Thursday, June 15, 2006

Top 10 Funniest Movies

10) Groundhog Day- “Rise and shine, campers, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today.”
Bill Murray was at his absolute best in this film. Never has his sardonic wit played better than as a man living the same day over and over again. At first the movie seems to hokey to work well, but somehow Murray keeps producing funny moments throughout the film. This is one comedy were all the humor comes from basically one person, every other character (sans Punxatawney Phil) plays the straight man, from Chris Elliott & Andie McDowell too all the citizens of that western Pennsylvania village.


09) Dumb and Dumber- “I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man.”
Two indelible characters entered the landscape with this movie, Harry and Lloyd. Some comedies border on the absurd, this one leaped across that line in production. The misadventures of Harry & Lloyd on their cross country trip are legendary. From encounter and angry Cam Neely (Sea Bass) in a coffee shop, getting pulled over for drunk driving by Harland Williams, and of course trading the van for a moped. And just when you had absolutely laughed your ass off and you thought yeah these guys are dumb, but maybe not that dumb, the end scene with the bikini team bus confirms the name of the movie on last time, Dumb and Dumber.


08) Office Space- “We'll be getting rid of these people here... First, Mr. Samir Naga... Naga... Naga... Not gonna work here anymore, anyway.”
Mike Judge who is mostly lamented for having created Beavis & Butt Head, also made the seminal satire of corporate America. Never have the trials and tribulations of the cubicle working American (some of whom read this site) been portrayed with such sincism and wit. Peter and his pals decide to rip off their company before they get dumped, and then in the ultimate form of recompense the office burns down before their confession letter can be discovered, that is the American Dream.

07) Blazing Saddles- “Hey, where the white women at?” & “Excuse me while I whip this out.”
The tale of a black sheriff hired to clean up a corrupt old west city, doesn’t sound like high comedy to you, huh? Well in the hands of Mel Brooks it is pure genius. Few movies have proved so many memorable scenes, quotes, and character names. Who can forget Mongo punching out the horse? Then there was the town’s drunk/hero The Waco Kid, the damsel Ms. Lili Von Shtupp, and the corrupt Hedley Lamar. This movie is quintessential Mel Brooks during the hay day of his movie career; Blazing Saddles is the best “western” comedy ever. Put it this way, if you can watch Blazing Saddles and not laugh check your pulse.

06) Old School- “True love is hard to find, sometimes you think you have true love and then you catch the early flight home from San Diego and a couple of nude people jump out of your bathroom blindfolded like a goddamn magic show ready to double team your girlfriend.”
A bare bone back to basics no holds barred frat comedy. Old School was refreshing delight brought to us after so many weak ass romantic comedies of the late 90’s which seemed to be the norm. The frat humor is an homage to classics like Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds and Porkys. Will Ferrell has his best movie role ever as Frank the Tank. The comedy triad of Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson, and Ferrell is perfect in this movie, they all play their roles perfectly. Old School reminds us that there is some party animal left in all of us, no matter how old we get or how many children we have; the old saying goes “Boys will be boys.”

05) Vacation- “Sorry folks, park's closed. Moose out front shoulda told ya.”
It is hard to determine if one of the Vacation series should be on the list, or if they should be included all together. I decided to go with the original because it is Chevy Chase at his finest, the bumbling father/ Clark “Sparky” Griswold. This movie is certainly the most relatable to everyone, we have all had the very forgettable family vacation where absolutely nothing went right. Unfortunately for the Griswolds, this was only the first in many misadventures. The original Vacation still stands today as the funniest of the series, I just watched it about 3 weeks ago with a group of friends and discovered two new hilarious lines that I had never heard before.

04) History of the World: Part I- “It's good to be the king!”
In this classic history lesson Mel Brooks takes no prisoners. He satireizes everyone; the Jews, the Catholics, the Romans, the Spanish, the French etc. The 14 minute musical number known as “The Inquisition” is laugh out loud roll on the floor funny. Again Brooks has the ability to make us laugh at things that you never thought would be funny, but he goes so over the edge that every moment of the movies leaves you wanting more; including the epilogue of the movie which spoofs a sequel of itself.

03) Airplane!- “I am serious... and don't call me Shirley.”
This movie is the original “spoof” comedy. And it is also that best spoof comedy, and not because it is the original. From the very first moment of the movie you have to be on your toes and ready to laugh at non-traditional jokes such as; the loading zone announcements, win just one for the zipper and countless others. Airplane! spawned a whole genre of spoof movies and still stands as the classic original. Just think of all the Airplane! lines you can do with your friends and still laugh.

02) Animal House- “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”
Much like Airplane! started the spoof era, Animal House is the ultimate in “frat” humor. The tale of the Delta House’s reign of terror on the campus and town of Faber is the stuff of legend. All of us in college wished that our misadventures could measure up to those of Bluto and D-Day. This is the movie that catapulted John Belushi into legendary status and he does not disappoint in this film. Again this movie has more classic scenes and lines to name. Is there a more awful, yet hilarious scene, then when Otter pretends to be the boyfriend of a female coed who was just killed at nearby Dickinson College? That is raunchy humor at its finest.

01) Caddyshack- “You're a lot of woman, you know that? Yeah, wanna make 14 dollars the hard way?”
Really there isn’t much that needs to be said about Caddyshack. When you have Dangerfield, Chase and Murray all at their peak you can’t help but have a winner. Everything about this movie is classic, every scene memorable. The scene in the movie with Ty Webb and Carl Spackler (Chase & Murray) may be the funniest 10 minutes in screen history.


Others receiving votes: Slapshot, The Aristocrats, Fletch, Trading Places, The Blues Brothers, American Pie, Dr. Strangelove, Best in Show, Rushmore, Clerks, The Big Lebowski, The Jerk, Stripes, Christmas Vacation, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Young Frankenstein, and Annie Hall

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

No props for Dogma, Napoleon Dynamite, or Wedding Crashers? Come on man, those are worth at least an honorable mention...

12:09 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home