Previously, on Today I Was POMPOUS, Shane imagined a conversation where he finally got to use the movie quote that he has been wanting to use for a while. Like most of the things that I say, the goal of this statement was insight laughter. Being a fan of the movie Empire Records and the arbiter of all thing funny, Ellen is, as usual, the person to whom the comment is directed. When a bystander was not familiar with the movie, I described it as one of the five funniest movies of all time. I immediately realized how bold a statement that is and knew that I needed to make a list.
The first titles to come to mind were Clue, Rustler’s Rhapsody, Mallrats, and Fletch. This has long been my Mount Rushmore of comedies. This only left one spot in the top five. To be fair to all the other comedies out there, I checked with the experts, AFI, to see how they ranked them. I got some ideas from their rankings, but my list looks nothing like their list. Movies are always funnier with multiple viewings, and I have only seen 24 of the top 100 more than once. So it is not surprise that Groundhog Day is the only movie on their list to make my top 10.
I then checked my vault and found some great movies that I have seen many times, though unfortunately not lately. I struggled ranking these, and on any other day they may have ended up in a different order. So here is my ten funniest movies list. Feel free to disagree, but do take the time to see these movies.
10. Groundhog Day
9. My Cousin Vinny
8. Trading Places
7. Fletch
6. The Big Lebowski
5. O Brother Where Art Thou
4. Empire Records
3. Mallrats
2. Rustler’s Rhapsody
1. Clue
Perhaps I don't get to say it as often as I would like, but I do work "who knows where thoughts come from . . ." into conversation from time to time, and it's always perfection. I cannot think about funny movies and list-making right now as it might turn into an obsession. Maybe after Easter.
ReplyDeleteMcClintock is missing, and Coming to America is funnier than Trading Places. I might also have something like The Naked Gun or Airplane on my list. I also have a soft spot in my comedic heart for Napoleon Dynamite, but it's still too recent to figure out how it holds up. Still, that's a pretty solid list of funny movies. There are two on there that I haven't seen though.
ReplyDelete