, but Kind Hearts and Coronets isn't in the top 20.
BVR - I always find it weird when people consider Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind a comedy. I personally believe that its is a romantic drama with comedic elements more than a romantic comedy as some people see it.
"Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein"
I would include Frances Ha!
The post-2000 movies I'd throw into the mix that first come to mind are Down With Love and Bachelorette and Damsels in Distress. As to films others have mentioned I think In Bruges is amazing and hilarious, but I don't think of it as a comedy. I have trouble imagining Eternal Sunshine being considered a comedy.
I actually really like that classic achievements like Some Like It Hot and Duck Soup remain atop these lists. They are wonderful.
No John Waters? Damn straight people.
The only film of the 2000 that deserves probably to be in a top 20 is "Borat".
For the top 100, I'd add "Talladega Nights", "Four Lions" and "Anchorman" as possible contenders. "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The Lego Movie", too, if they want to input them as comedies (one is a dramedy and the other one might go to the "Animated" ghetto).
Clue missed the list so it automatically fails. Sister Act MIA as well. And I'm a defender of BP noms Little Miss Sunshine and Juno, despite it being internet-popular to berate them for no good reason.
I almost called this piece "The 100 Greatest Comedies: Really?" but felt it was a little too on the nose.
Naturally I love some of the films on it but I agree @Brad that not having something like Female Trouble is egregious - straight people are the dominant narrative I suppose!
All About Eve!!
My Cousin Vinny is pretty funy, not 'top-100-of-all-time' funny, but still a pretty good comedy. However seeing my mom laugh so hard at it that she literally fall off the couch and then proceed to laugh even harder so that she could not get back up for a minute is the funniest movie experience I've ever had.
Am I borderline mad if I admit that my idea of comedies are more like Ted Demme's The Ref and black comedies like Susan Seidelman's She-Devil and Danny DeVito's The War of the Roses?
Plus there is this hilarious but largely unseen Hong Kong movie Summer Snow starring the effervescent and comically on-point Josephine Siao. Also Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle.
And then there's also The Martian (only kidding).
Is Bridesmaids deemed a modern classic yet? Surely it's the most oft quoted film since 2000? (That, or Anchorman) That aeroplane scene alone has at least 10 instantly recognisable quotes!
"Stove"
The Hangover is on that list. The Birdcage isnt't. Case closed.
I would have liked to see Clue and The Birdcage in. But straight male viewers voted, what can one do ?
Also AUNTIE MAME.
Uh... where's Pulp Fiction?
Trying to be totally objective here but I just saw Clue for the first time two weeks ago, and feel that its affection is mostly remembered from people seeing it through adolescent eyes. Sorry!
THE BIRDCAGE - once again straight people don't realise the glory in front of them.
A special shout out to Tina Hassannia, Calum Marsh, and Todd McCarthy for including one of the best comedies, "Ruggles of Red Gap".
I'm a little surprised that nobody went for "Libeled Lady".
My favorite comedy of the 2000s is "Orange County", but I wouldn't expect that to show anyway. Others that are missing: "O Brother Where Art Thou", "Synecdoche NY" (if that counts as a comedy), and "Birdman" (if it counts as a comedy).
Yeah, how is Clue not on this list? That's nuts. And I'm also with Dg on Auntie Mame.
HOW IN THE HELL TOOTSIE ONLY 31?! It should have been number 1.
From the 2000s I would nominate Bridesmaids.
I don't think Clue was ever considered a really good film (entertaining? Sure!). And i think John Waters is an acquired taste. It's like voting TRHPS for a list of best musicals (and i would find that much more possible). I am just happy Hangover and Bridesmaids are not in the top 20.
"There's Something About Mary" and/or "Kingpin" deserves to be on this list.
Sullivans Travels
Palm Beach story
Annie Hall
Its a mad mad mad mad world
Blazing saddles
Whats up doc
Bringing up baby
Some like it hot
Titanic
Anchorman
All About Eve
Annie Hall
Bullets Over Broadway
Clueless
Death Becomes Her
Defending Your Life
She-Devil
Sleeper
Tootsie
The funniest movie from the 2000's is definitely "The Emperor's New Groove" for me, but I guess they don't include animated movies as comedies. Too bad....
Hello, where are Waiting for Guffman & Bridesmaids! Those 2 movies are wonderfully funny and beautifully acted. They would be in my top 10.
Watched Blazing Saddles last week for 1st time since I was 12 or so, and you know what, it really hasn't held up all that well, though I love Harvey Corman, Cleavon Little (so handsome), and Madeline Kahn in it. I will say though, with its constant use of the N word, it could never have been made today, never never.
Tootsie should be in the top 3 as far as I'm concerned. I still have never watched Some Like It Hot all the way through, just couldn't see what all the fuss was about (men in dresses are not inherently funny to me). I'd like to give it another whirl though.
Glad they put Bringing Up Baby on here. Love it to pieces!
PS cheers to @owl for the shouts out to The Ref & War of The Roses! Two brilliant dark-to-black comedies. Both major faves of mine (The Ref has become an Xmastime perennial).
I'm always shocked on these lists when Blazing Saddles ranks higher than The Producers and/or Young Frankenstein and This is Spinal Tap ranks higher than Waiting For Guffman
Here's the thing about Tootsie: Yes, it is HILARIOUS. But it's also significantly dramatic enough that when I think about "The Best Comedies", it's never one of the first ones that comes to mind. Remember that the film's lone acting Oscar went to Jessica Lange, who is the most dramatic character in the film - and she won over Teri Garr in one of the great comic performances of the '80s, so it's probable people have always had this view. I always kick myself for not remembering to put it in my Top Ten, and this is the best reasoning I can come up with.
The last movie I laughed all the way through was 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' Which I only saw for the first time last weekend. I'd have love to have seen Todd Solondz somewhere on the list. I think Happiness is a comedy masterpiece but maybe too dark to appeal broadly enough for a list like this. Muriel's Wedding?
Sideways? Bullets Over Broadway? But Tootsie not in the top five makes the list null and void, who cares?? Tootsie is the funniest comedy ever made...
rob -- the Ref is soooo underrated.
Tootsie has fallen far since the AFI list back in 2000, when it was #2. And I'd probably second what Owl said and put Kung Fu Hustle in the top 20.
Clearly 2014 has been erased from their memories. The only justification for not including The Grand Budapest Hotel.