The 25 best comedy movies to see before you die (of laughter)

Havi🍌ng a hearty laugh is good for the soul. There's all sorts of scientific evidence out there proving that laughter lowers stress levels, turning us into happier humans in general. As luck would have it - oh come on, you knew where this was going - the history of cinema is filled with comedy. You might say it's a genre that's not only entertaining but makes us healthier too! Win win.
From early Chaplin slapsticks through to modern R-rated gross-outs, there's a lot of choice when it comes to selecting a chucklefest. Whatever your prefere🤪nce, comedies are just the best remedy for brightening your day. It's a genre that covers a broad spectrum, making it tough to narrow down the whole lot to a mere 25 titles. But we've done it anyway. Here's our top picks of the best comedies ever made.
25. Bridesmaids (2011)
The movie: Bridesmaids arrived at a time when the likes of 𒐪The Hangover and Knocked Up had mostly sidelined women in comedy to the roles of nagging wives or sultry temptresses. Years of watching men engage in all sorts ofಌ ker-azy hijinks, Paul Feig's female ensemble craps all over the misguided assumption that women can't headline gross-out comedies. Literally. This bunch are just as capable of soiling themselves in public as their male counterparts.
But Bridesmaids is more than an opportunity to watch a group of food-poisoned friends destroy a bridal shop bathroom - altho🐈ugh that scene is a highlight. Whether 🔥written for men or women, it's the ratio of laughs per scene which makes this worth seeking out. Thanks to a super sharp script from Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, the main cast are given well-drawn characters, delivering a near-constant stream of comedy gold.
Funniest moment: Anni𒆙e, , livens up the plane ride to Vegas. She sings, she dances, ▨she insists there's an old colonial woman on the wing...
24. Clerks (1994)
The movie: "You fucked a ✱dead guy?" is but one of the many one-liners Kevin Smith lets rip in his filmmaking debut, Clerks, the ode to convenience store employment. If you've ever held down a service industry job, there'll be something here you can relate to; irate customers, a pissy boss, a desire to close up early to play hockey...🍌
The movie is told through the eyes of Dante, a twenty-some🐻thing with no ambition, called into work on his day off. Despite his cries of "I'm not even supposed to be here today!" he really loves the place, loves getting paid to shoot the shit with his best pal Randal who works at the video store next door. Some of the film's stand-out scenes come from their amusing fanboy discussions (the Death Star debate, for one). This is a day-in-the-life flick that makes the mundane much funnier than expected.
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Funniest moment: Right after they get kicke🅠d out of a funeral - where Randal "accidentally" knocks over a🔯 casket. Dante proper loses his shit.
. involving🤪 nice-but-dim colleague Brick Tamland.&n🍬bsp;16. Withnail and I (1987)
The movie: Drunken louts with existential dilemmas. Doesn't sound funny does it? The genius of Withnail and I is in its rather bl๊eak and foggy outlook on life. It's told through the eyes of unemployed actor Marwood (Paul McGann), who together with ❀Richard E. Grant's inebriated intellectual Withnail tries to survive each day by getting wasted and waxing poetic.
The movie takes place in the late sixties where the two housemates find themselves desperate for work. Withnail drags his pal into a string of self-induced crises, most of which involve drinking top shelf ti🉐pples like battery acid, and they wind up on holiday at his uncle Morty's cou꧑ntryside retreat. It's here that things veer into the weird, surreal end of the comedy spectrum thanks to Richard Griffiths' performance as Withnail's older relative.
Funniest moment: Withnail is excited to do the washing up, whereas Marwood insists there's a r𝓡at living in the sink. "Then the fuck⛄er will rue the day!" cries Withnail.
Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working 💧to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.