Who doesn't love a good laugh? There's a reason why great comedies are always in style. Laughing is timeless and movies thathave you in stitches are easy to watch at any point. That's why people usually throw on good comedies when friends are over to have a good time.
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However, to craft a truly great comedy, several things need to come together. It certainly must be funny, but it also needs to have heart, a good cast, and a strong plot to bring it all together. Whether we agree entirely or not, these are the greatest comedy movies ever made, according to IMDB.To qualify, we picked films that were primarily a comedy and not, for example, an adventure or action movie with comedy aspects.
Snatch
Talk about a loaded cast. Benicio del Toro, Jason Statham, and Vinnie Jones are among those who lead the way inSnatch, a comedy about London's criminal underworld. The film combines two wacky plots, involving the hunt for a stolen diamond and a boxing promoter who is threatened by a gangster.
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Snatchisnot your traditional comedy story, but it features situations that get so crazy, you can't help but laugh. And we can't forget to mention Brad Pitt as a gypsy boxer who talks so fast you need subtitles to understand him. It's the funniest turn of his storied career.
Amélie
2001'sAmélie is one of the most well-known foreign films of all time. This French romantic comedy racked up the accolades including winningBest Film at the European Film Awards, taking home two BAFTA Awards, and being nominated for five Academy Awards.
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Amélie tells the story of a shy waitress who struggles with isolation, but doesn't let it get her down and she finds ways to change the lives of those around her in a positive fashion. Audrey Tautou gives a fantastic performance that makes it all work. It may not be a laugh-out-loud comedy, but it's the perfect blend of funny and adorable.
Dr. Strangelove
Also known asDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, this is a political satire black comedy held in high esteem. It gave audiences a comedic look at the fears many felt during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
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Though Stanley Kubrick is mostly known for horror or sci-fi, he was the director behind this, and he made it work. As we've seen in our current climate, political comedy is a huge hit when done right.Dr. Strangelove did it so well that the film was in the first group selected for preservation by the National Film Registry.
3 Idiots
Coming of age comedies are a staple of the film industry. 2009's3 Idiots is one of the best examples of that. This film focuses on the lives of three Indian engineering college students. It does so through parallel stories set in two different time periods, playing on the pressures of the Indian educational system throughout.
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On paper, this premise doesn't sound like something you'd find on a list like this. However, the laughs came more often than expected, and there was a lot of meaning behind3 Idiots. It became the highest grossing Indian film to that point and made a surprising impact on the country's culture.
City Lights
Now we're going deep into the past.City Lights is a film from way back in 1931, starring the legendary Charlie Chaplin. It's a great movie to pick if you want to find out exactly why he's considered a comedy icon. Not only did he play the lead, but Chaplin also wrote, produced, directed, and edited it.
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City Lights is a silent film, relying on physical comedy to make it work and succeeding brilliantly. The story follows Chaplin's character who falls in love with a woman while also becoming friends with an alcoholic millionaire. Hijinks ensueand all of it is hilarious.
Modern Times
We weren't kidding when we called Charlie Chapin an icon in this industry.Modern Times is another film where he acted as the star, director, editor, writer, and even the composer. When someone as funny as Chaplin handles so much of the motion picture, it's bound to be funny.
In 1936'sModern Times, Chaplin's famous character deals with the struggle of trying to make a living in a more modern, industrialized world. It was culturally significant, as it spoke profoundly on what life was like during the Great Depression. This was another Chaplin film to be preserved by the National Film Registry.
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The Great Dictator
Yes, it's Charlie Chaplin once again, and it's another case where he wore many hats during production. However,The Great Dictator marked a historic first for Chaplin. After years of legendary silent films, this was his first real foray into sound film and it led to themost commercially successful release of his career.
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The Great Dictator ranks as one of the greatest satire films in history. Chaplin played both a persecuted Jewish barber and a ruthless dictator near the end of World War I. Italso had the honor of getting preserved by the National Film Registry and was nominated for five Academy Awards.
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The Intouchables
Released in 2011,The Intouchables is the newest movie on this list. Another French comedy to rank high, this one told the story of an aristocrat who is injured in a paragliding accident. He ultimately hires a man from the projects to act as his caregiver and their opposing personalities make for side-splitting moments.
François Cluzet and Omar Sy have great chemistry that helps everything in the film work better than it might in the hands of others.The Intouchables went on to become a huge box office success and was eventually remade in English asThe Upside withBryan Cranston and Kevin Hart.
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Life Is Beautiful
Another case of a foreign film nailing everything it takes to make comedy work best. The Italian 1997 release,Life Is Beautiful,once again showed that you could tell a funny story even when the situation doesn't call for it. The plot followed a persecuted Jewish librarian and his son.
It was that dire situation that allowed the comedy to shine brightest. To shield his son from the horrors of the world around him, the librarian employs his imagination and it sets them upfor more fun than you'd expect in this kind of movie. It went on to win the Grand Prix at the 1998 Cannes Festival and was met with high praise from most critics.
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The Chaos Class
On IMDB,The Chaos Class holds a 9.4 rating. The number two entry is down at 8.6, forming the most significant gap on this list. ThisTurkish movie, originally titledHababam Sinifi,is based on a novel that focuses on a lazy group of studentsliving in a shared dorm who form a close bond based on the pranks they play. Things get taken to a new level when a new headmaster arrives and chaos ensues.
It's interesting to see thatThe Chaos Class tops the list of great comedy flicks on IMDB. It's not a wildly popular movie or one that racked up plenty of accolades. And yet, a whopping 75% of the reviews on the website had it at a perfect 10.0.
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