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

B

Bloodporne

Member
Not even close to "should be on the list", but I recently saw 200 Cigarettes again and the Scottish guy and Dave Chappelle are the only good moments here.

Oh and the fact that Christina Ricci's accent is supposed to be a girl from Ronkonkoma...holy lord.
 
kruis

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
bishopcruz said:
No Planes, Trains, and Automobiles? FUCK THIS LIST.

And Big Lebowski continues to be overrated, fucking 11 on the list? That's insane.
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Planes Trains and Automobiles should have made the list.

I'd have liked to see Victor Victoria, Little Shop of Horrors and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on it too.
 
P

Plum

Member
Bronx-Man said:
A couple of people are saying otherwise, but the main problem with this list isn't "Old shit suxx", it's that there's really good comedies from this era that deserve high spots too.
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There's a difference between suggesting more comedies to add to an already great list of comedies...

...and dismissing said list in its entirety because a few movies you liked weren't, for many possible reasons, not on or high enough on the list.
 
J

Jarmel

Banned
Plum said:
Satire is comedy. Even if American Psycho wasn't a comedy, it had a tiny minority of the votes, it says nothing about the overall list and doesn't justify your dismissal of it.
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I went through the individual lists and while there are some weird and nonsensical picks along with ones I disagree with, it's their opinion. The bigger problem is a structural one in that since they limited each critic to only ten, certain films that might not have been their favorite, get ignored altogether. I think it might be sort of all over the place because of that.

It's also interesting to read how Asian critics preferred older films possibly because of less of a language barrier. I wonder if an US only critic list would be drastically different and possibly closer to what people in here are expecting.
 
B

big ander

Member
Bronx-Man said:
A couple of people are saying otherwise, but the main problem with this list isn't "Old shit suxx", it's that there's really good comedies from this era that deserve high spots too.
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there are 13 movies from 2000 and after, and a bunch more from the late '90s. So roughly a seventh of the list could be said to belong to "this era." seems pretty equitable to me?
LookAtMeGo said:
Fucking old movies suck ass. 1959? 1930 something? Fuck outa here. Critics are the worst.
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one day you'll be 70 and you'll be ranting about how no comedy from today touches the grace and supreme wit of 2005's "Wedding Crashers" and children will tell you to shut up, old movies suck ass, because from their limited perspective the newly released Deadpool Meets the [all male again] Ghostbusters is the funniest movie ever
 
B

Bread

Banned
radioactivez0r said:
You guys should check out Duck Soup if you haven't seen it. It's fucking great.
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giphy.gif
 
P

Plum

Member
Jarmel said:
I went through the individual lists and while there are some weird and nonsensical picks along with ones I disagree with, it's their opinion. The bigger problem is a structural one in that since they limited each critic to only ten, certain films that might not have been their favorite, get ignored altogether. I think it might be sort of all over the place because of that.

It's also interesting to read how Asian critics preferred older films possibly because of less of a language barrier.
Click to expand...

It's not like they were dishonest about how the list was made. Lists with a bunch of people voting, especially in such a relatively niche group as film critics, will always omit some things and place some things in the "wrong place."

That's just the nature of things, to complain about it is just silly to me as all this list is is a way for people to easily broaden their horizons. Instead people see it as an insult that a film they've already seen and already love isn't on there to vindicate their personal opinions.
 
C

Citizen Mane

Member
goodfella said:
If this was a topic about games, the reaction in this thread would be the same as "Where is COD Black Ops 3?... and no Battlefield 1!? FUCK THIS LIST. Who voted for Half Life, some fucking 80yr old?"
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A lot of people here can't be bothered to watch something if it doesn't have a lightsaber or a dude in a cape, it's sad to see.

Lot's of incredible films in this list, people should give them a shot.
 
J

Jarmel

Banned
Plum said:
It's not like they were dishonest about how the list was made. Lists with a bunch of people voting, especially in such a relatively niche group as film critics, will always omit some things and place some things in the "wrong place."

That's just the nature of things, to complain about it is just silly to me as all this list is is a way for people to easily broaden their horizons. Instead people see it as an insult that a film they've already seen and already love isn't on there to vindicate their personal opinions.
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I think it's an age and culture gap. You can tell the age of a lot of the critics just by going through their lists and I even googled a few of them to be sure. I'm not sure though how much value a list like this has as comedy is extremely subjective and as BBC wrote, can vary drastically depending on your region. It seems like it would have been more beneficial to do multiple countries separately and focus in on regions rather than throwing everybody in together. That way it could be more tailored and beneficial as a watchlist.
 
P

Platy

Member
Storks made me laugh more than half of their top10 ... that should have been enoght warning that I would not agree with the rest =P
 
Strangelove77

Strangelove77

Member
I knew it'd be a shit list. That's the BBC for you.

And I say this as someone who loves Dr. Strangelove and really likes Spinal Tap.
 
L

liquidtmd

Banned
Citizen Mane said:
A lot of people here can't be bothered to watch something if it doesn't have a lightsaber or a dude in a cape, it's sad to see.

Lot's of incredible films in this list, people should give them a shot.
Click to expand...

There's a lot of incredible posters very knowledge about film on GAF, you should give them a shot
 
B

badcrumble

Member
Thornton Reed said:
Are we all in agreement that hot fuzz is the best in the cornetto trilogy?
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it's the least introspective/self-critical Edgar Wright film and his more recent films are definitely superior as action movies but it's also the most perfectly polished and the funniest of his films, so it depends on what you're after I think
 
E

EGM1966

Member
I get people leaning to more recent stuff they've seen but c'mon - you can't argue that the films you like are better then admit you haven't actually seen the older films.

That;s just admitting your point is without merit. If you want to claim Hot Fuzz is better than Duck Soup you need to have seen both of them not just Hot Fuzz.

List I expect skews this way due to how it was compiled (if I only had limited slots I'd be picking absolute classics too) and the fact critics tend to skew to films felt to have stood test of time vs newer stuff that recency alone makes seem better but fades over time.

That said I do think looking at the date skew they may have overdone the exclusion of recent titles somewhat.

Top 10 are also acknowledged classics in the medium though so it's not a huge surprise.
 
S

Slackbladder

Member
I've seen them all except the Jacque Tatti film and I'd put 4 of them in my top ten ( Life of Brian, This is Spinal Tap, Dr Strangelove and Airplane!). But then I'm old and can remember a lot of these films on release.
Pretty much all my favourite comedy films are in the 100 with a few exceptions which isn't surprising.
 
B

Bronx-Man

Banned
goodfella said:
If this was a topic about games, the reaction in this thread would be the same as "Where is COD Black Ops 3?... and no Battlefield 1!? FUCK THIS LIST. Who voted for Half Life, some fucking 80yr old?"
Click to expand...

If these critics made the same list of the best 100 games, stuff like Dark Souls, Breath of the Wild, or SOTC wouldn't even be on here while Asteroids and Space Invaders would be in the top 5.
 
C

Catvoca

Banned
My list would look different, and include more recent films, but this is still pretty solid.

Lol at all the "the list is garbage I haven't seen any of the top 10!" comments. Maybe watch those movies and see how good they are then.
 
B

BriareosGAF

Member
Slackbladder said:
I've seen them all except the Jacque Tatti film and I'd put 4 of them in my top ten ( Life of Brian, This is Spinal Tap, Dr Strangelove and Airplane!). But then I'm old and can remember a lot of these films on release.
Pretty much all my favourite comedy films are in the 100 with a few exceptions which isn't surprising.
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Yup, 40 years old, have seen all except Tatti also, this top ten looks pretty spot on, although I'd put Grail higher as it's the hardest I've ever personally laughed at something. And yes I've seen Hot Fuzz.

Dr. Strangelove is my favorite Kubrick film, but I don't find it even remotely funny. Not a chuckle in sight.
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Like insofar as it's so dark it's not funny? I mean, "doomsday gap"? Peter Sellers fighting his hand?
 
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