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70 Greatest Comedies of the 21st Century

From rom-coms to raunch-coms, ‘Anchorman’ to ‘Girls Trip’ —our updated list of the funniest movies of the millennium so far

Shaun of the Dead

WHAT’S SO FUNNY? ? If you’re talking about screen comedy in the 21st century, the answer is easy: bumbling manchildren, the more boorish and clueless and stuck in their stunted adolescence, the better. Talking foxes, Huey Lewis-loving serial killers, world-saving marionettes, foul-mouthed political fixers and boisterous bridesmaids — all great as well. German father-daughter duos and goofy stoners? Bring ’em on! Headbanging teachers and backstabbing bureaucrats? Yes, we’ll take them too.

Since the turn of the century, we’ve giggled at the poignant and the perverse, rom-coms and raunch-coms, new-and-improved takes on singular comic types and loose, highly improvised ensemble pieces that spread the spotlight around. Some of these movies have been gently witty, while others have displayed all of the subtlety of a dose of Sex Panther cologne. But they’ve all consistently cracked us up, in a two-decade-plus span in which — let’s be honest — we’ve need a laugh or two. Or three. Or a dozen.

After a number of heated arguments and lots of name-calling and the occasional chaotic pie fight, we’ve narrowed down our choices for the greatest comedies of the 21st century. Culling this down was a tough call; humor is a seriously subjective topic, and every one of our 19 writers weighing in had their own idea of what constitutes “hilarious.” But this list represents the best cross-section of screen comedy of our millennium, a collection that runs the gamut from droll to bladder-loosening.

And, since we’d originally published this list in early 2018, we’ve updated it and added 20 new entries — including several first-rate comedies that were regrettably left off the list. (All apologies, Dewey Cox.) Given the high possibility of sidesplitting, you may wanna have a medical professional on hand. And don’t forget to stay classy, San Diego.

From Rolling Stone US

3

‘Bridesmaids’

Champagne and cupcakes and party favor puppies wrapped up with string — Kristen Wiig throwing tantrums is our favorite thing. Decades from now, it’ll be clear that this story about a thirtysomething stuck in a rut and her fellow bridesmaids (the XX-chromosome counterparts to Judd Apatow’s stable of male kooks and losers) was a magic bean sprouting the future of studio comedies. Fresh faces like Rebel Wilson, Ellie Kemper, Chris O’Dowd and shock Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy get plenty of room to make an impact; Wiig, fellow SNL vet Maya Rudolph and sly comic MVP Rose Byrne prove they’re superstar material. Proudly feminine and patently successful, this ensemble raunch-com celebrates the inner paranoia and outer politeness of best frenemies, all hugs with fingernails filed to a shiv. (And the there’s the instantly classic food-poisoning scene – who didn’t snort so hard their popcorn went flying?) Every studio wanted to copy it. None of them dared, which gave director Paul Feig years to dominate the no-fuck’s-given female blockbuster lane. Thanks to the seed Bridesmaids planted, now that turf is more crowded. AN

2

‘In The Loop’

Armando Ianucci’s bitter, foul-mouthed political satire about the Byzantine backroom back-and-forth between the U.S. and the U.K. in the run-up to a new war had a bitter ring of truth about it when it was released: The conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan were raging; the Bush administration was sword-rattling about Iran; and the future Veep creator’s distressingly plausible comedy demonstrated how terrible decisions could be made through a combination of ineptitude, spite and cover-your-ass cowardice. (The writer-director did his homework for this movie; he even famously broke into the U.S. State Department for research, which may have prompted new security protocols.) Seen now, this portrait of bureaucracy and institutional loyalty seems almost quaint – and yet, somewhere in there, amid the madness and nonstop motormouthed insults, Ianucci also gets at a powerful, prophetic truth: That in a world of rampant spinelessness, the cruelest man is king. BE

1

‘Best in Show’

The greatest comedy of the 21st century directly descended from one of the best of the 20th. Some 16 years after co-writing and starring in This Is Spinal Tap, Christopher Guest made this other milestone mockumentary — a flawless and deliriously executed work that transforms spoofery into something sublime. From Eugene Levy’s buck-toothed, two-left footed cuckold to Jane Lynch’s super-competitive trainer, every caricature miraculously becomes a sympathetic character, one deadpan line at a time. On the way to a competitive dog show, canines play straight men while their handlers run amuck. And then, halfway to the end, Fred Willard shows up and steals the show as a borscht belt TV commentator, delivering hoary one-liners so rapidly that you can barely catch your breath. No matter how ridiculous it all was, you walk away from Best in Show feeling that you’ve spent 90 minutes watching real people — and that comedy can carry the weight of our truly absurd lives. EH