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BBC asked 253 critics to determine the best comedies ever made. The results are...

R

Rupetta

Member
UK/Ireland list
1 Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
2 This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)
3 Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
4 Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson, 1987)
5 Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
6 Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971)
7 Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, 1980)
8 The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1998)
9 Life of Brian (Terry Jones, 1979)
10 The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941)

11 Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
12 Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)
13 Team America: World Police (Trey Parker, 2004)
14 The General (Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton, 1926)
15 When Harry Met Sally... (Rob Reiner, 1989)
16 Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016)
17 Sons of the Desert (William A. Seiter, 1933)
18 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Adam McKay, 2004)
19 Trading Places (John Landis, 1983)
20 Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)

21 The Producers (Mel Brooks, 1967)
22 Mean Girls (Mark Waters, 2004)
23 Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles, 2006)
24 Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949)
25 The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
26 Bridesmaids (Paul Feig, 2011)
27 Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004)
28 Sherlock Jr (Buster Keaton, 1924)
29 South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Trey Parker, 1999)
30 The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel, 1972)

Some interesting differences between UK/US rankings:
UK
4 Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson, 1987) - missing in US top 100
13 Team America: World Police (Trey Parker, 2004) - missing in US top 100
16 Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016) - missing in US top 100
17 Sons of the Desert (William A. Seiter, 1933) - missing in US top 100
23 Borat- missing in US top 100

US
8. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, 1975) - missing in UK top 100
11 Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974) - missing in UK top 100
16 Raising Arizona (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1987) - missing in UK top 100
18 Animal House (John Landis, 1978) - missing in UK top 100
20 My Man Godfrey (Gregory La Cava, 1936) - - missing in UK top 100
19 To Be or Not To Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1942) - missing in UK top 100
24 Caddyshack (Harold Ramis, 1980) - missing in UK top 100
 
S

Sgt. Kabukiman

Banned
metalgear89 said:
Created by the same people who do the oscars.
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BBC said:
It's certainly true that the Academy Awards have routinely overlooked comedy. Of the 89 winners for best picture, only seven can really be called comedies: It Happened One Night, You Can't Take It With You, Around the World in 80 Days, The Apartment, Tom Jones, Annie Hall, and Birdman.

So this year BBC Culture decided to get serious about comedy. We asked 253 film critics – 118 women and 135 men – from 52 countries and six continents a simple: ”What do you think are the 10 best comedies of all time?"

And guess what? Only three of those best picture-winning comedies made the top 100.
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Greedings said:
Top 10 comedies I've never seen because I'm not 70 years old.
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BBC said:
But, in a surprise, quite a few comedies made since 2000 made the cut, even if they had been overlooked in our 100 greatest films of the 21st Century list last year. The highest-ranked film of this century is Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy at number 33. Toni Erdmann is the most recent film to make the top 100, while Safety Last! is the oldest.
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Put more effort into your shitposts people.
 
N

Neith

Banned
Greedings said:
Top 10 comedies I've never seen because I'm not 70 years old.
Click to expand...

A lot of that stuff is really good, but even I haven't seen that 30s stuff and I highly doubt I would ever place it there anyway.

Also, people, this list is not that bad. It's actually fairly well rounded to be quite honest, with just a touch too much of the 30s and 40s stuff, which is probably not really all that funny or charming anymore.

But the Tati and Chaplin stuff has to stay IMO.
 
P

Peru

Member
Golden age Hollywood was without a doubt the peak period for mainstream comedies. I'm glad the Marx bros are in the top 10 but I have literally hundreds of candidates from 1930-1960 that I could add to the top 10.

The biggest tragedy in modern film consumption is that streaming services are so shit at offering classics - now that a wider audience than ever can watch films at the click of a button, they're less likely than ever to discover that "old movies" can be as gripping and relevant as modern ones.
 
M

Messofanego

Banned
Peru said:
Golden age Hollywood was without a doubt the peak period for mainstream comedies. I'm glad the Marx bros are in the top 10 but I have literally hundreds of candidates from 1930-1960 that I could add to the top 10.

The biggest tragedy in modern film consumption is that streaming services are so shit at offering classics - now that a wider audience than ever can watch films at the click of a button, they're less likely than ever to discover that "old movies" can be as gripping and relevant as modern ones.
Click to expand...

Does TCM have a streaming service or VOD option?
 
kruis

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
Neith said:
A lot of that stuff is really good, but even I haven't seen that 30s stuff and I highly doubt I would ever place it there anyway.

Also, people, this list is not that bad. It's actually fairly well rounded to be quite honest, with just a touch too much of the 30s and 40s stuff, which is probably not really all that funny or charming anymore.

But the Tati and Chaplin stuff has to stay IMO.
Click to expand...

Sigh. Don't shit on movies you never saw.
 
M

Mett

Member
63. Arsenic and Old Lace (Frank Capra, 1944)

Just recently watched this for the first time, makes me happy to see it on there. :)
 
Greedings

Greedings

Member
Neith said:
A lot of that stuff is really good, but even I haven't seen that 30s stuff and I highly doubt I would ever place it there anyway.

Also, people, this list is not that bad. It's actually fairly well rounded to be quite honest, with just a touch too much of the 30s and 40s stuff, which is probably not really all that funny or charming anymore.

But the Tati and Chaplin stuff has to stay IMO.
Click to expand...

I mean, most of that stuff up to the 70s I just don't like. I've seen a few comedies such as Some Like it Hot, but I didn't laugh once.

Not to mention even with the 70s stuff there's so much reliance on innuendo, which frankly is just not funny any more.
 
C

Conciliator

Banned
so I've seen Some Like It Hot and the only thing to me that really stands out about is that Marilyn Monroe is very fuckable. Like even in a world with infinite porn, she just has a presence that makes my straight male boner brain tell me I'm witnessing art.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
Greedings said:
Not to mention even with the 70s stuff there's so much reliance on innuendo, which frankly is just not funny any more.
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Why ? Innuendo is timeless and a very popular kind of comedy. Especially since it allows for slow burning jokes, that become funnier the more you think about them.
As a matter of fact many modern comedies would be better if they were more subtle in their delivery.
 
M

mxgt

Banned
hehe no happy madison on this list/1/1 what a joke xD

First few pages of this thread are depressing, so many gaffers with trash movie taste but that was already known.
 
C

Creaking

He touched the black heart of a mod
Surprised Team America is there, and even higher on the UK/Ireland list. It had a nice handful of memorable gags, but the movie on the whole is pretty stilted. A lot of awkward timings, I felt.
 
S

StaffyManasse

Member
No Pink Panther?!

tumblr_mi73auoEqq1re3x32o1_500.gif
 
S

Screaming Meat

Unconfirmed Member
Greedings said:
Top 10 comedies I've never seen because I'm not 70 years old.
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Weird thing about how films work: you can usually watch them long after they originally came out.

No, really. I can and have watched films that are older than I am. Didn't even need a time machine or anything.

I know it sounds crazy, but it's true!
 
H

hiredhand

Member
Creaking said:
Surprised Team America is there, and even higher on the UK/Ireland list. It had a nice handful of memorable gags, but the movie on the whole is pretty stilted. A lot of awkward timings, I felt.
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That is really not that surprising considering Team America is basically a Thunderbirds parody.
 
Q

Qasiel

Member
Bridesmaids better than The Hangover? Hudson Hawk missing?

Rubbish list is rubbish. (Although Spinal Tap in top 10 is pretty ok by me)
 
S

syllogism

Member
The number of posters proclaiming the list is awful due to not seeing most of the movies is hysterical and embarrassing. One guy even implied that the list is awful due to him not seeing most of them and then went on to say that the two he had seen out of the top ten were funny as hell.
 
D

Dali

Member
ambar_hitman said:
Lmao at Pulp Fiction in the list. Wtf
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In hindsight there are a lot of hilarious scenes in that movie. Off the top of my head:

I just shot Marvin in the face scene.
What does marcelis wallace look like scene.
The two ball gagged in basement exchanging wtf looks scene.
The ensuing Bruce Willis taking his sweet time to pick the proper murder weapon while you hear zed sounding like he's at a rodeo in the background scene.
The opening scene about the origins of the ass watch.
 
F

Fancy Clown

Member
syllogism said:
The number of posters proclaiming the list is awful due to not seeing most of the movies is hysterical and embarrassing.
Click to expand...

People get embarrassed because they feel stupid for not having seen any of this stuff so then they get all hot n bothered and call it "pretentious" and start flaunting their own ignorance cuz that's all they got to add to the conversation
 
M

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Even thinking about Spinal Tap makes me burst out laughing. If anybody has been wanting a sequel, then listen to it's commentary track.

The only thing I have ever seen that's even close is The Book of Mormon, which obviously isn't a movie (yet).
 
Greedings

Greedings

Member
Inferno313 said:
Seen plenty of these, and I'm 24.

Watch more old movies.
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I don't find old comedies funny. I've seen plenty of older movies, but the comedy generally falls flat for me. I can respect movies that were made in their time, and understand why they made those choices, but my sense of humour does not change.

Alx said:
Why ? Innuendo is timeless and a very popular kind of comedy. Especially since it allows for slow burning jokes, that become funnier the more you think about them.
As a matter of fact many modern comedies would be better if they were more subtle in their delivery.
Click to expand...

Really? Innuendo is lazy. The implication of sex isn't funny. Sex isn't taboo.
 
B

bomma_man

Member
Fancy Clown said:
People get embarrassed because they feel stupid for not having seen any of this stuff so then they get all hot n bothered and call it "pretentious" and start flaunting their own ignorance cuz that's all they got to add to the conversation
Click to expand...

You just explained American politics
 
O

ozz ex machina

Member
I'd have Manhattan over or at least up there with Annie Hall. List was to be expected.

I find it highly amusing that Borat and Team America don't make it into the US top 100. Sums America up nicely really, though I would have expected American critics to at least be self aware enough to appreciate how brilliant both those films are.

I think it's important to note that these are film critics, not comedians/comic writers. My favourite film critics, I usually end up disagreeing with them exclusively on comedy films. It's a lot more subjective and generational.

I'm not sure how Sideways and Lost in Translation didn't make the list. Both funnier than a lot of the films listed on there.
 
S

Steamlord

Member
I do find it pretty odd that Chaplin didn't make the top ten. But then I'm biased since Modern Times is my favorite comedy of all time.
 
F

Firemind

Member
ozz ex machina said:
I find it highly amusing that Borat and Team America don't make it into the US top 100. Sums America up nicely really, though I would have expected American critics to at least be self aware enough to appreciate how brilliant both those films are.
Click to expand...
And Holy Grail over Life of Brian. Probably because it mocks religion.
 
T

Triteon

Member
The larger list is all over the place. So many movies i personally dont think hold up and i like older movies.


Some have almost no redeeming qualities, Tootsie is garbage tier for example, may as well have Night Shift or Risky Business.

Also alot of the movies are cross genre, a good example is singing in the rain. Its a good film but its not a good film because of the humour.

Also not seeing Pink Panther anywhere is a fucking travesty for this kind of list.
 
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