Top 25 Comedies of All-Time

There are very few things in life that get me much happier then a great comedic movie. Unfortunately my DVD collection has been getting quite the workout, as the level of comedy has dropped precipitously since the mid-90's. Clever spoof movies that make a genre funny in its own way have been replaced by movies that make fun of lines from other movies, eschewing originality at every turn.

This post comes after dropping a $10-spot to see 'Strange Wilderness' last night, a movie that looked promising to me, as it starred Steve Zahn, Justin Long, Jonah Hill and The Guy Who Played Farva. Those are four of my favorite comedic actors in the new generation. Unfortunately, instead of using their generous talents, the movie used "dick and fart" jokes as a crutch for the entire movie. Now, I am a man who loves his "dick and fart" jokes, but it does get old after 80 straight minutes.

So let's set some guildelines for the Top 25 Comedies of All-Time:
1) You can't have to think about it. Movies like The Big Lebowski, The Royal Tennenbaum's, and This is Spinal Tap rank among my favorite movies of all-time, but they just aren't as accessible to the general viewing public as the movies that crack this list.
2) It has to have been made since 1975. This, unfortunately, excludes Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, but if you are going to try and tell me that Charlie Chaplin is as funny as Chevy Chase then we are going to fight.
3) No romantic comedies. This knocks out Juno (the best movie of 2007), Bull Durham, Big, and any Nick Hornby book that got turned into a movie that's not named Fever Pitch. My friends make fun of me for liking some romantic comedies, so I'm just going to prefer to not add any fuel to the fire.

I'm going to give you my honorable mentions, and then the top 25 list from 25 to 1. Doesn't it make it pointless when people start with #1? The hell do you have to read the rest of the article for?

Honorable Mentions: Spies Like Us, The Jerk, Old School, Zoolander, Baseketball, Nothing to Lose, Stripes, Wedding Crashers, The Ladies Man, Accepted, Waiting..., Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (#26, killed me not to include it), 40 Year Old Virgin, Robin Hood: Men In Tights, Billy Madison, My Cousin Vinny, Bad Santa, Dodgeball, American Pie's I-III, South Park, Trading Places, and Bio-Dome.

#25: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy: Truly a great performance by everyone in his movie, including the incredibly underrated Christina Applegate. Insanely quotable, but just didn't have one "fall out of my seat" scene.

#24: Tommy Boy: The best movie from the guy (Chris Farley) that would probably be carrying the comedy genre on his back at this point if he didn't die. David Spade proved in Joe Dirt and PCU that he can be great without Chris Farley, but isn't he so much better with him?

#23: Superbad: The more I watch this movie, the more it will probably rise on this list. Michael Cera and Jonah Hill are two actors that could bring back the comedy, or at least give us some of what we missed with the loss of Farley/Spade.

#22: Office Space: Almost fell into the "Too Smart" area, but was just a little more accessible. This is a great example of a movie that doesn't rely on the "dick and fart" or over the top physical comedy, but is still just as funny.

#21: Road Trip: This was everything that the American Pie movies almost were. The knock out punches ("Yeah, but it's YOUR dog," "What do you want me to do, chop it off?") put the Pie series to shame - and anyone can do physical comedy, there's something to be said for writing and delivery.

#20: Spaceballs: The first entry of the 'spoof' movie on this list - and type of movie that will reappear often. If you notice, there are no spoof movies on this list that were made in the 2000's. The modern spoof is an embarassment to its outstanding predecessors.

#19: Vacation: Most have this higher on their lists, and it truly is a great comedy movie. Unfortunately, Chevy Chase had much, much funnier movies and it'd be pretty disingenuous to rank this higher just because critics like it more.

#18: Borat: Another movie that could rise quickly with repeated movies. Sacha Baron Cohen is a modern comedic marvel. He also put Talladegha Nights on his back, and was amazing in the Sweeney Todd. I'm pretty excited for where this is headed...

#17: Super Troopers: Everything that Wedding Crashers could have been. I was crying after the first 10 minutes of this movie, and Broken Lizard did a good job of saying "screw the plot," and keeping the movie consistently funny.

#16: PCU: It kills me that Jeremy Piven made this movie and then it took him like 15 years to become famous. How many decent movies would have been better with him in it? Truly a fantastic cast, and truly a fantastically underrated movie.

#15: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective: 23? Seriously? The Adventures of Dick and Jane? C'mon man. Ace Ventura 3! It's not too late, your career isn't in the crapper yet!

#14: Major League: I could go on for paragraphs on how Charlie Sheen is the most underrated comedic actor of all-time, but maybe in a different post. This movie truly relied on great writing and great characters and certainly (terrible baseball pun coming in 3...2...1...) hit a home run on both fronts.

#13: There's Something About Mary: I loved this movie, just loved it. But is it just me, or did you just think it could have been a little funnier? I always watch this movie when it's on, laugh my ass off, and yet feel always feel just a little unfulfilled at the end. If I knew what it was I'd say it, but until then it's going to have to take #13.

#12: Ferris Bueller's Day Off: When I watch a comedy, I usually can think of one or two other people that could have played the main role - not necessarily as well as the hired gun - but could have made it survive. There's just no one else that could have done Ferris Bueller, though. Matthew Broderick, even with a tremendous supporting cast (AMAZING cameo by Charlie Sheen), gives one of the greatest comedic performances of my lifetime.

#11: Airplane: It amazes me that Leslie Nielson used to be a real actor, and was actually quite good. He really does have one of the best comedic deliveries of all-time. Also, for the record, someone should have made David Zucker retire before the year 2000 hit. He would have had one of the greatest comedic careers ever.

#10: Fast Times at Ridgemont High: If you've never seen this movie, and you want to get your mind totally blown, rent it and realize that Spicoli is Sean Penn. Sean Penn! I can't decide what's more incredible: the fact that it's 26 years since this movie came out and Sean Penn couldn't look more different, or that Forest Whitaker looks exactly the same.

#9: Van Wilder: The sole entry from the 2000's, I can't begin to gush at how underrated I think Ryan Reynolds is as a comedic actor. The cast in this movie was tremendous, and truly make every scene that Reynolds' isn't in funny. But, it's Reynolds and his comedic timing that is an absolute revelation here. It's truly one of the greatest, and easily the most underrated, comedic performances of all-time.

#8: Groundhog Day: If I was someone with a strong moral compass, this movie would probably fall into the romantic comedy category. I'm just not going to do that. Every other character in this movie, regardless of how good they are, is just scenery. Bill Murray may not be THE comedic god, but he is a god.

#7: Naked Gun Series: There have been many a solid comedic series absolutely undermined by the third installment (American Pie! Scary Movie! Godfather 3 - that was a comedy right?), but the Naked Gun series just kept plugging along. For the record, burglary appears to be the only thing OJ Simpson isn't truly great at.

#6: Hot Shots 1 & 2: These two movies do precisely what the perfect spoof should do - touch on what they are spoofing lightly with the proper respect, toss in some physical comedy, and be totally littered with hilarious one-liners ("I left my heart in my other pants."). It's not a hard formula, and yet no one can get it right these days. As great as the other spoofs on this list are, both of these movies are better then everyone below here. Not collectively, both individual movies. That's damn impressive.

#5: Monty Python and the Holy Grail: The dialogue in this movie is simply out of control awesome. This is the best of an incredible career that the Monty Python-ers put together, and the real reason I made 1975 my cut-off date.

#4: Dumb and Dumber: Did you know this movie was made almost 15 years ago now? That's crazy to me. There isn't a movie in the top 5 best comedies that was made since 1994. If you can't tell me why this movie is funny, or, worse yet, you haven't seen this movie, there's a 100% chance we've never spoken and aren't friends.

The Holy Trinity of Comedic Movies: That's what I call the Top 3. There has never, ever, been a comedy that has lived up to the standards of these 3. The last of these came out in 1985, the other when I was 0 years old, and the other when I was -2 years old. That means there's an entire generation of kids who probably has not seen the below 3 movies, and thinks that Evan Almighty is "like totally the funniest movie ever." It makes me weep.

Last point: These last three movies are almost 100% interchangeable for me based on day of the week, my general mood, and what the last of these I saw was. This is my ranking today, February 3, 2008. It'd probably be different tomorrow.

#3: Caddyshack: My friends know well my obsession with Chevy Chase. At the apex of his career (1980-1989), he was the greatest comedic actor of all-time. This is the best sports movie of all-time. This is the funniest sports movie of all-time. This might be the funniest movie of all-time. It's funny that this movie came out the same year as the Lake Placid Olympics. The Chevy Chase and Bill Murray scene featured two of the greatest comedic superpowers of all-time. Both men hated each other. They met for one epic scene in their careers. Do you believe in Cannonballs? Yes!

#2: Fletch: You can argue yourself in circles. You can bring up role after role after role. You will never convince me that Chevy Chase as Fletch isn't the greatest comedic performance of all-time (I feel double negatives make the point better - but for those easily confused, it's the greatest performance of all-time). His timing is ridiculously perfect. I've seen this movie 10,000 times, and I still find random quotes from it. Apparently this is because I've been laughing WAY too hard the other 9,999 times. This is the standard to which I hold all other comedic performances.

#1: Animal House: It's like the Citizen Kane of comedies. As archaic as the production of it looks in comparison to modern movies, it is playing a totally different sport then 99% of comedies that have come out in the past decade. When I say "sport," I'm taking it beyond "it's not even in the same stadium," and "it's not even in the same league." Modern comedies are not the O-Rena or the East Conference compared to Animal House. Modern comedies are playing basketball with no dribbling and two peach baskets compared to Animal House.