Top 25 Greatest Movie Comedies

25. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

I expect some people will have a hernia when they see Holy Grail on my list, but it is the single greatest spoof of period films ever made and represents countless millions of fans both of Python and the genre (others will wonder why it’s not number one). Arguably Monty Python is the also the single greatest comedy troop of all time and this is their finest work. Working without a net the boys managed to create the funniest adventure/comedy ever made with no special effects, no great actors and with a tiny budget of 150,000 pounds sterling or less than half a million dollars American. Yet the film has left an indelible mark on American culture and film.

M*A*S*H might have been higher on my list if it had been more comedy and less message. The film is heavy for a comedy, MASH standing for Medical Army Surgical Hospital, but still funny and the characters nearly unique. Having said that, no one can forget Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland), Trapper John (Elliot Gould) and Radar O’Reilly (Gary Burghoff) all draftees and present (in various incarnations) in the TV show as well. The film perhaps is not a funny as it could be…but the plot and story, more than makes up for any lack.

Raising Arizona is a perfect dark comedy. The villains are extreme, there are no heroes and the plot revolves around an absolutely insane idea: a couple burdened with quintuplets certainly wouldn’t miss one. With Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter as the “odd couple,” lifelong criminal and career cop, the film was destined for hilarity

Kevin Smith’s initial work and what spawned his brilliant career Clerks was filmed on a shoestring budget using credit cards and still became one of the biggest cult phenomenons. It is raw, unpretentious and extremely funny and yet captured a generation of movie goers unlike any other film. Marijuana, sex and irreverence marked the film and became a staple for Smith. The film has made many an actor rich and Kevin Smith one of the great names in film history.