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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

6

‘Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story’

“You’re gonna have to give him a moment, son. Dewey Cox has to think about his entire life before he plays.” Jake Kasdan’s merciless takedown of the modern music-biopic formula remains the final parodic word on the subject; you picture him and producer/cowriter Judd Apatow compiling a genre checklist and just skewering each entry one by one. The childhood trauma (“The wrong kid died!”), the do-or-die discovery of a hit single in the recording studio, the rocky marriages, the muse, the rise, the fall, the sex, the drugs, the experiments with theremins, the pet monkeys and the phoenix-like comeback — it’s a roll call of 20th century musical-genius clichés taken to sublimely ridiculous extremes. The fact that John C. Reilly nails a host of hard-singin’, hard-playin’ styles from early rock ‘n’ roll to outlaw country & western to Pet Sounds-level excess — we personally have a soft spot for Dewey Cox’s brief but unforgettable Dylanesque phase — only sweetens the deal. (Not to mention that the particular way he says “cu-caiine” is the icing on the fake-superstar cake.) Everybody from The Office‘s Jenna Fisher to Tim Meadows hits their beats perfectly, though a hearty shout out goes to the Cox superfan who we’re told moonlights as musician himself.—D.F.

5

‘Idiocracy’

It took approximately six million years for humans to evolve from their apelike ancestors, but only about a decade for them to devolve more or less as Mike Judge’s satire predicted. Idiocracy takes place 500 years into the future, when colossal dumbasses have their lard-greased paws on all the levers of power and farms are irrigated by a popular sports drink. (“Brawndo: It’s What Plants Crave!”) Fox left the film for dead in theaters – it had no trailer, didn’t screen for critics and made less than half a million at the box office — but now it’s the go-to comedy of the Trump Era, a fun place to laugh about the dystopic trash pile that currently engulfs us. (If the current Secretary of Agriculture starting pumping Gatorade in fields throughout the Heartland, would he even lose his job?) ST

4

‘Step Brothers’

Will Ferrell is at his funniest when he’s got a tag-team partner (see: Anchorman, The Other Guys) – but Step Brothers is, hands down, his best double act. Working alongside Talladega Nights chum John C. Reilly, the duo play stunted adults forced into the same family when their single parents (Richard Jenkins, Mary Steenburgen) remarry. They’re are the extreme edge of the bozo manchildren that made Ferrell a superstar and Reilly his goofball screen soul mate — it’s their back-and-forth idiocy that makes this a modern classic. And once you’ve fully absorbed the brilliance of their interplay, be sure to spend a little time marveling at the movie’s murderers’ row of ensemble players, including a perfectly repugnant Adam Scott and Kathryn Hahn as a horribly horny wife. You’ll never hear “Sweet Child o’ Mine” the same way again. TG

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