Surprisingly funny films

[Dr Syntax Head]

American Psycho. I mean it's obviously a satirical comedy,  but both in comparison to the book, and other films about serial killers, it's really funny.

Totally agree. Mostly because of Bale's amazing performance. In the book the chapter where he's in the city and has a psychotic episode and stuffs his face with pies while stumbling around deliriously, that had me laughing my head off

[Dr Syntax Head]

Kingpin. Watched it with my brother years ago and he has quite primitive humour, but I found it funny also. So maybe nostalgia playing a part but I still like it.

Carry on screaming. Watched it with mates from school the very first time we ever got drunk (classic raided the drinks cabinet while parents were out). I hate carry on films but that one, again nostalgia

[magval]

Kingpin. Watched it with my brother years ago and he has quite primitive humour, but I found it funny also. So maybe nostalgia playing a part but I still like it.

I love Kingpin. Woody Harrelson is a naturally funny actor anyway, but Randy Quaid's character in that film is so pure and uncorrupted by the horrible world the film presents and has plenty of great lines and sight gags. Bill Murray and the fucking waywayd toupe as well.

I'll second Not Another Teen Movie and throw Scary Movie 3 (if that was the one that some of the Airplane! team took over with, including a role for Leslie Neilsen). Haven't seen it since me Xtravision days but surprised it had none (or very little maybe) of that Wayans humour.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

" Rough Night", that 'un with Scarlett Johanssen and yer woman from Saturday Night Live playing a kiwi ( person from New Zealand, not the flightless bird). Plenty of familiar comedic folk in cameo roles, and all the female characters have their fair share of funny lines. I've seen this fucking film at least four times ( including original cinema release), shit never gets old.

The most surprising entry in this thread is fucking Scary Movie 2.

[Puce Moment]

I don't want to be a cunt about it, but I don't think comedies should be included in this thread.

I take that very seriously.

[Blumf]

Cobra (1986), and Death Wish 3 (1985) - They're not meant to be comedies, but they sure as hell are stupidly funny.

They killed the Giggler, man

[Kelvin]

If Silence of the Lambs was a horror with occasional moments of black comedy, Hannibal is a black comedy with occasional moments of horror.

"Okie dokie", "Seemed a good idea at the time", "Nobody beats the Riz." Its not a very good film, certainly not a tense or scary one, but it is legitimately funny throughout, and ends with that fantastically silly lobotomy scene.

[Puce Moment]

Lars Von Trier's The Five Obstructions is a film that makes me laugh out loud (lol) a great deal every time I see it. It's wonderfully silly and prankish and there are moments of genuine despair that just tickle the shit out of me.

If you don't know about it then I am going to say it features Trier getting a Director of an award winning short film from the 70s to remake the film fives times with significant and increasingly ludicrous obstructions. If you like the limitations of Dogme 95 films then you will like this.

It's also a fascinating insight into filmmaking - one of my favourites next to Burden of Dreams, American Movie, Hearts of Darkness, Lost in La Mancha, etc. 

[Sonny_Jim]

Isn't the topic of this thread "films that are funnier than you expect them to be'.  So it doesn't matter if it's a comedy, it just has to be one that had no right to be as funny as it turned out.

Deuce Bigalow is a strange one, as that it's only hindsight that makes it surprisingly funny.

I'm curious about Not Another Teen Movie now.

[Mr Farenheit]

Cobra (1986), and Death Wish 3 (1985) - They're not meant to be comedies, but they sure as hell are stupidly funny.

They killed the Giggler, man

"Teeth!"

Death Wish 3 is freaking hilarious. I would nominate 'Class of 1984' as something in a similar vein.

Haven't seen Cobra before, will give it a watch!

[magval]

Get Out wasn't a comedy, but being written a directed by a high-profile creator of comedy, it has a character in it who's so funny he would need no adaptation to fit into sketches or a long-form comedy film. Consistently high level laughs throughout from that guy.

There's an absurdity (by design) to The Abominable Dr. Phibes that I think has transcended its intentions, with age, to reach new peaks of hilarity. Some of it also comes from the limitations of vintage SFX, and weird editing. The scene in the sequel where Vincent Price has a lad killed with a load of scorpions is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

A Fistful of Dollars had the audience laughing throughout when I saw it in the cinema and it was the first time I realised how funny Clint is, in it.

Park-Chan Wook's very funny too, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Old Boy both got a good few laughs out of me recently. Lady Vengeance, yeesh, less laughs.

(Honourable TV mention) The first maybe two seasons of The Sopranos is so much funnier than I remembered between viewings that I'm convinced like Sex and the City it was more or less originally pitched as a dark comedy, but that it would be fair to call it a 'comedy' without caveat for that initial stretch, and outgrew its limitations. The first two years are peppered with at least one full belly laugh per episode. I think it was in the third season the creator wanted us to realise these were bad people and really dialled up the nastiness, and that element became relegated to spotlighted sections (like the 'woods' episode everyone remembers).

[Gulftastic]

Kingpin. Watched it with my brother years ago and he has quite primitive humour, but I found it funny also. So maybe nostalgia playing a part but I still like it.

'Surprisingly'? It's hilarious and always has been. Bill Murray alone is enough to make me watch it.

[lipsink]

I remember 'Dances With Wolves' having quite a lot of comedy in it. The 'Smiles A Lot' scene is near genius.

[Glebe]

Park-Chan Wook's very funny too, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Old Boy both got a good few laughs out of me recently. Lady Vengeance, yeesh, less laughs.

Watched Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance again a little while ago, yes, the latter is hard going.

[A Hat Like That]

Nativity! is very silly and a bit ragged round the edges but loads of fun. Stick it on at Christmas and it'll have the whole family roaring with laughter (and crying at the end). I thought it was gonna be your typical rubs British comedy film but was very pleasantly surprised.

I've not seen the sequels but I understand they actually are rubs.

I found myself watching it one Christmas and it was, yeah, a pleasantly surprised. So the next day, I think, the sequel was on.

:breathes out slowly:

I wish I could unwatch that film.

[Sonny_Jim]

Watched the first 60 odd minutes or Not Another Teen Movie.  It's about as good as I remember it, it does pass my personal 'parody comedy' test in that if you don't know what they are parodying, is it still funny?

  For example, the 'American Beauty' weird kid with a camera I think would actually be funnier if you don't know what was being parodied, purely because of the absurdity of a floating carrier bag following him around.

Some of it was funnier than I remember, so it was surprising in that aspect.  I did enjoy the various moments of lampshade hanging, certainly more than the straight up parody bits

Nearly turned it off during the first five minutes, as that opening scene felt a bit 'Movie 43'.  Dunno if I'm going to bother finishing it.