The Funniest American Comedies

Out Cold
      2001 | USA | Laughs: 0.2 (Just Awful) | imdb: 6.4
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This might be a great movie if you're a snowboarding fan and you and some friends are coming back drunk from a party. In all other cases, it's an outright bore, notwithstanding the presence of Zach Galifianakis.

A run-down Alaskan ski resort is taken over by a magnate developer from Colorado, challenging the lifestyle of the rowdy staff. The first five to ten minutes felt like a snowboarding video. Then there was a bit of unfunny plot development.

I had started this tape with the unacknowledged hope that it would hook me, allowing me to procrastinate on pending work, but even at a speed of 1.3, which sometimes fixes somewhat empty movies, there was not enough to keep me interested, and I stopped half-an-hour short and an hour too late. Save yourself the trouble.

Back to work.

(Last viewed: January 2020)

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Doug Stanhope: No Place Like Home
      2016 | USA | Laughs: 0.2 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 7.5
      who was involved?

In this set Doug had a few good points. I do appreciate good points, but there's a whole world of non-fiction writing that can supply enough of those. The main reason I watch stand-up is to laugh, and the set didn't make me laugh—not once—which saddened me as I thought Doug had done a surprisingly good job of staying in funny shape on the last tape that I'd watched, Beer Putsch Hall. I hope he bounces back as I would hate to lose him as the lone star that he is on the stand-up skyscape. (Last viewed: June 2017)

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A Beginner's Guide to Endings
      2010 | USA | Laughs: 0.2 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 6.4
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Although this movie is tagged as a comedy, it is one in the long series that have been trying (and failing) to emulate the style of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. It might have a lot of edge, but it doesn't cut. Skip. (Last viewed: March 2015)

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Destination Wedding
      2018 | USA | Laughs: 0.2 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 6.0
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Two strangers who are equally cynical and unpleasant find themselves spending a lot of time together at a wedding, to the point of breaking through the point of repulsion. Not unpleasant but not very funny either, just a bit pointless, like the lives of the characters the movie is meant to depict. (Last viewed: December 2018)

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Hot Tub Time Machine
      2010 | USA | Laughs: 0.1 (Just Awful) | imdb: 6.4
      wikipedia | who was involved?

With a fun title and a few good actors among the cast, I expected this movie to be entertaining. The first joke I understood was when someone got sprayed by excrement. The second was when someone got sprayed by urine. The third was when someone got sprayed by vomit. That was about twenty minutes into the movie. If you think that's terrible, I do too—but the bits in between were even worse, mostly owing to one loud obnoxious character. I carried on to somewhere around the thirty-minute mark then gave up. Not only is the writing appalling, they weren't even able to get the 1980s soundtrack right—unless they were going for mostly bad 80s music. This is one for the dumpster. (Last viewed: November 2012)

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Funny Pages
      2022 | USA | Laughs: 0.1 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 6.3
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Despite what the title might induce you to believe, this is not a funny movie, but one about a high-school student who is an aspiring comic book artist. It's not bad for what I imagine must have been a very low-budget production, though in truth the five minutes before the title shot are the best, as the rest lacks in structure in cohesion. In short, watch it if you feel like supporting indie movies, but don't expect to laugh even once.

(Last viewed: September 2022)

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Brad's Status
      2017 | USA | Laughs: 0.1 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.5
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This movie was probably classified as a comedy because Ben Stiller is in it, but in fact it should properly be tagged as a light-hearted drama.

As a result, don't expect laughs here. Nevertheless, the movie is solid and contemplates a time in a person's life (the years around fifty) that rarely seems to be the object of a film's attention.

As he takes his son around Boston to college interviews, the main character is led to examine his life, and sees his place in life in a poor light compared with the achievements of his former peers. Stiller does a great job, and the actor who plays the role of the son does even better—perhaps chiefly because his face is less well-known. (Last viewed: April 2018)

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Arizona Dream
      1993 | USA | Laughs: 0.1 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 7.3
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A young man moves into a country house with two unstable women: that's about as far as I'd dare describe the plot of this plotless film.

This movie may deserve its "Comedy" classification in the sense that it's not serious, but don't expect it to make you laugh. Although I've watched Kusturica's work since seeing Time of the Gypsies in the theater in 1988, some of his pieces are too chaotic for me, and this is one of them. Honorable mention for Jerry Lewis, by far the best component of the movie. (Last viewed: June 2018)

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Dazed and Confused
      1993 | USA | Laughs: 0.1 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.6
      wikipedia | who was involved?

After the last day of high school, students cruise around town over the course of a long afternoon and its ensuing night.

I believe that this movie owes much of its popularity to its presence on Quentin Tarantino's list of top-ten films—no doubt a list well worth studying for little-known gems. There is no doubt that it captures something and will resonate with many who attended high-school in the United States in the 1970s, but as a lover of funny movies I found little of interest. The movie lost me at one of its many stops along the endless evening it depicts, and I struggled to keep my eyes open till the end. (Last viewed: June 2018)

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No Strings Attached
      2011 | USA | Laughs: 0.1 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 6.2
      wikipedia | who was involved?

After enjoying Ashton Kutcher in several comedies, I was disappointed by this film. My expectations were not high as "romantic comedies" rarely have strong writing, especially in the laughter department. Even so, I'd say that most tragedies have more humor than this movie. I chuckled once, a few minutes from the end, when Kutcher lightens up and tells Portman that she eats her breakfast like a baby dinosaur. It confounds me how this movie can rate higher than Dude, Where's My Car or My Boss's Daughter. These were the films that introduced me to Ashton, and where his innocent smile had a way of putting me in a good (and forgiving) mood. For most of this movie, Ashton is barely recognizable—he barely smiles, so that his face, normally so expressive, turns into a neutral mask. Not good for comedy unless you have an excellent deadpan script. Ashton was 22 in Dude and 33 in this film, and I realize that physiognomies change as we age… But I hope you don't lost your smile, Mr Kutcher! Bottom line: don't waste your time with this one. (Last viewed: September 2012)

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Forrest Gump
      1994 | USA | Laughs: 0.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 8.8
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

If the focus of this site were light-hearted movies rather than laugh-out-loud comedy, this film would rank pretty high, although it does get heavy at times, especially towards the end. On the laughter dimension, I came out empty-handed on this second viewing after a twenty-odd year gap, although I did chuckle once.

The movie shows us the world through the eyes of a man with a low IQ (I'll refrain from adding "but high sensitivity"). At first I got the impression that the film was going to be about the wisdom of the fool—the eternal theme of the simple man having a deeper understanding of life than his brethren. Fortunately, there was more to it than that, otherwise the nearly-three-hours of reels would have been unbaringly preachy.

Part of the comedy lies in the fact that unwillingly, our character gets to play a part in frontline events and achieves some outstanding deeds—without seeming to care one bit about the ensuing glory. By and large, he does things because he feels like doing them.

Although the movie is sappy at times, it is a real treat in other moments. Overall, I would place it on the shelf of the guilty pleasures of American cinema. Let the record state that I am glad that shelf exists. (Last viewed: May 1994 April 2018)

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Blue Jasmine
      2013 | USA | Laughs: 0.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 7.3
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This might be a great feel-bad movie, but it's definitely not a comedy. Misclassified. (Last viewed: January 2014)

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Never Goin' Back
      2018 | USA | Laughs: 0.0 (Just Awful) | imdb: 6.0
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Two deadbeat girls and their deadbeat brothers get into a lot of trouble. Gross, loud, obnoxious. This is the dark side of the spread of technology. Everyone can make a movie, and they do. An awful, awful piece of work. (Last viewed: March 2019)

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War on Everyone
      2016 | USA | Laughs: 0.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 5.8
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Two cops behave violently. Apart from that, I can't tell much about this movie as we gave up about fifteen minutes. Not only did we not once laugh, we had a hard time with the actors' diction. If Americans are needing subtitles in order to understand an American movie, maybe someone is going a bit too far. (Last viewed: June 2017)

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Coming 2 America
      2021 | USA | Laughs: 0.0 (Just Awful) | imdb: 5.5
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Being nostalgic for the glorious days of Eddie's first movies, I wanted to love this. I gave this movie twenty minutes, but it's plain unwatchable. Sad.

(Last viewed: March 2021)

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