When people think of the funniest movies they’ve ever seen, their minds tend to go to the best reviewed and most iconic comedy movies ever made. Those are the ones that everybody loves, so the really interesting thing to consider is the funniest films that have flown under the radar.
These are the comedy movies that aren’t iconic, are smaller indie projects, and even some that didn’t receive good reviews but are still just downright funny. In one case, it’s even a negatively received comedy sequel that’s funnier than people realize. Regardless, all of these films are worth checking out for a great laugh.
Role Models (2008)
2008 was a great year for comedy, thanks to the likes of Step Brothers, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Pineapple Express, Mamma Mia!, Get Smart, and Burn After Reading, just to name a few. That’s why it was so easy for something like Role Models to go unnoticed and be somewhat forgotten about.
Role Models follows two salesmen who get arrested and are sentenced to 150 hours of community service, leading them to become “big brothers” for two very different kids. One is a foul-mouthed troublemaker and the other is a shy teen who loves live action role playing. Of course, the four form an unexpected bond that’s the heart of the film.
Reviews for Role Models were strong due to the solid screenplay, but the real treat is the film’s cast. Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Elizabeth Banks, Jane Lynch, and more make for one of the most underrated ensembles in any comedy ever.
Bottoms (2023)
Each year has a handful of movies that you can point to as having breakout talents in any given genre. For comedy, Bottoms is a good one to check out because it features Rachel Sennott (who also co-wrote the film), Ayo Edebiri, and was directed and co-written by Emma Seligman.
Seligman first shone in Shiva Baby along with Sennott (who now has her own HBO show), while Edebiri has won an Emmy for The Bear. Bottoms is an interesting tale, telling the story of two high school girls who start a fight club as a way to hook up with the cheerleaders they have crushes on.
Bottoms starts out with a simple premise but seeing these girls come together in this odd situation makes it work. The cast is terrific, including a hilarious turn from former NFL star Marshawn Lynch. The underrated masterpiece sits at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and is one of the best LGBTQ+ comedies in recent memory.
Hunt For The Wilderpeople (2016)
Everyone knows the name Taika Waititi after he helmed Thor: Ragnarok, one of the best MCU movies to date, and for his work in creating What We Do in the Shadows, a fantastic vampire movie that now has a spin-off television series. However, Waititi’s films outside of those and Jojo Rabbit remain underrated, including Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
Based on a 1986 novel, the movie centers on a troublemaking foster child who forms a bond with his new foster mom, but when she dies, state services wants to take him back, leading him and his foster father to go on the run, despite not being close to each other.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople is filled with Waititi’s signature comedic style, with the funniest scenes belonging to Julian Dennison, Rachel House, and Waititi himself. Sam Neill is also great as the straight man in all of this, bringing it all together.
Major League II (1994)
The original Major League is a great movie that’s considered one of the best sports films in history. However, everyone kind of agrees that the sequels don’t live up to it and that’s true, including Major League II, sitting at a lowly 5% on Rotten Tomatoes.
While the problems with Major League II are clear, the one thing the movie succeeds at is comedy. Bob Uecker is even funnier in this sequel, Omar Epps is a blast as Willie Mays Hayes, and the things these characters are given to do are downright absurd.
Hayes becoming a movie star with Jesse Ventura is ridiculous, Rick Vaughn focusing on his public image rather than his pitching, and young catcher Rube Baker not being able to throw the ball back to the pitcher all make for funny moments. Plus, the scene where the team fights each other is a classic.
Theater Camp (2023)
Not many people have talked about it or even know about it, but Theater Camp is one of the best reviewed comedy movies of the 2020s. Adapted from a short film of the same name, Theater Camp follows a group of theater kids and counselors who put together a show to try and save the camp.
The film was praised for the way it accurately depicted the theater experience, the screenplay, and the cast. The likes of Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Ayo Edebiri, Amy Sedaris, and more, put on some high quality comedic efforts.
Theater Camp was nominated for several Independent Spirit Awards and features a few really good musical numbers as part of the play itself, making for a good time from start to finish. There’s also a fair amount of heart to go along with the laughs.
Spy Hard (1996)
Leslie Nielsen is a legendary name in the world of comedy movies. Everyone knows his work in The Naked Gun franchise and in Airplane! but he has another film from a few years later that is in the conversation for his funniest project ever, even if nobody talks about it.
That movie is Spy Hard, which shares a lot in common with The Naked Gun. Spy Hard parodies James Bond and other spy movies, similar to what Austin Powers did to more success a few years later. For starters, the film’s “Bond” intro is sung by Weird Al Yankovic and is sure to make anyone laugh.
Nielsen is as funny as ever as Agent Dick Steele and there are so many absurd moments in this movie to marvel at. On top of perfect parody bits, Spy Hard has some incredible cameos, including Mr. T as a pilot, Ray Charles as a bus driver, and Hulk Hogan as Steele’s tag partner during a climactic fight.
The DUFF (2015)
The ’90s and early 2000s were the heyday for teen romantic comedies, yet a few have come along in later years to stand out in the subgenre. One of those is The DUFF, based on the novel of the same name, which stands for “designated ugly fat friend.”
The film points out that it’s just dumb teen slang and the DUFF just means the member of a group of friends who is approachable and the person someone can go to when they want to ask about dating the other members of the group. The DUFFreceived positive reviews and did moderately well commercially.
The DUFF works because Mae Whitman is endlessly charming as the lead, while the supporting cast of Robbie Amell, Bianca Santos, Skyler Samuels, Allison Janney, and Ken Jeong is great. It’s a classic teen rom-com that does a great job of blending the laughs with heartwarming moments.
Joy Ride (2023)
2011’s Bridesmaids proved that the world needs more female-led comedy movies that aren’t afraid to be raunchy. Unfortunately, we still haven’t gotten enough of those but one that did come up was Joy Ride, released in 2023.
This film certainly has no qualms about getting raunchy, following a group of Asian women who travel to China so one of them can meet her birth parents. On the way there, pretty much everything that could go wrong did, from a wild drug smuggling incident to them having to pose as a K-pop band.
Joy Ride holds nothing back and the four leading actors (Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, and Sabrina Wu) are all hilarious. Unfortunately, the movie performed poorly at the box office but it deserves much more love.
How High (2001)
How High is one of the most absurd comedies ever released, which is saying something since it came out in 2001, during an era where outlandish comedies were more frequent. The film immediately stood out to hip-hop fans because rappers Redman and Method Man played the lead roles.
The stoner comedy follows the two as underachieving students who pass the film’s version of the SATs with flying colors when they smoke a weed strain from the ashes of their recently deceased friend. After getting high, they have visions of their friend who gives them all the answers.
That wacky premise leads to them getting accepted at Harvard, where they don’t fit in, yet they manage to turn the school around in their attempts to keep their GPA up. Method Man and Redman are hilarious together, the soundtrack is fantastic, and the likes of Lark Voorhies, Fred Willard, and Mike Epps make up a great supporting cast.
Do Revenge (2022)
When Do Revenge was first released on Netflix, it performed well enough but it has mostly been forgotten over the past couple of years, despite deserving to be remembered as one of the best modern comedies. It goes places you wouldn’t expect and tells a wild story.
Do Revenge is loosely inspired by Strangers on a Train and centers on a high school queen bee who gets ostracized after her boyfriend releases an intimate video of her. She aligns herself with a shy tomboy and plots her revenge in unexpected fashion.
Do Revenge delivers some shocking plot twists that keep you engaged from start to finish. Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke are fantastic in the lead roles, while Sophie Turner turns in one of the funniest performances in recent memories despite only being in a few scenes.