A great comedy film can be rewatched, quoted and revisited. While you won’t just find the highest-grossing comedy movie on this list, you will find films that achieved a cult status after the fact.
Home Alone (1990)
In this comic-caper of a family trip, a young Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) gets the run of his massive Chicago home and indulges in the ultimate wish fulfillment:
Eating massive bowls of ice cream; jumping on his parents’ bed; rifling through his teenage brother’s stuff; and beating the crud out of some robbers.
The premise comes with a warm message about the importance of careful parenting.
The film is considered a cult classic today.
The film also inspired many more films but still remains a fan-favorite.
This film is written by John Hughes.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Although a lot of movies attempt the complicated genre of “tragicomedy”, Little Miss Sunshine excels in it.
The film follows an impoverished, dysfunctional family as they road trip to a children’s beauty pageant with their young daughter.
Little Miss Sunshine features iconic performances from all of its cast members especially Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin & Alan Arkin.
It went on to be nominated for 4 Academy Awards.
The film won two Academy awards.
Zootopia (2016)
This successful animated adventure takes the idea of speaking animals somewhere fresh by giving us a unique world.
This world consists of cities, streets and ice cream parlors populated by almost every mammal you can think of.
It tells the story of Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin).
A do-gooder who’s the first bunny to join the police—and who finds herself needing the help of Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a con artist fox.
The film’s journey is delightful.
Termed as a brilliant comic slow burn with a very interesting bureaucratic sloth.
Zootopia did well at the box-office.
It is also amongst some of the highest grossing animated comedies.
It’s characters are famous amongst kids.
And that reflects in the online meme culture too.
Jumanji (1995)
The best entry-level introduction to the manic live-action wonders of Robin Williams. Jumanji doubles as a raucous special-effects bonanza with light scares and a whole lot of kid-friendly adventure.
Finding Nemo (2003)
When a rebellious clownfish swims away from the safety of their coral reef, his anxious widowed father must face his biggest fears and venture across the ocean to find him. It’s a lesson that children should probably heed their parents’ warnings about the world… and that parents can learn a thing or two from their kids as well.
Inside Out (2015)
This Pixar-animated blockbuster film smartly shows us when feelings come alive through Riley, an 11-year-old girl who has some trouble adjusting to her new environs when her parents uproot her from Minnesota and move to San Fransisco. There couldn’t be better actors than Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling and Lewis Black to embody those niggling feelings better kept inside.
13 Going On 30 (2004)
A teenage girl’s consciousness is transported to her adult body in the future, revealing that the grown-up world isn’t as alluring as she hoped. Until, of course, she discovers that the awkward kid she friend-zoned in junior high grew up to be Mark Ruffalo.
The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
For his big-screen directorial debut, Judd Apatow took a bit from all three and concocted what’s become a modern-comic urtext: based on a regular nerd type man who’s never had a real relationship, essayed by Steve Carell. It has a crack team of supporting players including Romany Malco, Jane Lynch, Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd offer horrible romantic advice and off-the-cuff riffs about everything from soft rock to skin-mag stashes. The cameos are good too — blink and you’ll miss Kat Dennings, Mindy Kaling, Jonah Hill and Kevin Hart in small parts, while Apatow’s knack for connecting outrageous set pieces with a surprisingly overall sweetness would become his signature.
The Muppets (2011)
By the 2010s, the Muppets, those daffy felt creatures first created by Jim Henson in the ’70s – were beloved pop-culture evergreens, but it had been at least a decade since they’d been considered cool. Enter Jason Segel. The avowed Muppet-lover brought the franchise back to relevancy with this pitch-perfect revival, and he did so without changing anything about what made Kermit and the gang so universally beloved. The plot is knowingly standard – an oil tycoon (Chris Cooper) wants to tear down the old Muppet Theatre, forcing the gang to put on a benefit show in an attempt to save it – but the hysterical musical numbers, showbiz-skewering jokes and heartfelt moments make it a glorious comeback the whole family will love.
