10 Movies That Made Me Laugh Out Loud

In making this list, part of it comes from the gut, but part of it comes from the mind.  We all think different things are funny, and we all think different things are funny for different reasons.  As I went through each of these movies, I started realizing that they all made me laugh for different reasons, and some of them made me laugh more on the second or third (or more) viewings than on the first.  The films upon which I have already blogged are linked by their title to my original blog entry about them.  I have included the year of their original release and the director.  Enjoy and let me know your favorites!


This is Spinal Tap, 1984, Rob Reiner

There are comedies, and then there are works of genius.  I first saw it in college at a friend's house, and it was one of those rare times when I laughed so hard that it hurt.  This movie began a whole new genre of the mockumentary.  It follows the misadventures of a washed up rock band who are touring and circling the drain at the same time.  The part that made me laugh until I cried the first time I saw it involves the film maker interviewing the band on the deaths of all of their drummers ("He died in a bizarre gardening accident...").  Many other films in this style have been made, and they are good.  However, none of them can hold a candle to this one, a unique work of film, and a satirical moment in time.

Airplane, 1980, Jim Abrahams and David Zucker

The jokes and sight gags keep coming in this movie, and they keep being funny.  This was the first big time movie that David and Jerry Zucker made with Jim Abrahams, and it is filled with laughs.  The thing that makes this movie work so well is how almost everyone in the film is the straight man.  With the exception of the  festive air traffic control assistant, everyone in this film plays it straight, and the drama in their acting makes the comedy absolutely golden.  On a side note, the DVD commentary for this movie by Abrahams and the Zuckers is also very funny.  They talk a lot about how low budget the movie is, and they also point out some bloopers.  All in all, this is a movie that still makes me laugh out loud every time I see it.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, 1988. David Zucker

I don't think my parents know this, but I saw this movie for the first time when I was in Junior High.  Not during the Junior High years, but actually at my Junior High school.  Many of the jokes and sight gags in this movie cater perfectly to the Junior High crowd.  What I remember about the first time I saw it was how hard all of the 13 year olds were laughing.  Leslie Nielsen truly established himself as a comic actor with this movie.  True, he had already been in "Airplane", but after this movie, I don't think he ever took a serious role again.  This is another entry from the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams.  Like "Airplane", the jokes are everywhere and the actors all take themselves appropriately seriously.  This style of movie would continue to be made, but this one and "Airplane" still make me laugh the hardest.

Raising Arizona, 1987, Joel Coen

Some movies don't make you laugh until you have seen them more than once.  This movie was like that for me.  The first time I saw it, the tone of the movie and its sense of humor alluded me almost totally.  However, it has become one of my favorite movies to quote, and the Coen brothers have gone on to be true movie making originals.  The story of an ex-con married to a cop who kidnap a quintuplet due to their own infertility is genius on every level.  The camera work is fluid and alive, the performances all have the same eccentric tone, and the dialogue is one brilliant line after another.  If you can find a scene more filled with comic genius than Nathan Arizona's interrogation after his son has been kidnapped, please tell me about it, because I need to break me off a piece of that.

What's Up Doc?, 1972, Peter Bogdanovich

This movie appeals to me for three basic reasons.  First, it is a family favorite.  My parents showed this movie to my sister and I for the first time when we were quite young.  My dad had fallen off his chair laughing when he first saw this movie at Grauman's Chinese Theater, and he and my mom loved sharing it with my sister and I.  Second, as a movie lover, this movie has so much in it that is an homage to other movies.  Because of that, if one loves movies (especially slapstick comedies of the 30's and 40's), there is a lot to love here.  Third, and most important, the movie still makes me laugh out loud.  The dialogue is rapid fire and crackles with wit.  However, the movie also has prat falls and pie fights.  I don't care how old or sophisticated you get, a pie in the face is solid stuff.

Tootsie, 1982, Sydney Pollack

"Tootsie" has some of the most ingenious comic situations ever put on film.  That is a testimony to good script writing and to the great acting in this movie.  Add to that a wonderful gimmick (struggling actor begins to cross dress to land a soap opera part) and an amazing cast (Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Charles Durning, Geena Davis, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Sydney Pollack and Bill Murray) and you have absolute comic gold.  The situations are what make the movie so funny.  What makes the movie great is what Hoffman's character has to learn as he begins to fall in love with Lange's character.  It is best put by Hoffman's character himself: "I was a better man with you as a woman than I ever was with a woman as a man...I just got to learn to do it without the dress."  There is a real depth and humanity to this movie.  However, it is on this list because it is hilarious.

Notting Hill, 1999, Roger Michell

Good romantic comedies are tough to find, just like a good partner.  My wife has continually bemoaned the drought of good romantic comedies.  The good news for us is that we can always go back to our old favorites.  In this movie, Julia Roberts plays herself by a different name.  She plays a world famous movie star who falls in love with an every day travel book shop owner, played by Hugh Grant.  Some of the scenes with the two of them are a bit stiff, but there are two things that truly make this movie work.  First, the script by Richard Curtis sports hilarious and quirky dialogue.  Second, the ensemble cast is truly remarkable.  The situations that are created in this movie are good for both of those reasons.  For cinema magic, look no further than the scene in which Grant's William brings world famous actress Anna Scott to his sister's birthday party without anyone at the party knowing it.  The humanity and humor of the characters in that scene is a good example of why this movie works so well, even with some of the music that sounds dated.

Horse Feathers, 1932, Norman Z McLeod

Other Marx Brothers' movies always seem to get more accolades, but none of them make me laugh as hard as this one.  Whenever you watch a Marx Brothers movie, you feel like you are watching a vaudeville show.  That's appropriate, since the brothers made a name for themselves on the vaudeville circuit.  Here, the situation of Groucho taking over as a college president is hilarious, while Chico and Harpo keep the hijinks coming nonstop.  There's really not a whole lot of further explanation needed---the movie makes me laugh every time.

Modern Times, 1936, Charlie Chaplin

The reason I include this is because this movie had my kids falling out their chairs laughing.  When this happens, I can't help but laugh as well.  The movie is a comic political statement made by Chaplin.  He uses the increasingly harsh work conditions in factories to make points about the wealth gap.  He also uses the increasingly mechanical nature of work to make the same statements.  But he also uses those things to create uproarious comedy.  Watch the scene in which the owner of the factory is trying out a new lunch feeding machine out on Chaplin's character.  That scene had my kids howling, and me too.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones

I wonder if it is a coincidence that this movie feels like liturgy to me.  The movie has a rhythm in its scenes that reminds me of church.  This group of men who were raised in a church culture must have had that in their veins.  The movie is brilliant in its iconoclastic structure, its wacky play on Arthurian legend, and in its brutal comedy.  The disregard that the characters have for human life in the film is funny, but also shocking (Sir. Gallahad's response when he has butchered dozens at a wedding?  "Sorry").  In the end, the scenes are hilarious, and there are so many quotable moments that all you have to do is find the right person, and you can act out entire scenes.

There are many other comedies I love, but these came to mind right away.  What some of your personal favorite comedies?