Top 10 Comedies On Netflix In 2022
News - 12th Apr 2024
1. Monty Python and The Holy Grail
It is a shame that Holy Grail has lost some of its shine due to its overwhelming popularity. Today, we often think of nerdy, clueless nerds repeating full scenes to us when we hear the words "flesh wound", "ni!" or "huge tracts" of land. In my case, I was a clueless obsessive geek who repeated full scenes to others. If you can get away from the over-saturation and go back to the film after a while, you will find new jokes that are just as funny and fresh as the ones you already know. Holy Grail is indeed the most densely packed comedy of the Python canon. This movie is full of jokes, and it's amazing how easy we forget them, given its fame. You don't have to be completely exhausted by this movie. Just watch it again with commentary and you will discover a second level of appreciation for the creativity with which it was made. It doesn't look expensive, but it's fun to see which gags (such as the coconut halves), were created from low-budget solutions. Terry Jones, an actor who only occasionally directed Python after the breakup of the group, and Terry Gilliam, an American (who often adapted Python's cinematic style to his own brand of nightmarish fantasies) were their first co-directors. They move with astonishing efficiency.
2. Monty Python's Life of Brian
Life of Brian was made almost entirely on George Harrison's dime. It was considered by the legendary comedy troupe, even though apocryphally to be their greatest film, probably because it is the closest they have come to a three act narrative with obvious "thematic concerns" at the end of the 1970s. The story of Brian (Graham Chapman), a squealy mother's boy, who mistakenly believes he is one of the many Messiah figures rising in Judea, under the Roman occupation (around 33 A.D. on Saturday afternoon-ish), Monty Python may have made the most politically-oriented film of its generation. The British comedy group took all romance and nobility out of the story, mocking everyone from radical revolutionaries to religious institutions, government bureaucrats, and never once stooping down to attack Jesus or his empathetic teachings. Although Life of Brian may not be the first film to examine the human side of Jesus (or Jesus adjacent), Martin Scorsese's version did it less than a decade later. However, the film feels like the first to use human weakness to counter the absurdity of God's expectations. The film is a satire-festooning movie about everything, from Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth to Spartacus. It's supported by as many iconic lines and crucifixes that hold up its frames. Brian's equally squealy mom shouts, "He's no messiah." The film examines Jesus's life through obsessive examination of the context. Perhaps a "virgin" birth was just a cover-up for the sexual crimes committed by a Roman centurion. Perhaps coincidence (and class struggle) are the only true guiding forces of reality. Perhaps the standard for what constitutes a miracle should be higher. Perhaps history's only true thread is that stupid people will always be followed by stupid people, whistling their way to meaningless, futile deaths.
3. The Legend of Ron Burgundy: Anchorman
Will Ferrell was a movie superstar before 2004. However, he remains inseparable with his role as San Diego newscaster Ron Burgundy. This character is so closely linked to our perception of Ferrell's cinematic presence that all subsequent roles seem to have shades of him. McKay now has an Oscar. This is a far greater recognition than when he was just the man behind the camera in Ferrell's greatest movies. Anchorman stepped up on Zoolander's lunacy and was a better movie because of it. But McKay's Chicago-improv roots mean that it is a plane that forms mid-flight and Anchorman would be at risk of falling apart without McKay. Ferrell is a true genius and undoubtedly the centre of each film. But McKay is the world around Ferrell, and Anchorman announced that he was a uncompromising comedian world-builder.
4. Mean Girls
Apart from its great one-liners, Mean Girls has survived because it is a cinematically exaggerated version the truth. Teen life can feel like a safari with all the same crazy hormones, territorial instincts, and competitive edge. Girls can also have a hive mentality and cling to any imperceptible alliances that will make them popular. Mean Girls, Regina George's story, shows how girls who are the most beautiful can be elevated to Alpha status.
5. The Mitchells vs. The Machines
The Mitchells vs. The Machines is a sci-fi comedy that shows how animated generational divides can be more like a carnival. Mike Rianda, co-writer/director, and Jeff Rowe, director/writer, make their feature debut. It's equal parts funny, scary, and endearing. Although it is easy to get lost in the exhilarating sights and flashing lights, it is equally easy to enjoy the exhausting joy of a long, tiring day at the park. The family, which is genre-embedded, bursts through every messy, jam-packed frame as if they're trying escape, and creates the most entertaining, endearing animated comedy this year.
6. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation may not be the best film for children. But, again, what are we really expecting? John Hughes, the king of '80s films, wrote the holiday adventures of Clark (Chevy Chase), who leads the family through farce after farce while they try their best to have a traditional Christmas. The Griswold family doesn't have tradition, thanks to Cousin Eddie, Johnny Galecki, and Audrey and Rusty, the Griswold children. Even though Christmas Vacation is only aired once a year, it gets more and more entertaining every time.
7. Sorry to Bother You
It has so many ideas coming out of every seam, such ambition, so much to say that it almost feels churlish not to mention that Sorry to Bother you ends up spiraling out of control. This is Boots Riley, the producer and rapper. It's his first movie. Some moments in Sorry To Bother You will make you want jump around the theater. You will also be left wondering who gave this madman a camera. Some of these moments can make you giddy. The former outnumbers them all. Lakeith Stanfield plays Cassius. He is a kind-hearted man who feels his life is falling apart. He tries telemarketing but fails. Until Danny Glover (interesting until the movie ends) suggests that he use his white voice on calls. Stanfield suddenly sounds like David Cross when he is at his nasal best. He has quickly become a star at the company and is now referred to as "upstairs", where "supercallers", like him, chase Glengarry. This is only the beginning. We also meet an entrepreneur Tony Robbins-type (Armie Hammer), who may also be a slave dealer, Cassius's radical girlfriend (Tessa Thompson), a woman who wears earrings with so many slogans it's a wonder that she can hold her head up, and a revolutionary coworker (Stephen Yeun), trying to get the workers to rebel against their masters. There are many other characters, but only a few of them are human. It's quite a movie.
8. She has to have it
Spike Lee was a fully-formed actor when he made his debut in black-and-white, a small-budget film. It ended up being one the most influential movies of the 1980s' rise to independent cinema. Lee brought a unique voice and verisimilitude onto the screen, making a movie that is smart, funny, and bold. It's still true that the central theme of the movie, which is that women can sleep as much as men and should not be treated with contempt for their actions, is relevant thirty years later. It's still relevant, in fact, Lee made the movie into a Netflix series last year.
9. Sally and Harry: When Harry Met Sally
The most loved romantic comedy of its era, Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan), their 12-year journey to being a couple boasts a solid script written by Nora Ephron. It feeds off the surprising chemistry between its lead characters. Each new generation of lovers sees the diner scene and one woman laughs while another man sits quietly, wondering what's so funny.
10. Dumb and Dumber
The Farrelly Brothers' debut is filled with a unique brand of nihilism. It is not because the Farrellys are proud of their stupidity, but because they don't see any real consequences to the ignorance of Lloyd (Jim Carrey), and Harry (Jeff Daniels), to the point that morality is irrelevant for these characters. They are unable to comprehend the world and operate on teenage horniness and the threat of unemployment. Harry and Lloyd then get involved in a kidnapping plot concerning Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly). It turns out to be as expected. In that it doesn’t work out, that doesn’t matter. But, they do find a lot of love in the two dipshits. The sequel feels unrelentingly mean-spirited. It's not surprising that almost every Farrelly movie, except There's Something About Mary, has failed to age well. America doesn't need anymore movies that honor our dumbest idiots.