Monday, November 15, 2010
Help me out: What's the funniest movie of all time?
At a long evening event with colleagues, and the question has come up: What is the funniest movie of all time? I'm sure your opinions are more interesting than theirs, so give it your most learned effort.
53 Comments:
By 
Consul-At-Arms, at
Mon Nov 15, 08:40:00 PM:
A Fish Called Wanda.
(I literally fell out of my theater seat I was laughing so hard.)
By 
, at
Mon Nov 15, 08:44:00 PM:
The Producers (Zero Mostel edition).
By , at
Mon Nov 15, 08:45:00 PM:
Not PC anymore, but I thought it was hilarious - Blazing Saddles.
By , at
Mon Nov 15, 08:47:00 PM:
By , at
Mon Nov 15, 09:02:00 PM:
By , at
Mon Nov 15, 09:15:00 PM:
By , at
Mon Nov 15, 09:29:00 PM:
Too Be Or Not To Be
The Jack Benny original.
By , at
Mon Nov 15, 09:34:00 PM:
Snatch.
-Kv, somewhere in the desert Southwest
By Foxfier, at
Mon Nov 15, 10:55:00 PM:
By , at
Mon Nov 15, 11:12:00 PM:
Life of Brian.
Contenders: Night at the Opera and Duck Soup.
By JPMcT, at
Mon Nov 15, 11:32:00 PM:
The Producers (Zero Mostel)is my favorite.
My wife goes with The Full Monty.
We both agree that What's Up Doc is a contender.
By , at
Mon Nov 15, 11:55:00 PM:
Anything by the Marx Brothers.
I didn't like Blazing Saddles because I don't like westerns. Satire works only for what you like.
I will not say it is the funniest movie, but I found Up In Smoke hilarious because it was so deliberately stupid. I think I was sober when I saw it, but my memory is slipping.
"I was born in Dusseldorf and that is why they call me Ralf."
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 12:07:00 AM:
For feature length, I have to go with History of the World Part 1.
If it's a more open field, Looney Tunes "Duck Amuck". Heck, I'm laughing as I think of it.
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 12:52:00 AM:
By Georg Felis, at
Tue Nov 16, 01:08:00 AM:
CSPAN. Oh wait, thats a TV series.
Airplane!
By Counter Trey, at
Tue Nov 16, 01:16:00 AM:
Austin Powers
International Man of Mystery
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 01:33:00 AM:
Ruthless People. About 1990. DeVito, Midler, Rhinehold, and Slater were the stars.
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 01:49:00 AM:
A couple of movies not mentioned here:
1. of course, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
2. Cavemen
3. Top Secret
4. The Adventures of Picasso
Vilmos
By Gary Rosen, at
Tue Nov 16, 02:25:00 AM:
Cannot believe "Some Like It Hot" has not been mentioned yet.
Other contenders:
A Night at the Opera
Sleeper
This Is Spinal Tap, if you have ever played in a band.
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 02:36:00 AM:
I second many of the contributions, including Sleeper, anything by the Marx Bros. - though "Horsefeathers" is my favorite -, Spinal Tap, etc.
I would add: Best in Show by the same group who did Spinal Tap.
Young Frankenstein
ANy of the "Naked Gun" series
More recently, "Tropic Thunder" was hilarious.
By Don Cox, at
Tue Nov 16, 05:00:00 AM:
As well as those already listed:
"Mon Oncle" (Tati)
"The Horse's Mouth" (Alec Guinness)
"Rhapsody Rabbit" (Bugs Bunny)
Too many Tom and Jerry cartoons to list.
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 05:17:00 AM:
Cheech and Chong's finest, and my favorite comedy, is "Chech & Chong's Second Movie."
By SR, at
Tue Nov 16, 05:19:00 AM:
Some Like it Hot. Rosen beat me to it.
It is almost a reason to stay at the Del Coronado in San Diego.
Princess Bride, a close second:
"My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!"
By Don Cox, at
Tue Nov 16, 05:19:00 AM:
Whoops, forgot "Panique au Village". Brilliant stop-motion mayhem. There's a dubbed English-language version around, but if you know four words of French, go for the original.
By Andrew Hofer, at
Tue Nov 16, 05:55:00 AM:
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 06:27:00 AM:
By Bomber Girl, at
Tue Nov 16, 06:52:00 AM:
Anything Monty Python. The Gods Must Be Crazy. Men in Black.
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 07:10:00 AM:
How can it be that no one has mentioned Animal House? Hands down.
By Goldwater's Ghost, at
Tue Nov 16, 07:29:00 AM:
Love and Death, or Take the Money and Run.
Back when Woody Allen was funny on film rather than real life.
By gregor, at
Tue Nov 16, 07:58:00 AM:
"Tit for Tat", Laurel and Hardy.
Probably their best non-contrived situation two reeler. Plus the added talents of Charlie Hall and Mae Busch.
It was actually a follow up to "Them Thar Hills", but stands on it's own.
By Dawnfire82, at
Tue Nov 16, 09:32:00 AM:
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 09:42:00 AM:
Evil Roy Slade
Anybody knows this masterpiece?
Vilmos
By Pete, at
Tue Nov 16, 09:45:00 AM:
By Willuz, at
Tue Nov 16, 09:49:00 AM:
Princess Bride
Second goes to Galaxy Quest because there can never be enough Star Trek spoofs.
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 09:53:00 AM:
harold and Kumar go to white castle
btw Kumar is working for Obama now.
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 11:54:00 AM:
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 12:25:00 PM:
By Mr. Bingley, at
Tue Nov 16, 12:33:00 PM:
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 01:14:00 PM:
"dying young". naw, not really. you need to be more specific. funniest **scenes**? shooot, where to begin? the "biggus dickus/star wars space battle" sequence from 'life of brian' had me laughing so hard i couldn't breathe. some of the 'inspector clouseau vs. kato' fight scenes are pure gold. (hell, just clouseau's accent itself was hot stuff. "i would lahk a *rheium*." "he had a minkey!") "happy birthday to you" from 'cat ballou'. the "E.T. glowing hooters" and the " 'what's that behind you?!' binocular scene from 'top secret'. the leslie nielsen /pia zadora production number at the oscars from 'naked gun 33&1/3.' and God forgive me, but i DO luh..luhh....love me some 'simple jack'. harold lloyd did some _brilliant_ scenes in his silents. you can do this all day.
funniest *whole movie*, though: tie. "animal house" and 'MP & the holy grail".
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 01:23:00 PM:
Commedy unlike dramas are very time sensitive and do not age well. I cannot stand any of the old movies that many have mentioned here (prior to 1982ish). Commedy is also very individualistic. I can already see that my movies would probably be too vulgar for many of our readers. My laugh out loud favorites were:
Nightshift (Keaton and Winkler)
Stripes
Caddyshack
Swingers
Tommy boy
Uncle Buck
Wedding Crashers
Hangover
By lelia, at
Tue Nov 16, 01:59:00 PM:
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 04:51:00 PM:
Galaxy Quest
Space Balls
Young Frankenstein
The latter was a test for my son's new girl friend -- she didn't find YF funny. She didn't last long.
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 06:28:00 PM:
Dr. Strangelove (in fact anything with Peter Sellers - even Being There)
Fletch
Slapshot
The In-Laws (original version)
Putney Swope (a UofIowa cult classic)
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 06:44:00 PM:
little shop of horrors....or maybe rocky horror picture show
By , at
Tue Nov 16, 08:56:00 PM:
Without a doubt, The Jerk with Steve Martin.
By , at
Wed Nov 17, 12:39:00 AM:
Airplane
Tommy Boy
The Jerk
Animal House
Trains Planes Autos
By JC, at
Wed Nov 17, 12:45:00 AM:
Gotta be noted.
Most of Charlie Chaplin's films.
JC
By Gary Rosen, at
Wed Nov 17, 01:08:00 AM:
A few more that may not be "the" one but should not go forgotten:
Stir Crazy
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (since someone mentioned Steve Martin)
Marx Bros' Monkey Business (not the Cary Grant Monkey Business) - one of the more obscure Marx pictures but one of my favorites. I love the scene where Harpo gets in the middle of the kids' puppet show.
By Brian Schmidt, at
Wed Nov 17, 03:28:00 PM:
By Unknown, at
Wed Nov 17, 03:45:00 PM:
I'd have to say Caddy Shack has to be right up there!
By Counter Trey, at
Wed Nov 17, 04:03:00 PM:
I love most of these movies, but I am surprised that I had the only vote for Austin Powers IMM . I thought The Spy Who Shagged Me and Goldmember were great too. If you love James Bond movies as I do, and they are timeless, then AP is timeless.
I have to nominate one more:
Old School with Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn
By , at
Thu Nov 18, 10:45:00 AM:
I would submit that any of the Marx Brothers are high class slapstick (superior even to the Three Stooges) with a repartee inferior to none.
Then I would also nominate "Bringing Up Baby" with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. Again, the situations and dialog will have you rolling on the floor without resorting to gimics or crudity.
By , at
Fri Nov 19, 02:32:00 PM:
Okay, so maybe To Be Or Not To Be isn't the absolute funniest. But Quaker Cat's bias against oldies notwithstanding, I'll wager it's still a hell of a lot funnier now than when it was released.
I second Bomber Girl's nomination of The God's Must Be Crazy.
As well, Best In Show, Some Like It Hot
Also the mentions of Dr. Strangelove. "Gentlemen. You can't fight here, this is the War Room!"
How many funniest movies is one allowed?
