Comedy Crackers: Movies to Induce Hysterical Laughter
The comedy films that most appeal to the crazed sensibilities of theNeoplatonist. In alphabetical order...
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- DirectorAlfred J. GouldingStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyForrester HarveyAs a reward for capturing a bank robber, Stan and Ollie get scholarships to Oxford, but are met with resentment by other students.I'm a sucker for anything by Laurel and Hardy. The list includes what I think are their best movies. Big children in a grown-up world, sometimes defeated by it, sometimes making havoc of it....
- DirectorElaine MayStarsWalter MatthauElaine MayJack WestonHenry Graham lives the life of a playboy. When his lawyer tells him that his lifestyle has consumed all his funds, Henry must avoid climbing down the social ladder. He plans to marry wealthy scientist Henrietta Lowell - and kill her.A neglected gem. A broke ex-millionaire, Walter Matthau, has to get married to a millionairess to avoid poverty, and then kill her because she's so excruciatingly pathetic and annoying.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsCary GrantPriscilla LaneRaymond MasseyMortimer Brewster, a Brooklyn writer of books on the futility of marriage, risks his reputation after he decides to tie the knot. Things grow complicated when he learns that his beloved maiden aunts Abby and Martha are serial murderers.Classic madness - hardly a sane person in sight!
- DirectorJohn De BelloStarsDavid MillerGeorge WilsonSharon TaylorA group of scientists band together to save the world from mutated killer tomatoes.If you're in the right frame of mind, this is liable to cause death by oxygen starvation as you laugh yourself silly. Tacky but tremendous fun.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsMichael J. FoxChristopher LloydLea ThompsonMarty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
- DirectorMel SmithStarsRowan AtkinsonPeter MacNicolJohn MillsThe bumbling Mr. Bean travels to America when he is given the responsibility of bringing a highly valuable painting to a Los Angeles museum.Some hilarious moments here, especially Mr Bean's attempt at reconstructing a defaced painting.
- DirectorHal AshbyStarsPeter SellersShirley MacLaineMelvyn DouglasAfter the death of his employer forces him out of the only home he's ever known, a simpleminded, sheltered gardener becomes an unlikely trusted advisor to a powerful tycoon and an insider in Washington politics.The ultimate Peter Sellers masterpiece.
- DirectorJohn G. BlystoneStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyPatricia EllisStan, who has remained faithfully at his World War I post for twenty years, finally comes home where his best friend, Ollie, takes him in, thus allowing him to discover the many conveniences of the modern world.
- DirectorStanley DonenStarsCary GrantAudrey HepburnWalter MatthauRomance and suspense ensue in Paris as a woman is pursued by several men who want a fortune her murdered husband had stolen. Whom can she trust?Another Cary Grant escapade, part thriller, part comedy.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsDan O'BannonDre PahichBrian NarelleIn the far reaches of space, a small crew, 20 years into their solitary mission, find things beginning to go hilariously wrong.Sci fi comedy par excellence. You'll soon be singing along with "Benson Arizona"...
- 19641h 35mPG8.3 (525K)97MetascoreDirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenAn unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.So darkly funny, it's beyond laughter. Dr Strangelove's artificial arm, with a life of its own, is one of humor's finest moments.
- DirectorDean ParisotStarsTim AllenSigourney WeaverAlan RickmanThe alumni cast of a space opera television series have to play their roles as the real thing when an alien race needs their help. However, they also have to defend both Earth and the alien race from a reptilian warlord.Side-splitting parody of Trekkies, but thoroughly affectionate.
- DirectorHarold RamisStarsBill MurrayAndie MacDowellChris ElliottA narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.
- DirectorHal AshbyStarsRuth GordonBud CortVivian PicklesYoung, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral.Black humor taken to infinite dimensions. The fake suicide scenes are hilarious.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsJames StewartWallace FordWilliam H. LynnA whimsical man is thought to be insane due to his insistence that he is best friends with an invisible, humanoid rabbit, but he may be wiser than anyone knows.Sentimental comedy elevated to high art form.
- DirectorJohn BoultingStarsIan CarmichaelTerry-ThomasPeter SellersA naive aristocrat in search of a career becomes caught up in the struggles between his profit-minded uncle and an aggressive labor union.Wonderful send-up of the British political and economic system.
- DirectorCharles CrichtonStarsAlec GuinnessStanley HollowaySidney JamesA meek bank clerk who oversees the shipment of bullion joins with an eccentric neighbor to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country as miniature Eiffel Towers.
- DirectorStan DragotiStarsGeorge HamiltonSusan Saint JamesRichard BenjaminAfter being evicted from his castle in Transylvania, Count Dracula and his assistant Renfield travel to New York to find a woman who the Count believes is the reincarnation of the woman he has loved for all eternity.In theNeoplatonist's humble opinion, this is one of the the best of the vampire comedies, with George Hamilton as a surprisingly effective Dracula.
- DirectorGeorge SeatonStarsEdmund GwennMaureen O'HaraJohn PayneAfter a divorced New York mother hires a nice old man to play Santa Claus at Macy's, she is startled by his claim to be the genuine article. When his sanity is questioned, a lawyer defends him in court by arguing that he's not mistaken.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsBurt LancasterEdmund GwennDorothy McGuireGentle romantic comedy about a Secret Service Agent trying to catch a cold case counterfeiter and a United Nations translator.Sentimental fun from Edmund Gwenn (otherwise known as Santa Claus - see Miracle on 34th Street, otherwise known as The Big Heart).
- DirectorSteve BendelackStarsRowan AtkinsonWillem DafoeSteve PembertonMr. Bean wins a trip to Cannes where he unwittingly separates a young boy from his father and must help the two reunite. On the way he discovers France, bicycling, and true love.Joyously funny.
- DirectorHarry LachmanStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyAlan HaleTwo pairs of long-lost twin brothers experience high jinks involving a valuable ring, cases of mistaken identity, and gangsters.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsCary ElwesMandy PatinkinRobin WrightA bedridden boy's grandfather reads him the story of a farmboy-turned-pirate who encounters numerous obstacles, enemies and allies in his quest to be reunited with his true love.Has the best sword fight on screen that I've ever seen. And it's fine comedy into the bargain, framed by Peter Falk as the narrator of a bonkers fairy-tale.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsZero MostelGene WilderDick ShawnA stage-play producer devises a plan to make money by producing a sure-fire flop."Don't be stupid, be a smarty - come and join the Nazi party!" Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsJoel McCreaVeronica LakeRobert WarwickHollywood director John L. Sullivan sets out to experience life as a homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie.O Brother, Where Art Thou? The opening moments are a gem in themselves.