55 Best Comedy Movies On Netflix

While the streaming landscape has become more and more crowded over the years, the name most closely associated with movies-on-demand remains Netflix. A pioneer in offering a massive library of content for a few bucks a month, Netflix's catalog of movies is among streaming's most impressive.

The behemoth streamer offers a particularly delightful assortment of comedies. There are thousands of choices available to the discerning fan of all that's funny, spread across dozens of categories. You want something darkly humorous? You've got it. Interested in cerebral laughs? No problem. Hungry for out-and-out slapstick? Get ready for satisfaction. Netflix has got it all.

Updated on April 3, 2023: These are the 55 most chuckle-inducing, funny bone-tickling, and laugh-out-loud comedy movies currently available to stream on Netflix.

"21 Jump Street" embraces the ridiculous and far-fetched premise of the late '80s TV show upon which it's based and takes it to its silliest heights, satirizing police movies, teen movies, and mismatched duo movies. Schmidt and Jenko are a pair of young police detectives and best-friends-forever tasked with going undercover in a Los Angeles high school in order to uncover a drug ring pushing a troubling narcotic. Neither one of them looks remotely high school-age however, but that doesn't matter so much as their approach to reliving high school. Schmidt was a nerd, and he has to come to terms with his past while trying to pass as a cool teen now. On the other hand, Jenko — a jocky and cocky big man on campus back in the day — has a surprisingly hard time fitting in amongst today's highly intelligent, high-achieving young people.

• Starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson
• Directors: Phil Lord and Chris Miller
• Year: 2012
• Runtime: 110 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

Star Ali Wong co-wrote this romantic comedy, which combines '90s throwbacks with sparkling wit. As children growing up in San Francisco, Sasha and Marcus were best friends and neighbors. Latchkey kid Sasha frequently hung out at Marcus' house, where she learned to cook from his mother. Their friendship blossomed into romance, but one physically awkward attempt to take it to the next level cut things short. 15 years later, Sasha is an acclaimed chef while Marcus is a bar musician drifting through life. They might be perfect for each other after all — too bad Sasha's dating Keanu Reeves. Yes, we're talking the Keanu Reeves, playing a hilariously heightened version of himself.

• Starring: Ali Wong, Randall Park, Keanu Reeves
• Director: Nahnatchka Khan
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 102 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

A visually complicated period piece set in the 1970s, "American Hustle" exposes a little-known chapter of political history so bungled, the filmmakers had to present it all as a smart-but-wacky comedy. Irving Rosenfeld and Sydney Prosser are a couple of prolific con artists tracked by FBI agent Richie DiMaso. Left with little recourse, they agree to work for DiMaso, who makes them insinuate themselves into corrupt New Jersey circles. These tenuous machinations are hard to keep under wraps, but things get even more complex when another politician and Irving's wife join the operation right as it ensnares European nobles and the Middle Eastern oil industry.

• Starring: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence
• Director: David O. Russell
• Year: 2013
• Runtime: 138 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

Eric Andre deftly blends outrageous pranks with talk show tropes on "The Eric Andre Show." He takes this style of comedy to the feature film format with "Bad Trip." Chris (Andre) brings a friend, Bud, on a road trip to attend the art show of his dream woman. Bud's sister, violent criminal Trina, is in pursuit because they stole her car to do so. Every stop in every city weaves in an elaborately staged prank in the Andre tradition, such as a gorilla attack at a zoo, a drunken tumble off a building, the destruction of a gas station, and some truly nasty business at a honky tonk.

• Starring: Eric Andre, Lil Rel Howery, Tiffany Haddish
• Director: Kitao Sakurai
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 84 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 78%

Guy Trilby is a loser in his 40s who has scammed his way through life. He comes up with a novel plan to enter a spelling bee for children, for which he is eligible because he never graduated from high school. He's a hilariously nasty character, but eventually, his prickly façade softens. It proceeds to disappear altogether when he connects with people who finally understand him: A reporter covering his odd story, and a little kid cracking under parental pressure.

• Starring: Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn, Rohan Chand
• Director: Jason Bateman
• Year: 2013
• Runtime: 89 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 65%

For over 30 years, brothers Joel and Ethan Coen have demonstrated perfect control over tone. So it's no surprise that their final collaboration before Ethan's hiatus from movie-making is an anthology film that makes use of every tool in their considerable collection, from absurd slapstick comedy to somber character drama. "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" consists of six separate stories riffing on the Wild West. Some are uproarious and cartoony, while others are quiet and contemplative. Whether your favorite Coen movie is "The Big Lebowski" or "No Country for Old Men," "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" is a must-watch feature.

• Starring: Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco, Zoe Kazan
• Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 132 minutes
• Rating: R
  
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

Since the 2000s, Zach Galifianakis has hosted a public access-style, semi-scripted interview show called "Between Two Ferns." Appearing as a crude, blunt, and mean version of himself, he asks big celebrities embarrassing questions with comedic results only topped by the show's own bloopers. In this silver screen adaptation, Galifianakis and a skeleton production crew hit the road to interview as many stars as possible. These journeys involve cringe-inducing and audacious interviews with the likes of Tessa Thompson, Peter Dinklage, David Letterman, and John Legend.

• Starring: Zach Galifianakis, Lauren Lapkus, Ryan Gaul
• Director: Scott Aukerman
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 82 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75%

"The Breaker Upperers" is a delightful, low-key, New Zealand-produced rom-com that subverts the familiar format because it's really about the love shared between two close friends against the complicated backdrop of modern relationships. About a decade earlier, Mel and Jen discovered they had the same boyfriend, and they broke up with the cad but bonded over their shared ordeal and became best pals and business partners in The Breaker Upperers, a company that people can hire out to do the uncomfortable dirty work of dumping their spouses, boyfriends, and girlfriends. They're darkly hilarious and creative in how they approach their work, but the whole enterprise is in danger when they cross paths with one of the people they once professionally broke up with, and they start to wonder if they're a toxic presence. Plus, things get really complicated when Mel finds herself falling for a much younger client.

• Starring: Madeleine Sami, Jackie van Beek, James Rolleston
• Director: Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 82 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%

"Bullet Train" collects a bunch of strangers on a locomotive who all happen to be criminals with intersecting missions. Ladybug is a world-class assassin called out of retirement to steal an important briefcase from a bullet train and return it intact. Unfortunately, five other contract killers are also on the train, and they all want the briefcase for their own reasons. A lot of conspiracy, action, and manipulation go down, all within the spatial and temporal constraints of a single train trip.

• Starring: Brad Pitt, Joey King, Brian Tyree Henry
• Director: David Leitch
• Year: 2022
• Runtime: 126 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 54%

Ray Peterson is looking forward to taking some time off work and just hanging out in his placid suburb. But soon enough, the horrors of this creepily perfect place emerge. The very strange Klopeks move in down the street, and Ray is certain they're hiding something. This prompts Ray to launch a spy mission with his conspiratorial and paranoid friends. It turns out their suspicions are correct — evil is afoot in the neighborhood. Now it's their job to stop it ... but how?

• Starring: Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher
• Director: Joe Dante
• Year: 1989
• Runtime: 101 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 53%

What starts off as an erudite comedy of manners slowly descends into comical chaos in "Catfight." Two college friends have gone their separate ways and wound up in two very different levels of existence decades later. Veronica is the bored, wine-sloshing wife of a wealthy industrialist, while Ashley has stayed true to her artistic pursuits and moral compass, and is now pretty much broke. The pair attempt to reconnect at a stuffy cocktail party, but too much time has passed and too many resentments have simmered. Before the night is over, they come to painful blows — and the results are entertaining in the extreme.

• Starring: Sandra Oh, Anne Heche, Alicia Silverstone
• Director: Onur Tukel
• Year: 2016
• Runtime: 96 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74%

Sometimes, the solution to a problem becomes a problem unto itself. That's the deal in "Deidra & Laney Rob a Train." Deidra and Laney are two tight-knit teenage sisters living a paycheck-to-paycheck existence with their little brother and mother. But then, their mom gets sent to prison. Seeking a way to earn enough income to get by and raise bail money for their mother, they resort to a very old-fashioned method of criminal enrichment: robbing a loaded locomotive. It's either that, or split up the family and wind up in foster care. Deidra and Laney are determined — but it's going to take more than that to pull this off.

• Starring: Ashleigh Murray, Rachel Crow, Tim Blake Nelson
• Director: Sydney Freeland
• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 80 minutes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

A raucous satire of 21st century high school life, "Do Revenge" exists at the intersection of snarky '80s teen movies and present day youth culture. It's also a timeless (and satisfying) tale of revenge and the exhilarating goofiness of friendship. Drea is the cutthroat head of her school's popular clique — until she's humiliated by a sex tape that's probably leaked by her aloof jerk of a boyfriend. Meanwhile, Eleanor transfers in from another school and finds an old problem waiting for her: Her summer camp bully, who ruined her life when she was 13. Drea and Eleanor find comfort and support in each other, and soon aim to exact revenge on each other's behalf, giving the jerks what they've got coming.

• Starring: Camila Mendes, Maya Hawke, Rish Shah
• Director: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
• Year: 2022
• Runtime: 118 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%

"Dolemite Is My Name" proves that real life can be just as funny as fiction. Cinematic icon Eddie Murphy stars as Rudy Ray Moore, a 20th century comedian and actor best known for the "Dolemite" movies, which helped define and popularize the "blaxploitation" genre. Moore is a charismatic, dynamic, and over-the-top figure as portrayed by Murphy, who takes the entertainer through his days as a struggling musician to the premiere of his breakthrough film.

• Starring: Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes, Kodi Smit-McPhee
• Director: Craig Brewer
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 118 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

An allegory for the climate change crisis, "Don't Look Up" is about as dark as a movie can get while still being identifiable as a comedy. A couple of astronomers discover a comet is on a collision course with Earth. They desperately try to convince the world to act, but reporters focus on the more entertaining and superficial aspects of the story rather than its impending doom. Our hapless heroes also deal with politicians and corporate figureheads, both of whom downplay the menace of the situation and cynically try to make money off the upcoming impact.

• Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep
• Director: Adam McKay
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 138 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 55%

"Easy A" translates "The Scarlet Letter," a book about a woman shamed by Puritan hypocrites, into a contemporary high school story. Olive is an extremely bright and charming honor student. Not wanting to admit that her weekend was spent solo and at home, she lies and says she lost her virginity. A gossipy classmate makes sure everybody finds out, and soon, Olive is the subject of points and whispers. She decides to turn this to her advantage, and soon builds a scandalous reputation off her entirely fictional trysts. However, the whole scheme soon gets out of Olive's control — and the results are hilarious and endearing.

• Starring: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes
• Director: Will Gluck
• Year: 2010
• Runtime: 93 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

The Eurovision Song Contest sees (primarily) European countries send their best and brightest musical acts to compete for international glory. The most prominent Eurovision winner is ABBA, who best friends Lars and Sigrit idolize from the confines of their Icelandic fishing village. This duo plays hard-charging synth-pop and folk songs as a bar band called Fire Saga. Through a series of improbable, violent, and possibly elf-caused events, they wind up representing Iceland in Eurovision. This is an amazing opportunity — if Lars doesn't blow it, that is. Ferrell and McAdams are as silly and earnestly goofy as their songs are delightful and touching.

• Starring: Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams, Dan Stevens
• Director: David Dobkin
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 120 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 63%

At the peak of his comedy powers in the 1980s, Chevy Chase played smug, smirking, wisecracking guys a half-step ahead of their adversaries. He perfected that persona in "Fletch," which sees him portray Irwin M. "Fletch" Fletcher, an extremely crafty investigative reporter who behaves like a scrappy private eye more than a newsman. Fletch is enticed to murder a man for a big sum of money, but instead of delivering the hit, he looks into the story. He barely lets his allies or the audience in on his plan to get answers and save the day, but you can be sure there will be plenty of fake names, silly costumes, amusing dream sequences, and outlandish set pieces to enjoy along the way.

• Starring: Chevy Chase, Joe Don Baker, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson
• Director: Michael Ritchie
• Year: 1985
• Runtime: 98 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 77%

Radha Blank's "The Forty-Year-Old Version" isn't about new experiences, but reinvention of self — and the amusingly awkward and delightfully inspirational journey it takes to get to that point. Blank, a theatrical artist in real life, plays a version of herself who is ill at ease with the cliff of psychological reckoning that comes with turning the big 4-0. Rather than wallow or get down on herself about all that she hasn't achieved, Radha sets out to do something new by becoming a rapper.

• Starring: Radha Blank, Welker White, Reed Birney
• Director: Radha Blank
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 123 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%

"The Four Seasons" explores the rippling effects of divorce, particularly on the people in the splitting couple's orbit. It all centers around a friend group composed of three married couples. When one pair calls it quits, things get awkward. They've spent years taking trips together, and suddenly, their regular vacations have been upended. Things get especially uncomfortable when the divorced husband brings along his much younger second wife. What do friends owe to each other, and how does a group heal from such division? Finding out the answer is touching and hilarious.

• Starring: Alan Alda, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno
• Director: Alan Alda
• Year: 1981
• Runtime: 107 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75%

After helping to make "Stranger Things" a massive hit, Netflix let David Harbour star in this hilariously self-referential mockumentary. Harbour plays David Harbour III, a serious actor who discovers footage of a long-ago TV production of a play called "Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein." It stars his father, David Harbour Jr. (also Harbour), as Dr. Frankenstein. The movie proceeds to weave together footage of the humorously bad play with the present-day Harbour's experience of learning a lot about his strange father and what it means to devote one's life to acting.

• Starring: David Harbour, Alfred Molina, Kate Berlant
• Director: Daniel Gray Longino
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 28 minutes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

National Lampoon shaped American humor in the '70s and '80s with its edgy magazine, radio program, stage show, and branded movies. In all its forms, the Lampoon bore the influence and tastes of its co-founder, Doug Kenney, the central figure of the biopic "A Futile and Stupid Gesture." This film portrays Kenney's rise and most prominent work with depth and zeal, courtesy of Will Forte and a cast of comedy greats playing icons of yesteryear.

• Starring: Will Forte, Emmy Rossum, Domhnall Gleeson
• Director: David Wain
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 101 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 67%

In 2019, writer-director Rian Johnson scored a surprise hit with his original whodunit comedy "Knives Out." A sharp and clever mystery starring Daniel Craig as eccentric Southern detective Benoit Blanc, "Knives Out" leaves the door wide open for Benoit to return for future cases. Enter "Glass Onion," the first of two additional "Knives Out Mysteries" set to premiere on Netflix. Once again, Daniel Craig is joined by an all-star cast of delightful actors having the time of their lives. This go-round, a tech titan's murder mystery party is colliding with a mysterious death Benoit has been hired to investigate. Like "Knives Out," "Glass Onion" is whip-smart, grimly funny, and socially conscious, but it's also its own flavor of mystery, rather than a carbon copy of the original. If Johnson can keep this up, we could be enjoying new Benoit Blanc mysteries for years to come.

• Starring: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Dave Bautista
• Director: Rian Johnson
• Year: 2022
• Runtime: 140 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

"The Hangover," with its marketing materials depicting a trio of familiar comic actors looking beaten up from whatever happened to them the night before, only looks like a standard "Vegas, baby!" bro-down of a comedy. "The Hangover" is refreshingly strange and deeply compelling because it's really a mystery where the explanations unfold for the viewers at the same time that they do for the characters. 

Cocky Phil, nervous Stu, and weirdo Alan descend on Sin City for a bachelor party but wake up in their hotel suite with the groom-to-be missing, a tiger roaming around, a baby in their care, and with zero memory of what happened the previous evening. The clock is ticking for the guys to find their buddy, Doug, before the wedding and to also piece together where they've been, what they did, and who they wronged.

• Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis
• Director: Todd Phillips
• Year: 2009
• Runtime: 99 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%

Tween Ricky is a troublemaker who has bounced around the foster care system, ultimately winding up at the country home of Bella and Hec. The former wants to take him in, while the latter adamantly does not. Hec's iciness thaws, however, when he and Ricky end up lost in the woods, with neither they nor anybody else knowing exactly where they are. They aren't eager to seek out help from authorities who have done them wrong, so they remain on the run, slowly turning into local legends to everyone but the nasty caseworker who wants to lock them both up.

• Starring: Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata
• Director: Taika Waititi
• Year: 2016
• Runtime: 101 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Marla makes a fortune by posing as a kind-hearted caretaker of the elderly. In truth, through a network of medical and legal professionals, Marla throws her charges in a subpar assisted living facility, has them sedated, then sells their homes and takes the money. After she cynically submits a perfectly healthy woman to her process, however, Marla learns she's imprisoned the mother of a vindictive and violent crime boss. An increasingly absurd war breaks out between these two very driven and very shady businesspeople.

• Starring: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Dianne Wiest
• Director: J Blakeson
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 118 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%

"The Incredible Jessica James" subverts romantic comedy tropes to create a true-to-life picture of what it's like to get dumped, then find somebody new to make it all better. Jessica is a New York playwright muddling through life after an intense breakup. Then she meets an affable guy named Boone, who's also enduring heartbreak. They tentatively wind up together, and try not to make the same mistakes twice. But can anyone truly fall in love and protect their hearts in the process?

• Starring: Jessica Williams, Chris O'Dowd, Noel Wells
• Director: James C. Strouse
• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 85 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

Named for the classic film stock, the sweet and nostalgic "Kodachrome" revolves around a few of the last rolls in existence. Busy, distracted businessman Matt receives word from his father, a famous mid-century photographer, for the first time in years: He's dying of cancer, and his final wish is to visit the last Kodachrome processing lab in Kansas. Thus, father and son set out on a prickly and adventurous cross-country road trip to get some film developed and hash out their relationship.

• Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Ed Harris, Elizabeth Olsen
• Director: Mark Raso
• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 100 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 71%

"Life of Brian" tells the story of Christ through the story of Brian, who was born in a nearby manger on the first Christmas. Brian's life intertwines with and parallels that of his more-famous birthday twin in dozens of amusing ways: He becomes a revolutionary (of sorts), goes on the lam after he is caught doing graffiti, and eventually faces death by crucifixion. "Life of Brian" highlights the cruelty of Roman rulers in ancient times by making fun of it, with Brian enduring their vitriol right up until the end, when he hangs on a cross singing the cheerful tune, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."

• Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin
• Director: Terry Jones
• Year: 1979
• Runtime: 93 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

A cruise is a fruitful place for comedy: With nowhere to go, people can't help but connect. In "Like Father," Rachel, a workaholic executive, takes a call during her wedding, leading her groom-to-be to ditch her at the altar. Rachel goes on the honeymoon cruise anyway, and Harry, her estranged father who hasn't seen her since she was a toddler, heads on board too. It's painful and strange at first, but they actually manage to reconnect with the support of a number of colorful characters.

• Starring: Kristen Bell, Kelsey Grammer, Seth Rogen
• Director: Lauren Miller
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 103 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 46%

While it's about the possible rise of a new Antichrist, "Little Evil" is also a tender story about a blended family. Gary, a kind and sensitive guy, is desperate to connect with his wife's son from a previous relationship. But Lucas is a withdrawn and dark little boy, and he responds to his mother's new relationship by acting out. This behavior consists of truly evil stuff, like pouring lye on his teacher's face and hypnotizing her into jumping out a window. Lucas' real dad, it would seem, is the actual devil. Gary will need the help of his stepdad support group to both convince Lucas to let him in emotionally, and also stop the kid from bringing on the apocalypse.

• Starring: Adam Scott, Evangeline Lilly, Owen Atlas
• Director: Eli Craig
• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 94 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

Jason Mantzoukas usually plays unhinged, wild-eyed wild cards who live life by their own rules with no regard for consequences or their own safety, such as on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "The League" and in movies like "The House" and "Dirty Grandpa." In "The Long Dumb Road," that brand of Mantouzkas character is elevated from supporting player to focal point in this duo comedy and road movie about living life to the fullest and taking ridiculous chances. Richard, fired and down on his luck again, convinces Nat, an unwitting college kid on his way to art school thousands of miles away, to bring him along as a passenger and companion. Nat learns how to be less sheltered and frightened from Richard, and Richard learns from Nat how to be a little bit less unbearable.

• Starring: Tony Revolori, Jason Mantzoukas, Taissa Farmiga
• Director: Hannah Fidell
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 90 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75%

"Long Story Short" is a science fiction romantic comedy with some impossibly high stakes. On the day after he happily marries his one true love, regular guy Teddy realizes that every couple of minutes, he heads another year into the future. Time can certainly feel like it flies when life is good, but for Teddy, his life is literally passing before his eyes. Can he learn to make every moment of every day count — even after he gets a glimpse of the loss and regret his future may hold?

• Starring: Rafe Spall, Zahra Newman, Ronny Chieng
• Director: Josh Lawson
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 100 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 50%

Christopher Guest pioneered the modern mockumentary, utilizing the faux-journalistic approach to explore and tease very specific subcultures and phenomena. After appearing in the heavy metal send-up "This is Spinal Tap" and directing "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show," Guest took on the surprisingly complicated and utterly weird world of sports mascots in "Mascots." Set at a mascot competition, it follows nerds and goofballs from all over the world who gather to show off their talents for dancing around awkwardly and waving to the crowd from inside giant, hot animal costumes. The humorous absurdity of the situation takes center stage, but the drama, intrigue, and stakes aren't far behind.

• Starring: Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Zach Woods
• Director: Christopher Guest
• Year: 2016
• Runtime: 95 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 48%

A low-key, charming, and music-themed high school comedy, "Metal Lords" follows Hunter, a kid who loves the darkest and loudest metal bands so much, he wants to start his own group. He gets his best friend Kevin to play the drums, because he rocks the bass drum in their school's marching band. Over time, they develop their sound and approach, which really comes together with the addition of an extremely anxious cello player named Emily. They just might have what it takes to keep the band together — at least until a pivotal Battle of the Bands.

• Starring: Jaeden Martell, Isis Hainsworth, Adrian Greensmith
• Director: Peter Sollett
• Year: 2022
• Runtime: 98 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 63%

Julian Barratt, a cult comedy icon for his work on "The Mighty Boosh," co-wrote "Mindhorn," a deft and off-kilter movie about a washed-up TV actor. Richard Thorncroft is long past his '80s heyday, which saw him play a cybernetic detective on the sci-fi police show "Mindhorn." Things change when a man escapes a mental health institution and commits a murder, however. He'll cooperate with authorities, but only if he can negotiate with Mindhorn, who isn't real. Thus, Richard gets back into character, returns to the old stomping grounds where the show was shot, and helps the police, despite having no actual investigative skills.

• Starring: Julian Barratt, Essie Davis, Andrea Riseborough
• Director: Sean Foley
• Year: 2016
• Runtime: 89 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

"The Mitchells vs. the Machines" is a wildly funny sci-fi comedy infused with the chaos of internet memes and YouTube culture. The Mitchells are an all-American family embarking on a road trip before eldest child Katie leaves for college. Things are a bit tense when they set out, thanks to a father-daughter fight, but this conflict is soon topped by an all-out robot uprising. After managing to escape capture, the Mitchells realize they might be the only people who can save the world — but can they overcome their own issues to do so? "The Mitchells vs. The Machines" is heartwarming, action-packed, and side-splittingly funny.

• Starring: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph
• Director: Mike Rianda
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 114 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

In their first feature film, the Monty Python comedy troupe turned its attention away from mocking contemporary British life to skewering national mythology — specifically, the stories of the mighty and brave King Arthur. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" revolves around Arthur's quest to obtain the chalice from which Christ and his disciples drank at the Last Supper, but that's really just a way to string together a bunch of sketches set in medieval times. The argument about swallows carrying coconuts, the duel with the easily sliced-through Black Knight, the killer bunnies, and those knights who nonsensically scream "Ni!" have all become classic for very good reason.

• Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle
• Director: Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
• Year: 1975
• Runtime: 90 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Noël Wells, who had a brief but memorable stint on "Saturday Night Live" in the mid-2010s, wrote, directed, and stars in "Mr. Roosevelt," a comedy about mid-20s life slumps and how one can't really go home again. Emily, a wannabe comedian who moved to Los Angeles to make it big, gets a chance to recharge when a call regarding her cat summons her home to Austin. Instead of proving what a big shot she is, she suffers one humiliation after another — the biggest of which involves having to stay at the home of her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend.

• Starring: Noël Wells, Carley Wolf, Nick Thune
• Director: Noël Wells
• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 90 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

The quintessential rowdy college comedy, "Animal House" takes place in the fictional Faber College's most notoriously debauched fraternity house, circa 1962. A mix of sarcastic schemers and inebriated slobs, Delta Tau Chi is devoted to partying nonstop and outsmarting the nefarious dean, who's desperate to shut down the frat for good. These collegiate miscreants won't go down easily, despite their "double secret probation." Watching them wage audacious war against the establishment remains as entertaining today as it was when the film debuted.

• Starring: John Belushi, Donald Sutherland, Tim Matheson
• Director: John Landis
• Year: 1978
• Runtime: 109 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

A riff on buddy cop movies, "The Nice Guys" is also a stalwart action-comedy in and of itself. Set in a stylized 1970s Los Angeles, this movie teams up two guys who'd normally have no business associating with one another: good-hearted but violent enforcer Jackson Healy and drunk private detective and distracted dad Holland March. They're tasked with investigating the death of an adult film star, which pulls them deep into a kooky conspiracy as shocking and improbable as it is hilarious and complex.

• Starring: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice
• Director: Shane Black
• Year: 2016
• Runtime: 116 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

Sherman Klump is a genius scientist and university professor who is self-conscious about his body. After a date goes very poorly, he decides to test his unproven weight loss potion on himself. Sherman quickly sheds more than 200 pounds and develops a competitive and oppositional alter ego named Buddy Love. Buddy is an arrogant and obnoxious jerk, but he's also charming and self-assured. As he takes over and starts to ruin Sherman's life, Sherman comes to regret his outrageous actions — but is it too late to change?

• Starring: Eddie Murphy, Jada Pinkett Smith, James Coburn
• Director: Tom Shadyac
• Year: 1996
• Runtime: 96 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 64%

Sometimes, "Parenthood" is extremely funny. Other times, it's gut-wrenchingly moving. This effectively captures the real-life journey of — you guessed it — parenthood. A huge cast of familiar faces play the large Buckman family, whose personal stories about the struggles of raising children all intertwine. "Parenthood" shows that parenthood never really ends, even after the kids are grown, as different members of the family deal with fussy teens, abandonment, mental health, aging, and marital problems. But "Parenthood" is also a comedy. It delights in the glorious absurdity of having kids and trying (often in vain) to rear them right.

• Starring: Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Mary Steenburgen
• Director: Ron Howard
• Year: 1989
• Runtime: 124 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

This adaptation of the cult classic comic book series stars Scott, a kind-of-cool, kind-of-nerdy guy who's content to hang with his friends, play video games, rock out with his band, and grow increasingly bored with the girlfriend who worships him. But then the seemingly unattainable Ramona Flowers enters his life. To win the heart of the aloof and impossibly cool woman of his dreams, he must defeat (in a series of video game-esque challenges) her seven evil exes. None of them are over Ramona, and all are willing to fight to the death for her.

• Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin
• Director: Edgar Wright
• Year: 2010
• Runtime: 112 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%

Harper and Charlie both work too many hours a day as personal assistants to their demanding bosses, editor Kirsten and businessman Rick. After they bump into each other, the hapless underlings realize that if they can get their bosses to focus their energies elsewhere, they'll earn themselves a work respite and regular schedules. Thus, Harper and Charlie conspire to set Kirsten and Rick up. But the relationship is messy — as is the romance that develops between the assistants themselves.

• Starring: Zoey Deutch, Glen Powell, Lucy Liu
• Director: Claire Scanlon
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 105 minutes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

This witty, dynamic, and just plain fun romantic comedy comes straight from one of the 20th century's best filmmakers — who also co-stars as his mischievous Mars Blackmon character. Shot in glorious black-and-white on a tiny budget, "She's Gotta Have It" follows the romantic travails of Nola Darling, an artist at a crossroads in her young adult life. What kind of man does she want to be with? She decides to compare and contrast between the three guys she's dating: Rich but pompous Greer, solid but sexist Jamie, and sweet and nerdy Mars. Who will she choose? How can she choose?

• Starring: Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell
• Director: Spike Lee
• Year: 1986
• Runtime: 84 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

"The Sleepover" is an action movie that puts kids in the middle of its high-octane happenings. When a gaggle of suburban children learn their parents have been kidnapped, they're thrust into the world of international crime. Their mother, it turns out, is actually a reformed master thief who went into witness protection and married their dorky dad. Now she's being forced by her old heist team to steal a priceless artifact from a dignitary — but not if her kids have anything to say about it. High-level hijinks from not-so-hapless little ones ensue.

• Starring: Malin Akerman, Ken Marino, Sadie Stanley
• Director: Trish Sie
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 100 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%

Judd Apatow specializes in comedies about not quite-fully-grown men. "This is 40" is an intimate epic about one such character reckoning with middle age. Pete and his wife Debbie seem to have it all figured out. But just below the surface, everything is in chaos. They've both got major issues at work to deal with, their bratty kids are acting up, and even their elderly parents are misbehaving. This makes them too exhausted to spend much time on themselves, or each other. This is all too familiar to many viewers, who will find themselves laughing in sympathy and recognition.

• Starring: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, John Lithgow
• Director: Judd Apatow
• Year: 2012
• Runtime: 133 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 51%

High schooler Lara Jean Covey is prone to brief but intense crushes on her male classmates, which she works through by writing passionate love letters she never sends. Looking to inject some excitement into her sibling's life, Lara Jean's sister Kitty steals the love notes and sends them to their hypothetical recipients. Lara Jean must quickly develop the self-assurance and communication skills to navigate the romantic minefield laid out before her, which may lead to true love.

• Starring: Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, John Corbett
• Director: Susan Johnson
• Year: 2018
• Runtime: 99 minutes
• Rating: TV-14
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

"Twins" begins as a sight gag and winds up being a cute and goofy buddy comedy set against the backdrop of superficial 1980s Los Angeles. Julius and Vincent are physical opposites, but they're also long-lost fraternal twins — and the result of a mysterious genetic experiment. After they reconnect as adults, sheltered and innocent Julius learns how the modern world works from low-level criminal Vincent. Wackiness ensues as this unlikely duo learns to love each other despite their vast differences.

• Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Kelly Preston
• Director: Ivan Reitman
• Year: 1988
• Runtime: 112 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 42%

This movie acts as a series finale to the wonderfully silly "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," a sitcom about a woman kept in an underground bunker for two decades. Kimmy explores the world with wonder and excitement, but also faces her recurring nemesis, the charismatic cult leader who kept her prisoner. He's always evaded punishment for his horrendous crimes, but in "Kimmy vs the Reverend," Kimmy finally gets a chance to take him down. Or rather, the viewer does, because this is a choose-your-own-adventure style interactive movie: The person holding the remote (or mouse) decides at intervals what Kimmy (in possession of an actual choose-your-own-adventure-style novel) should do next.

• Starring: Ellie Kemper, Tituss Burgess, Jon Hamm
• Director: Claire Scanlon
• Year: 2020
• Runtime: 80 minutes
• Rating: NR
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

This adaptation of Don DeLillo's classic novel finds the humor in society's absurdity. It feels like life is ending for college professor Jack Gladney, and his family knows it. All anyone can really do is point at that trouble, bemusedly wonder, and silently laugh. The blended Gladney family's happy but superficial existence of voracious media and processed goods consumption is interrupted when an "airborne toxic event" leaves a poisonous cloud hanging in the sky, forcing evacuation and re-evaluation. This also leads to a confrontation with some seriously sketchy figures over a pharmaceutical that purports to cure the fear of death. So yes, "White Noise" is a comedy — but an extremely dark one.

• Starring: Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle
• Director: Noah Baumbach
• Year: 2022
• Runtime: 136 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 63%

Right from the jump, it's clear that hapless doofus Eddie Garrett is going to lose everything — and then some. For some baffling reason, a guy about to be incarcerated for a lengthy period of time asks Eddie to keep an eye on a mysterious duffel bag. Eddie's curiosity gets the best of him, and he takes a look at the bag's contents. It's full of cash. Once more unable to get out of his own way, Eddie takes that money and gambles it all away very quickly. Left with no money and much debt, Eddie is in over his head — and the stress only gets worse when he finds out his acquaintance is up for early release. Can he win the money back? Finding out the answer to that question is hysterical.

• Starring: Jake Johnson, Keegan-Michael Key, Joe Lo Truglio
• Director: Joe Swanberg
• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 90 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

What does one get when they compile a cast of women who starred on or wrote for "Saturday Night Live" in the 1990s and 2000s? They get "Wine Country," a loosely plotted series of delightful conversations, bits, and excursions into boozy Napa Valley, featuring extremely funny people playing fictionalized versions of themselves. Gathering to celebrate a birthday, this group of friends analyzes past relationships and tensions, reckons with the joys and difficulties of aging, and gets silly after way too many glasses of wine, over and over again.

• Starring: Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Paula Pell
• Director: Amy Poehler
• Year: 2019
• Runtime: 103 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 66%

A zombie movie that's light on gore and heavy on reflection on the absurdity of surviving the apocalypse, "Zombieland" is a very funny and incredibly unique adventure comedy. To keep their anonymity, dignity, and self-preservation intact, survivors of this movie's undead nightmare identify themselves only by their hometowns. Our central group is hopelessly mismatched, particularly the low-key, rule-abiding college student Columbus and gun-toting rebel Tallahassee. Their ragtag band soon grows with the tough duo of Wichita and Little Rock. Despite their differences, they grow fond of each other as they roam the wastelands in search of food, supplies, and, inexplicably, Bill Murray.

• Starring: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone
• Director: Ruben Fleischer
• Year: 2009
• Runtime: 87 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%