
There are plenty of people who believe that certain kinds of movies are harder to make than others. Sure, a great war movie has a massive budget, and it has to both excite its audience and leave them thinking, and great action movies have to coordinate complicated stunts that feel inventive and daring, but there may be no genre more difficult to nail than comedy.
A great comedy can soothe your soul, but great comedy means writing the kinds of jokes that stand the test of time, and are still funny decades after they were written. Because comedy is always changing, that can be almost impossible. Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of great comedy movies, but the movies on this list are the ones that rise above the pack. Their jokes endure, and no matter when they were released, you’ll find watching them delightful whenever you happen to turn them on.
If you’re looking for something a little narrower, we’ve also rounded up the best comedy movies on Netflix.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
A Night at the Opera (1935)
The Blues Brothers (1980)
When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Tommy Boy (1995)
Dumb and Dumber (1994)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Caddyshack (1980)
Doctor Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
The 'Burbs (1989)
National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
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