Film Canon | Best Comedy Films
In Order of Excellence
1. Modern Times - Charles Chaplin (1936)
The Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.
2. Some Like It Hot - Billy Wilder (1959)
When two musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.
3. Viridiana - Luis Buñuel (1961)
Viridiana, a young nun about to take her final vows, pays a visit to her widowed uncle at the request of her Mother Superior.
4. The Apartment - Billy Wilder (1960)
A man tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.
5. This is Spinal Tap - Rob Reiner (1984)
Spinal Tap, the world's loudest band, is chronicled by hack documentarian Marty DeBergi on what proves to be a fateful tour.
6. It Happened One Night - Frank Capra (1934)
A spoiled heiress, running away from her family, is helped by a man who's actually a reporter looking for a story.
7. Annie Hall - Woody Allen (1977)
Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall
8. Love me Tonight - Rouben Mamoulian (1932)
A Parisian tailor finds himself posing as a baron in order to collect a sizeable bill from an aristocrat,
only to fall in love with an aloof young princess.
only to fall in love with an aloof young princess.
9. The General - Buster Keaton (1926)
When Union spies steal an engineer's beloved locomotive, he pursues it single handedly and straight through enemy lines.
10. Monsieur Verdoux - Charles Chaplin (1947)
A suave but cynical man supports his family by marrying and murdering rich women for their money,
but the job has some occupational hazards.
but the job has some occupational hazards.
11. Moonstruck - Norman Jewison (1987)
Loretta Castorini, a book keeper from Brooklyn, New York, finds herself in a difficult situation
when she falls for the brother of the man she agreed to marry
when she falls for the brother of the man she agreed to marry
12. Tootsie - Sydney Pollack (1982)
An unemployed actor with a reputation for being difficult disguises himself as a woman to get a role in a soap opera.
13. As Good as it Gets - James L. Brooks (1997)
A single mother/waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship after the artist is in an accident.
14. Sweet and Lowdown - Woody Allen (1999)
In the 1930s, fictional jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute.
15. City Lights - Charles Chaplin (1931)
The Tramp struggles to help a blind flower girl he has fallen in love with.
16. Whatever Works - Woody Allen (2009)
Attempting to impress his ideologies on religion, relationships, and the randomness (and worthlessness) of existence,
lifelong New York resident Boris Yellnikoff rants to anyone who will listen, including the audience.
lifelong New York resident Boris Yellnikoff rants to anyone who will listen, including the audience.
17. Punch-Drunk Love - Paul Thomas Anderson (2002)
A psychologically troubled novelty supplier is nudged into a romance with an English woman,
all the while being extorted by a phone-sex line run by a crooked mattress salesman, and purchasing stunning amounts of pudding.
all the while being extorted by a phone-sex line run by a crooked mattress salesman, and purchasing stunning amounts of pudding.
18. The Graduate - Mike Nichols (1967)
Recent college graduate Benjamin Braddock is trapped into an affair with Mrs. Robinson,
who happens to be the wife of his father's business partner and then finds himself falling in love with her daughter, Elaine.
who happens to be the wife of his father's business partner and then finds himself falling in love with her daughter, Elaine.
19. Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Woody Allen (2008)
Two girlfriends on a summer holiday in Spain become enamored with the same painter,
unaware that his ex-wife, with whom he has a tempestuous relationship, is about to re-enter the picture.
unaware that his ex-wife, with whom he has a tempestuous relationship, is about to re-enter the picture.
20. His Girl Friday - Howard Hawks (1940)
A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.