BBC Culture polled 253 film critics from 52 nations to decide the funniest movies ever made.
The Joker’s catchphrase changed into the maximum not unusual response to BBC Culture’s ballot of 177 critics closing year to decide the 100 greatest movies of the twenty first Century. Very few comedies made that list, apart from Wes Anderson’s confections and some Pixar romps. That canon of current classics showed how very often ‘what makes us laugh’ is ignored while assessing cinematic greatness. Is losing a tear at the same time as looking a film a more valuable emotional reaction than a giggle?
It’s surely real that the Academy Awards have routinely left out comedy. Of the 89 winners for nice photograph, most effective seven can honestly be called comedies: It Happened One Night, You Can’t Take It With You, Around the World in eighty Days, The Apartment, Tom Jones, Annie Hall, and Birdman.
Read more approximately BBC Culture’s a hundred best comedies of all time:
What the critics had to say about the top 25
The full list of critics who participated – and how they voted
Why Some Like It Hot is primary
Does comedy fluctuate from region to location?
Do men and women discover exclusive films humorous?
So this 12 months BBC Culture decided to get critical about comedy. We asked 253 film critics – 118 girls and a hundred thirty five guys – from fifty two international locations and six continents a easy: “What do you observed are the 10 satisfactory comedies of all time?” Films from any country made since cinema was invented had been eligible, and BBC Culture did not anything to define earlier what a comedy is; we left that to every of the critics to determine. As usually, we advised the professionals to go along with their heart and choose personal favourites, films which can be part of their lives, no longer simply the ones that meet a few best of greatness.
And bet what? Only 3 of those best image-prevailing comedies made the top a hundred. But, in a marvel, pretty a few comedies made due to the fact 2000 made the reduce, despite the fact that they have been not noted in our a hundred greatest movies of the twenty first Century listing last year. The maximum-ranked film of this century is Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy at number 33. Toni Erdmann is the maximum recent film to make the pinnacle 100, at the same time as Safety Last! is the oldest.
The consequences are illuminating in different ways. They display that men and women have very comparable comedic tastes, with some key points of divergence – women have been a whole lot greater inclined to vote for Clueless while guys stumped for Animal House. And there’s evidence that comedy isn’t always established, that what’s taken into consideration a funny story in English speak may not live to tell the tale translation, and sure areas of the arena discover some movies funnier than critics in different regions do. In fact, if the consequences had just been restrained to critics from the US and Canada a completely one of a kind film could have topped the listing. It became in large part because of the critics from Europe, East Asia and Latin America that Some Like It Hot turned into ultimately topped primary. But as Nicholas Barber writes, Billy Wilder’s sparking diamond of a comedy approximately role-playing and the fluidity of gender and identification couldn’t be more applicable today. And we have all 253 character critics’ ballots so that it will take a look at here, plus 25 critics making the case for the pinnacle 25.
We desire this list will assist comedy acquire the creative consideration it merits. Or at the very least, that it’ll inspire you to discover films to position a grin in your face. – Christian Blauvelt, Deputy Editor
one hundred. (tie) The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1982)
one hundred. The Ladies Man (Jerry Lewis, 1961)
ninety nine. The Jerk (Carl Reiner, 1979)
98. The Hangover (Todd Phillips, 2009)
97. The Music Box (James Parrott, 1932)
ninety six. Born Yesterday (George Cukor, 1950)
95. Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984)
94. Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)
93. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Trey Parker, 1999)
ninety two. The Exterminating Angel (Luis Buñuel, 1962)
91. What’s Up, Doc? (Peter Bogdanovich, 1972)
ninety. A New Leaf (Elaine May, 1971)
89. Daisies (Vera Chytilová, 1966)
88. Zoolander (Ben Stiller, 2001)
87. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953)
86. Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949)
eighty five. Amarcord (Federico Fellini, 1973)
84. Waiting for Guffman (Christopher Guest, 1996)
83. Safety Last! (Fred C Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, 1923)
eighty two. Top Secret! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, 1984)
eighty one. There’s Something About Mary (Bobby and Peter Farrelly, 1998)
eighty. Office Space (Mike Judge, 1999)
seventy nine. The Dinner Game (Francis Veber, 1998)
seventy eight. The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987)
seventy seven. Divorce Italian Style (Pietro Germi, 1961)
seventy six. Design for Living (Ernst Lubitsch, 1933)
seventy five. The Palm Beach Story (Preston Sturges, 1942)
seventy four. Trading Places (John Landis, 1983)
seventy three. The Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis, 1963)
72. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (David Zucker, 1988)
seventy one. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
70. In the Loop (Armando Iannucci, 2009)
69. Love and Death (Woody Allen, 1975)
sixty eight. Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch, 1939)
67. Sons of the Desert (William A Seiter, 1933)
sixty six. Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, 2007)
sixty five. Caddyshack (Harold Ramis, 1980)
sixty four. Step Brothers (Adam McKay, 2008)
63. Arsenic and Old Lace (Frank Capra, 1944)
62. What We Do inside the Shadows (Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, 2014)
sixty one. Team America: World Police (Trey Parker, 2004)
60. Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004)
fifty nine. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016)
58. Zelig (Woody Allen, 1983)
fifty seven. Mean Girls (Mark Waters, 2004)
fifty six. Broadcast News (James L Brooks, 1987)
55. Best in Show (Christopher Guest, 2000)
54. Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971)
fifty three. The Blues Brothers (John Landis, 1980)
fifty two. My Man Godfrey (Gregory La Cava, 1936)
51. Seven Chances (Buster Keaton, 1925)
50. Women at the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodóvar, 1988)
forty nine. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel, 1972)
forty eight. Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932)
forty seven. Animal House (John Landis, 1978)
46. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
45. Big Deal on Madonna Street (Mario Monicelli, 1958)
44. Bridesmaids (Paul Feig, 2011)
forty three. M*A*S*H (Robert Altman, 1970)
forty two. The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, 1937)
41. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles, 2006)
40. The Producers (Mel Brooks, 1967)
39. A Night at the Opera (Sam Wood and Edmund Goulding, 1935)
38. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940)
37. Sullivan’s Travels (Preston Sturges, 1941)
36. A Fish Called Wanda (Charles Crichton and John Cleese, 1988)
35. Singin’ inside the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952)
34. Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995)
33. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Adam McKay, 2004)
32. Raising Arizona (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1987)
31. Tootsie (Sydney Pollack, 1982)
30. Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (Jacques Tati, 1953)
29. When Harry Met Sally… (Rob Reiner, 1989)
28. It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934)
27. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
26. Mon Oncle (Jacques Tati, 1958)
25. The Gold Rush (Charlie Chaplin, 1925)
24. Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson, 1987)
23. The Party (Blake Edwards, 1968)
22. Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks, 1974)
21. City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931)
20. Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974)
19. The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941)
18. Sherlock Jr (Buster Keaton, 1924)
17. Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938)
16. The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin, 1940)
15. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, 1975)
14. His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)
thirteen. To Be or Not To Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1942)
12. Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936)
eleven. The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1998)
10. The General (Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton, 1926)
9. This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)
eight. Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)
7. Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, 1980)
6. Life of Brian (Terry Jones, 1979)
5. Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
4. Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
3. Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
2. Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
1. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
Read extra about BBC Culture’s 100 finest comedies of all time: