I don't think so.
Entertainment weekly is at it again. this time, they have compiled a list of what they claim are the 25 funniest movies since 1983(or, the last 25 years). They got a few right, and they got a few wrong. I started compiling a list of movies that I felt they left off, and I came up with more than 25 pretty quickly.
First let's examine their list, shall we ?
25. Withnail & I: Never saw it, don't have an opinion.
24.Naked Gun:From The Files Of Police Squad! : Very funny movie,don't know if I think it's among the Top 25 though.
23.Austin Powers:International Man Of Mystery :Funny. But again, Top 25 ? I dunno
22. Old School : Definitely not in the Top 25. Maybe not Top 75.Overrated movie.
21. Clerks : Excellent. Probably Top 10.
20.Best In Show :Hilarious movie. Borderline genius.
19.Clueless : Top 25 ?Um...no. Amusing ? yes. Again- waaay overrated movie.
18.Napoleon Dynamite : Not aging well. kinda annoying.
17.Tropic Thunder: Didn't see it, looks hilarious.
16.Superbad: Again, funny, but I don't know about Top 25.
15.Trading Places : I don't know if this is Top 25 for me.
14.Wedding Crashers: first half was funny, then gets a bit slow.
13.Waiting For Guffman: Hard to argue, hilarious movie.
12.When Harry Met Sally: another very overrated movie- why put in a Woody Allen knockoff, when you can put in a Woody Allen movie ? Hannah And Her Sisters anyone ?
11.The 40 Year Old Virgin: Hilarious. maybe not number 11, but might make the Top 25.
10.Dazed & Confused: Great, great movie.Way too funny.
9.A Fish Called Wanda: Good, but overrated too. I'll take real Monty Python- Meaning Of Life.
8.The Big Lebowski: I'll abide, though probably Top 5.
7.There's Something About Mary: again, horribly overrated movie. Funny, but not classic.
6.South Park:Bigger,Longer, And Uncut: awesome movie.
5.Office Space: Yes.
4. This Spinal Tap: Yes.
3. Beverly Hills Cop: Maybe further back, but probably Top 25.
2.National Lampoon's Vacation: I go back and forth on this one. I wouldn't have it this high, though.
1. Ghostbusters: Great movie-very funny, though not my number 1.
So, that's their list.Here's the list, in no particular order, that I came up with, just thinking of movies they left off.
What About Bob ?, Happy Gilmore, Splash, Strange Brew, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid(oops, came out in 1982),Repo Man,Wet Hot American Summer,Real Genius,I'm Gonna Git You Sucka !,Fletch, Hollywood Shuffle, Lost In America,Rushmore, After Hours, The Tao Of Steve,Anchorman, Midnight Run,Planes, Trains, And Automobiles,Scrooged, Groundhog Day, Roxanne, All Of Me,Meaning Of Life,Risky Business,Friday,Princess Bride,Ferris Bueller's Day Off,16 Candles, Zelig, Hannah & Her Sisters, Better Off Dead, The Sure Thing, Into The Night, Bottle Rocket.
And, here's the hybrid, MY list of the 25...um, 30..Well, 31 funniest movies of the last 25 years.
31.Midnight Run: Grodin, DeNiro, Farina- What's not to love ? "Make yourself a sandwich, drink a glass of milk... Do some fuckin' thing. "
30.Risky Business: A young Bronson Pinchot & Tom Cruise teach us how to laugh. "Please Joel, do what they say, just get off the babysitter. "
29. Into The Night- Jeff Goldblum as an insomniac who gets dragged into jewel heist intrigue with Michelle Pfeiffer. Very funny movie. Find it if you have not seen it. A bunch of directors appear in the movie as well, and David Bowie has a great cameo in it. "If he's still there, you better let him go if you ever want to see those stones alive... a-again... ever. "
28.Anchorman: This movie makes me cry I laugh so hard. " Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means a whale's vagina. "
27.16 Candles: Best John Hughes movie(You can have Ferris & The Breakfast Club)" Relax, would you? We have seventy dollars and a pair of girls underpants. We're safe as kittens. "
26.Lost In America :A genius(Albert Brooks) at his best. "Shut up Brad! Your song stunk, I hate your suit and I could hurt you! "
25. Splash : Worth it for John Candy & Eugene Levy alone."You see, drinking is a matter of algebraic ratio. How drunk you get is caused by the amount of alcohol you consume in relation to your total body weight. You see my point? It's not that you had too much to drink. You're just too skinny."
24. Best In Show : See above list. "We started this magazine, 'American Bitch'. It's a focus on the issues of the lesbian pure bred dog owner. "
23.Wet Hot American Summer: "I'm gonna go fondle my sweaters."- (quote corrected, i originally had "rub" but I was wrong. thanks, *jaime !)
22. Fletch : Chevy Chase at his smarmy peak. "Can I borrow your towel ? My car just hit a water buffalo."
21. Happy Gilmore :This movie is just damn funny-tough choice between this and Billy Madison, I think I like this better because I saw it first."You can trouble me for a warm glass of shut-the-hell-up. Now, you will go to sleep or I will put you to sleep. Check out the name tag. You're in my world now, grandma."
20. The Sure Thing:Maybe John Cusack's finest hour. Tim Robbins is funny as Gary Cooper, "but not the Gary Coooper that's dead."
19. Bottle Rocket: "I'm Dignan, man."
18. What About Bob ?: "Is this corn hand shucked ?"
17. Monty Python's Meaning Of Life: Not their best work, but even their so-so stuff is better than most. "Gimme a bucket"
16. Real Genius: Great, great movie. Val Kilmer is hilarious."Your mother puts license plates in your underwear ? How do you sit ?"
15. Strange Brew:Pure genius. "just because I don't know what it is, doesn't mean I'm lying."
14. Friday: "I'm gonna get you fucked up today. Because it's Friday, you ain't got no job...and you ain't got shit to do!"
13. Office Space: "PC load letter ?"
12. Beverly Hills Cop: 'You're not gonna fall for the banana in the tailpipe ?"
11. Ghostbusters:"Yes, it's true...this man has no dick."
10. Dazed & Confused : "Alright alright alright."
9. Planes,Trains & Automobiles :"Funny enough, I was just talking to my friend about that. Our speedometer has melted and as a result it's very hard to see with any degree of accuracy exactly how fast we were going. "
8. Zelig :"He was the guy who smashed my car up. It was brand new. Then he backed-up over my mother's wrist. She's elderly... and uses her wrist a lot. "
7. South Park:Bigger Longer & Uncut: "Satan, your ass is gigantic and red. Who am I going to pretend you are, Liza Minelli? "
6. Repo Man: "Oh, yeah, you're fuckin' A we ripped your car, asshole. You want to know who told us where it was? Your god-damned brother.
5. This Is Spinal Tap: "We're very lucky in the band in that we have two visionaries, David and Nigel, they're like poets, like Shelley and Byron. They're two distinct types of visionaries, it's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water. "
4. Roxanne: One of Steve Martin's best." I like to go out there with, like a meat sandwich and just be."
3. Clerks: ""Empire" had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings. All "Jedi" had was a bunch of Muppets. "
2. Groundhog Day: Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day."Ned, I would love to stay here and talk with you... but I'm not going to. "
1. The Big Lebowski : "That's fucking interesting, man. That's fucking interesting."
So, there's my list. Agree ? Disagree ? What do YOU think are the funniest movies of the last 25 years ?
14 comments:
Where's Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Just for leaving that out, I disagree with the entire list. Serioulsy...except for Withnail and I, just for this quote, :Monty, you terrible cunt!" it's worth watching.
I'm very pleased that you chose What About Bob and The Sure Thing. Two of my favs.
Miss Ann- I was constricted by it being in the last 25 years. if I was doing all time, then i would have Holy Grail, and Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles and Diner...and on and on.
I have a huge soft spot for My Blue Heaven.
Wayne's World?
Much like the TV list, I think EW is grasping at straws.
c2: I like My Blue Heaven, but there are probably 3 or 4 Steve Martin movies I like better since '83(All of Me,Man With 2 Brains, The Lonely Guy), so I don't know where My Blue Heaven would fall. And I like Wayne's World, but definitely not Top 25.
as for EW, yeah you're probably right, but it was good blog fodder.
I was a bit surprised that Analyze This or Meet The Parents wasn't on there-UGH!
I know, but like I said, I have a soft spot for MBH (likewise Bowfinger, but that wouldn't make my personal top 25 either).
Didn't see Analyze Whatever, but Meet the Parents--meh.
Well, obviously, Patrick, your list is much better than EW's. And thank you for the shoutout to Groundhog Day! Everyone forgets what a funny freaking movie that is, and it gets bonus points for the Andie McDowell unfunniness handicap.
Two more that would have to be on my list: Raising Arizona (come on, how is Raising Arizona not on this list? "They're... jammies! I don't know, they got Yodas and shit on 'em!"), and, especially, Zoolander. I know Stiller's overexposed now, and it's got the horrible epilogue ending, but Zoolander has to be on this list if only for the Hansel and Zoolander montages at the model awards. Plus Mugatu's crazy-pills rant and Maury Ballstein. Not to mention the walk-off, which I think started this whole trend of having a [blank]-off in every single comedy.
"Shakes the Clown" and "Bad Santa" are probably too dark for EW's list, but waaay funnier than many of these choices.
My top 25 would also include "Mr. Mom." Michael Keaton is so inspired in that movie. The scene were he talks to his kid about kicking the wooby habit. . .pure gold.
Another prize that wasn't mentioned, My Cousin Vinny. Marissa Tomei was brilliant.
Yes, the EW list has a lot of shite on it. Whubbout O Brother Where Art Thou? "Well, it didn't look like a two-horse town, but try finding a decent hair jelly."
You'll have to see Withnail ASAP so that you can edit your top 10 (I assume your attunement to Brit humour). Monty and Danny make the movie. Too many good quotes - "If I medicined you, you’d think a brain tumour was a birthday present."
P in P best John Hughes flick? You contradict yourself - I agree with your No. 9.
Their list has much fluff. I like yours better! Clerks is my number one, though, if only for the quotability. Yes, I own a "I'm not even supposed to be here today" t-shirt.
c2- I thought Meet the Parents was okay as well, but it gets really overpraised, and I didn't like Analyze This much at all.
Will-Thanks, and I was close on both of those, they would probably both make the Top 50.
*jaime-How could I forget Shakes The Clown !?!?! Aaargh!! I liked Bad Santa, but not that much. Mr. Mom is a good one too, if not Top 50, then definitely Top 100.
Miss. Ann- My Cousin Vinny almost made it as well.
O'Tim- I liked "O Brother", but not as much as you did, i suspect.
I will see if I can add Withnail And i to my Netflix. And you nailed me on P,T & A. I was so focusing on John Candy & Steve Martin in my thinking, that I forgot it was a John Hughes movie. Maybe what I meant was that 16 Candles was his best high school movie. yeah, i bet that's what i meant.
Natsthename-Thanks. I can't argue too much with Clerks at number 1, Lebowski and Groundhog Day don't beat it by much.
I'd put "Kingpin" and "Tommy Boy" in the top 25. The latter is one of only two movies (the other being "Friday") that made me laugh so hard that I had to hit the "pause" button.
Although not a comedy, "Glengarry Glen Ross" has some of the funniest dialogue in my opinion. Pacino to Spacey: You are here to help us. Not to... fuck us up!
Malcolm-Tommy Boy I thought was very funny. I didn't like Kingpin as much as you did. i thought it was funny, but not that funny.
Interesting point on Glengarry Glenn Ross-there is some very funny dialogue in there. Great,great movie.
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