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

Vigilant Walrus

Vigilant Walrus

Member
Not a fan of the list, but Some Like It Hot, is really an excellent pick for number 1.

I saw it years ago, and was totally amazed by it. It was weird to see a film do cross dressing so much better than what you have today. Priscilla, Queen of the Desert might be the only film that comes to mind, that I like more, though that is about drag, not heteros in disguise.

Some like it Hot, really has an insane comedic timing. I had no idea it would be that good.
 
P

Plum

Member
Much of this thread is like the reverse of that Principle Skinner image

"Am I out of touch with comedy from before the mid 1980s?"

"No, it's the elderly who are wrong!"

Go watch some of the comedies in the list you haven't watched yet, you might be surprised that they're actually pretty damn good. Whilst you may disagree with the list, or think it narrow-minded, facing said disagreement with narrow-mindedness of your own is just strange. It's as irritating as people turning their noses up at black and white or, worse, silent films because they're not modern enough.
 
Y

yanipheonu

Member
I won't lie, I didn't like Airplane! that much. through comedy's always tricky, it's just so subjective.

Really need to watch Spinal Tap, been on the backlog for a while. Might be a good time to finally watch...
 
B

badcrumble

Member
putting Keaton above Chaplin is a pretty bold move but The General is definitely his funniest (I'd say Gold Rush isn't Chaplin's best movie but it's his funniest)
 
B

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
kunonabi said:
Top ten is a pretty solid to be honest.
Click to expand...

agreed. I'm guessing most of the complaints in here are from people who as a rule don't watch anything earlier than like 5-10 years after they were born (which is a surprising number of people)

MetroidPrimeRib said:
Spaceballs is good but it doesn't touch some of the other Mel Brooks stuff
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seriously, it is easily among his worst. I mean still funny and pretty good... but in a Brooks marathon I probably wouldn't even miss it if we ran out of time.
 
S

Sgt. Kabukiman

Banned
Plum said:
Much of this thread is like the reverse of that Principle Skinner image

"Am I out of touch with comedy from before the mid 1980s?"

"No, it's the elderly who are wrong!"

Go watch some of the comedies in the top 10, you might be surprised that they're actually pretty damn good. Whilst you may disagree with the list, or think it narrow-minded, facing said disagreement with narrow-mindedness of your own is just strange. It's as irritating as people turning their noses up at black and white or, worse, silent films because they're not modern enough.
Click to expand...

This.
We all have our nitpicks with the list of course but some of the posts in here are quite disappointing. Guys, people knew how to tell jokes in the 1930s. You should watch some of the films on that list, you might be surprised. Including something like Duck Soup is not being a snob or a pretentious movie critic. Hell, that entire movie is pretty fucking stupid. But it's a masterpiece of comedy.
 
P

Patrick Bateman

Member
yanipheonu said:
I won't lie, I didn't like Airplane! that much. through comedy's always tricky, it's just so subjective.

Really need to watch Spinal Tap, been on the backlog for a while. Might be a good time to finally watch...
Click to expand...

Airplane! is one of the greatest movies ever made. It's stuffed with gags, puns and suggestive remarks. And it shits on the "comedy" of people like Will Ferrell etc.

blakep267 said:
Yeah I mean Coming to America, trading places, Beverly Hills cop. You gotta have 2/3 Eddie Murphy movies
Click to expand...

Probably the holy trinity of Eddie Murphy-movies.
 
D

DasPenguin

Member
Nothing wrong with old movies like Blazing Saddles, for example. But Jim Carrey has zero movies on that list. Harry and Lloyd deserve better.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
blakep267 said:
Yeah I mean Coming to America, trading places, Beverly Hills cop. You gotta have 2/3 Eddie Murphy movies
Click to expand...

It was an international panel of critics, and I don't think that Eddie Murphy movies are that appreciated outside of the US. Neither is typical American slapstick like Wayne's World or Dumb & Dumber.
 
F

Firemind

Member
The Jackdog said:
does it make a critic just not cool if they include anything from the year 2000+?

great movies in the top ten, i just always find these lists weird, as if they are saying nothing that tops those movies has come out in like 30 years. idk about that

first one is 33. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Adam McKay, 2004)
Click to expand...
Life of Brian is timeless
 
J

Jarmel

Banned
Plum said:
Much of this thread is like the reverse of that Principle Skinner image

"Am I out of touch with comedy from before the mid 1980s?"

"No, it's the elderly who are wrong!"

Go watch some of the comedies in the list you haven't watched yet, you might be surprised that they're actually pretty damn good. Whilst you may disagree with the list, or think it narrow-minded, facing said disagreement with narrow-mindedness of your own is just strange. It's as irritating as people turning their noses up at black and white or, worse, silent films because they're not modern enough.
Click to expand...

I've seen a number of them and this list is fucking crazy. For starters I wouldn't put Groundshog Day over Ghostbusters. Then you have asinine shit like Pulp Fiction over amazing comedies that didn't make it.
 
B

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
wtf is with everyone saying trading places? it's on there? you mean just in the top 10? hell no.. but it's in the top 100 (and deservedly so)
 
P

Plum

Member
Jarmel said:
I've seen a number of them and this list is fucking crazy. For starters I wouldn't put Groundshog Day over Ghostbusters. Then you have asinine shit like Pulp Fiction over amazing comedies that didn't make it.
Click to expand...

OK? This isn't a single person's opinion, it's a list made by literally hundreds of different people. Maybe those comedies got votes but not enough to make it, maybe more people think Pulp Fiction is both a comedy (it is in a lot of ways) and a good film than you think. It doesn't make this list "crazy" just because it doesn't line up with your own opinion and, admittedly, omits more recent films that haven't had the time to become 'classics.' Maybe in fifty years you can make your own list and have 20 years olds on the internet call your opinion crazy for not including Minions meets The Hangover: Part 2.
 
B

blakep267

Member
Alx said:
It was an international panel of critics, and I don't think that Eddie Murphy movies are that appreciated outside of the US. Neither is typical American slapstick like Wayne's World or Dumb & Dumber.
Click to expand...
160 million of coming to America's 290 million box office was international

and Beverly Hills cop had an 80 million intl gross. People know Eddie overseas
 
E

Elegant Weapon

Member
They know they bullshitting with Pulp Fiction on that list. It's not a comedy.

How is Coming to America not on that list? Friday, too.

I was disappointed I didn't see Pee Wee's Big Adventure listed. Man that is a pure comedy.
 
Jag

Jag

Member
nachum00 said:
Christ at these replies. It's like some of you think everything before you were born is shitty and antiquated.
Click to expand...

Every generation thinks their cultural influences are the best. (music, movies, etc)

I was an 80s kid, so my list is going to have Caddyshack, Naked Gun, Airplane, Vacation, etc. But I do like 60s/70s stuff like Animal House, Annie Hall and post 2000s like Borat, Step Brothers and Anchorman.
 
F

Fugu

Member
Guevara said:
Hot take: old movies aren't funny any more. Good luck laughing at anything before 1980.
Click to expand...
The funniest movie I've ever seen (Love and Death, on this list at #69) is from 1975. Hot take: This is a ridiculous viewpoint.

Hot take #2: People who only watch Hollywood blockbusters have no concept of how narrow their scope of films watched is.
 
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