A lot is going on in the world right now, and while I wouldn't advise completely burying your head in the sand to block it all out, sometimes we all need a little break. For those times, one of the easiest and most effective ways to get your mind off things is by queueing up a classic comedy film—it’s scientifically impossible (according to me) to not feel at least a little bit better after two straight hours of laughing so hard you're crying.
Read on for 30 of the best comedies ever made, from ‘80s favorites to modern classics, spanning every subgenre in between—romantic comedies, buddy comedies, dark comedies…you name it, we’ve got it—and loaded with endlessly quotable lines that may be impossible to get out of your head for the foreseeable future. You're welcome!
The Best Buddy Comedies
'Bridesmaids' (2011)
Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, and Rose Byrne star in one of the bawdiest female comedies out there (and, finally, one that was actually well-written!), which gave us a hilarious take on sex, failure, and female friendships.
'Joy Ride' (2023)
Taking cues from Bridesmaids's special blend of gross-out comedy and female friendship and produced by Seth Rogen, Joy Ride will have you cracking up one second and then tearing up the second. On the one hand, there’s travel chaos, an encounter with a very horny basketball team, and a classic “posing as a K-pop group to travel across borders without passports” situation, and on the other, there’s a heartfelt exploration of personal identity and lifelong friendship. It sounds bizarre, but I promise it all works together flawlessly.
'Pitch Perfect' (2012)
Yet another film that followed in the footsteps of the smart, raunchy, women-led Bridesmaids, Pitch Perfect boasts a perfect combination of ridiculous but lovable characters, shockingly gross body humor, and a very real depiction of the powerful bonds of female friendship.
'The Spy Who Dumped Me' (2018)
Audrey (Mila Kunis) is dumped and, shortly after, discovers that her ex-boyfriend (Justin Theroux) is a spy—you know, normal breakup revelations. She’s soon swept up into a tangly international plot and brings her best friend Morgan (Kate McKinnon) along for the ride, making for perhaps the least qualified, most hilariously inept spy team ever assembled.
'Step Brothers' (2008)
Not all of the humor in the mid-2000s cadre of Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Judd Apatow bro-y comedies has aged incredibly well, but there’s still something so charming and laugh-out-loud funny about this film in particular. Ferrell and John C. Reilly play wildly immature 40-year-olds who are both still living with their respective single parents when they’re suddenly forced into a blended family, setting up a ridiculous yet heartfelt enemies-to-BFFs plotline.
'Wedding Crashers' (2005)
The movie that invented the term "stage-five clinger" had a knack for serving up equal parts cheesy, inspirational quotes and bro-tastic humor that remained in circulation long after the movie aired.
The Best Romantic Comedies
'The Devil Wears Prada'
This is definitely more of a dramedy than an all-out comedy, but there's plenty of humor in Meryl Streep's instantly iconic deadpan delivery of multiple condescending monologues as fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly, as well as in Anne Hathaway's Andy Sachs' struggles to fit into the utterly alien world of high fashion.
'Legally Blonde' (2001)
The movie that made all of us want to give up our degrees for a stint at law school—what, like it's hard?—swap out our stationery for pink, scented paper, and adopt a tiny chihuahua.
'The Lost City' (2022)
Is there anything better than when filmmakers let Channing Tatum lean into his himbo side? I think not, and thankfully that’s the case in this (woefully under-appreciated) 2022 film, in which a popular romance writer (Sandra Bullock) is kidnapped by an unhinged billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe), leaving the writer’s go-to cover model (Tatum, of course) to embark on a well-meaning but definitely not well-thought-out quest to save her.
'Miss Congeniality' (2000)
Sandra Bullock is at her best in this classic '00s movie as an undercover cop who undergoes a total beauty overhaul to pretend to be a pageant contestant.
'No Hard Feelings' (2023)
Jennifer Lawrence has always brought a hilarious energy to her press tours and award ceremony appearances, but it wasn’t until 2023 that she finally starred in a capital-C comedy film. In No Hard Feelings, she plays a 30-something who, strapped for cash, responds to a Craigslist ad looking to give a rising college freshman (Andrew Barth Feldman) some romantic experience—posted by his overbearing parents (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti), obviously.
'The Princess Bride' (1987)
This classic film has aged super well even though it's almost 40 years old by now. Its timelessness is probably due to the fact that it's the ideal mixture of action, romance, and adventure. Perhaps most importantly, its signature brand of silly humor never really gets old.
'She's the Man' (2006)
Amanda Bynes helmed this early-aughts take on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, playing a teen who secretly takes her twin brother’s place so she can play on his boarding school’s soccer team. The bonkers plot creates a truly twisted web of relationships for both Viola and Viola-as-Sebastian, to both hilarious and cringey effect.
The Goofiest Comedies
'Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy' (2004)
In this satirical take on the 1970s media landscape, Will Ferrell plays Ron Burgundy, a ludicrously cocky, proudly misogynistic, often idiotic news anchor whose entire world—and that of the rest of his chauvinist team—is thoroughly shaken up by the arrival of *gasp* a confident, capable female anchor (Christina Applegate).
'Bottoms' (2023)
This 2023 instant classic could technically fit in every single one of these categories: It centers on two teenage best friends (Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott) who find themselves tangled up in a series of increasingly outrageous (and increasingly violent) schemes as they try to win the hearts of their respective crushes. That said, its oddball, absurdly over-the-top sense of humor wins it a spot first and foremost among the goofiest, most ridiculous comedies on this list.
'Game Night' (2018)
What seems to be a normal murder-mystery game night quickly escalates into an actual kidnapping situation, unfortunately for the hilariously unprepared group of friends at the center of this film. Rachel McAdams absolutely steals the show with her lightly unhinged, totally committed performance—consider this my formal plea for her to be cast in as many absurd comedies as possible.
'Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping' (2016)
After stealing the show at Saturday Night Live for years with their digital shorts, The Lonely Island (aka Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone) took their talents to the big screen with this very silly mockumentary-style comedy following the occasional highs and many, many lows of the life and career of rapper Conner4Real (played by Samberg).
'School of Rock' (2003)
There may be no goofier person on earth than Jack Black. He brings his signature charm and over-the-top silliness to this all-time classic as a struggling musician who takes a job as a (highly unqualified) substitute teacher at a stuffy prep school and ends up turning his elementary school class into a full-on rock band.
'Zoolander' (2001)
Ben Stiller's Derek Zoolander is probably still wondering if there's more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking, but we know for a fact that this film leads the way in being really, really, ridiculously funny. Plus, it has the honor of staging the most epic walk-off scene in movie history.
The Best Teen Comedies
'Booksmart' (2019)
Two overachieving best friends (Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever) realize on the eve of high school graduation that they may have made a mistake in always focusing only on school, without making any time for social lives. In their last-ditch effort to make up for the last four years, a night of alternately hilarious and cringeworthy debauchery ensues.
'Bring It On' (2000)
This high school comedy has been beloved for a quarter century for its snarky, irreverent sense of humor. The sports comedy centers on cheerleader Torrance (Kirsten Dunst), who inherits the squad’s captaincy only to learn that her predecessor was stealing the routines of a rival team (helmed by Gabrielle Union’s Isis). So, she and her team must scramble to put together a new performance in time for nationals.
'Clueless' (1995)
Cher Horowitz's "valley girl" slang was funny then and still is today, and Clueless remains a timeless teen movie for its witty takes on fashion, high school politics, and dating.
'Easy A' (2010)
The charmingly quick-witted Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) finds herself suddenly labeled the school harlot after allowing a friend to tell everyone they had sex to combat the (true) rumors that he’s gay. Luckily, she has Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter to help her navigate the slut-shaming and reclaim her own sexuality.
'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' (1986)
Could your best day ever even compare to this high school king's shenanigans of cutting class, borrowing a Ferrari, and hamming it up in Chicago?
'Mean Girls' (2004)
Tina Fey will forever be an icon for writing one of the best teen comedies of all time. The movie delivers snappy, snarky one-liners one after the other that still feel permanently tattooed on our brains, and that truly is so fetch.
The Best Dark Comedies
'The Big Lebowski' (1998)
The Coen brothers at their finest gave Jeff Bridges the role of a lifetime as "The Dude," whose stoner language gave us some of the best and most iconic deadpan quotes out there, man.
'Drop Dead Gorgeous' (1999)
Shot in a mockumentary style, Drop Dead Gorgeous is a dark and deeply funny satire of pageant culture, zooming in on the insane—and maybe even deadly—lengths that the contestants and their dedicated stage moms will go to to win a small-town beauty pageant. A cult favorite since its 1999 premiere, this film stars Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Brittany Murphy, and, in her big-screen debut, Amy Adams.
'Heathers' (1988)
This very dark teen comedy starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater is still a cult-favorite film for its biting depiction of a couple who take on the most popular clique in school.
'Problemista' (2024)
Another comedy that could fit into multiple categories on this list, Problemista is writer-director-star Julio Torres’s surrealist take on the often-false promises of the American Dream. Torres’s quirky and optimistic Alejandro is forced to take a series of offbeat jobs in N.Y.C. as he navigates the contradictory, labyrinth-like U.S. immigration system while also pursuing his dream job as a whimsical toy designer at Hasbro.
'Pulp Fiction' (1994)
One of the most hilarious Quentin Tarantino movies ever made, and easily the most quotable. Samuel L. Jackson's character in particular delivers some of the best lines in movie history.
