If you’re looking for a laugh, the movies on this list have you covered. From broad comedy to sci-fi comedy to social satire, they have many ways of tickling your funny bone.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
The ghost with the most is back, baby! Thirty-six years have passed since the original Beetlejuice movie, but the bio-exorcist Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) himself is his old, troublemaking self.
Returning alongside Keaton are director Tim Burton and actors Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara, with some newcomers in tow. The Deetz family returns to the town of Winter River, Connecticut, after patriarch Charles Deetz dies in an accident. Charles’ widow, Delia (O’Hara), his daughter Lydia (Ryder), and Lydia’s daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) attend the funeral. The clairvoyant Lydia is now the host of the paranormal investigation TV show Ghost House With Lydia Deetz. Her boyfriend, Rory (Justin Theroux), is her manager and her show’s producer.
Lydia has been estranged from her daughter Astrid since her husband Arthur (Santiago Cabrera) died. Astrid discovers a scale model of Winter River in the attic of the family house. The model is a portal to the supernatural realm called the Neitherworld, home to trickster demon Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse, who attempted to marry Lydia in the first movie, returns to wreak havoc. When Astrid is in danger, Lydia and Betelgeuse must form an uneasy alliance.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has been called a return to form for Burton, who many fans feel has lost his mojo in the last 10 or so years. The movie’s anarchic, silly, and ghoulish energy echoes the first while mixing things up just enough. It also feels like a welcome throwback in its use of old-fashioned sight gags, employing special effects makeup, puppetry, and even stop-motion animation to bring its visuals to life.
Deadpool & Wolverine
Ryan Reynolds is synonymous with the wisecracking mutant antihero Wade Wilson/Deadpool. After appearing in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and headlining two Deadpool movies, Reynolds is back with a certain hairy frenemy in tow.
Six years after Deadpool 2, Deadpool has retired from being a mercenary and works as a second-hand car salesman. He is visited by agents from the Time Variance Authority (TVA), an organisation that monitors the timeline. TVA official Mr Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) informs Deadpool that his home reality of Earth-10005 is under existential threat.
Deadpool decides to team up with a version of Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who is considered a failure in his world. The pair do not get along but must cooperate to fend off the villainous Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin). Cassandra (the twin sister of Charles Xavier/Professor X) rules over the Void, a wasteland populated by rejected characters discarded from their home realities. Along the way, they meet allies and foes old and new as they face an existential threat.
Grossing US$1.34 billion at the worldwide box office, Deadpool & Wolverine is the second highest-grossing movie of 2024 at the time of writing. A big part of its appeal is Deadpool’s brand of irreverent humour, which by now is second nature for Reynolds. Expect lots of fourth wall breaks, inside jokes about the behind-the-scenes process, some gross-out sight gags, and copious odd-couple bickering from the titular duo.
Flamin’ Hot
There has been a recent trend of ‘brand biopics’, movies that purportedly tell the true story about the origins of ubiquitous products. These movies include Air, Tetris, BlackBerry, and Unfrosted, and contain varying degrees of comedy (and veracity). Flamin’ Hot is the brand biopic of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
In the 1980s, Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia), who had a rough childhood, gets a job as a janitor at the Frito-Lay factory in Rancho Cucamonga, California. He works hard and familiarises himself with the manufacturing equipment.
Richard soon conceives of a new flavour of Cheetos, inspired by the spicy food that he grew up eating, including elotes (Mexican seasoned corn). He pitches the flavour to Frito-Lay’s parent company president, Roger Enrico (Tony Shalhoub), who is puzzled that a janitor is pitching a product idea but quickly gets hooked. As Frito-Lay sales fall during an economic downturn, Richard realises that the way to save the company is to aim his new Cheetos flavour at the Latino market.
While the real-life Montañez’s account has been challenged and was likely heavily embellished, Flamin’ Hot makes for an inspirational, funny, feel-good movie. It also marks the feature film directorial debut of actress Eva Longoria.
The Fall Guy
Action, comedy, and romance: The Fall Guy has it all. In this adaptation of the ’80s TV show, Ryan Gosling stars as Colt Seavers, a veteran stunt performer who quit a year ago after a major injury on the set. Emily Blunt plays Colt’s ex-girlfriend, Jody Moreno, a first-time director who is filming the big-budget sci-fi western Metalstorm in Australia. The movie’s star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), suddenly goes missing, jeopardising the production and Jody’s career. Colt, who formerly doubled for Tom, goes searching for him, uncovering a sinister cover-up in the process.
Directed by former stunt performer David Leitch, The Fall Guy is packed with knowing winks and nods to the film industry. Jean-Claude, Colt’s stunt-trained canine sidekick (played by two female Australian Kelpies), is also sure to make audiences laugh and go aww.
Hit Man
Glen Powell is the star of the moment. He’s been acting in movies for years, but after performances in Top Gun: Maverick, Devotion, Anyone but You, and Twisters, he’s fast gaining bona fide leading man cred. Directed by Richard Linklater (who collaborated with Powell on 2016’s Everybody Wants Some!!) and co-written by the two of them, Hit Man is the ideal showcase for the actor’s charm and comic timing.
In this critically acclaimed comedy that is very loosely based on a true story, Powell plays Gary Johnson, a professor of psychology and philosophy who provides tech support to the police as a side gig. When cop Jasper (Austin Amelio) is suspended, Gary steps in to pose as a hitman and proves to be adept at the job. He develops various disguises and personas, successfully helping the police apprehend people intent on hiring assassins. When he meets Madison (Adria Arjona), a beautiful woman stuck in an unhappy marriage who wants to have her husband killed, she just might be Gary’s undoing.
Ricky Stanicky
While wrestler John Cena began his film acting career in straightforward action movies, he has, since then, often flexed his comedic chops. Audiences have grown to love him for his sense of humour and ability to poke fun at himself. Cena’s latest comedic turn in Ricky Stanicky might also be his most outlandish yet.
Dean (Zac Efron), Wes (Jermaine Fowler), and JT (Andrew Santino) are three childhood friends who invented the fictional ‘Ricky Stanicky’ as a scapegoat whom they could use to get out of trouble, and they’ve been blaming things on him ever since. When their families and significant others become suspicious, the trio hires washed-up Atlantic City entertainer ‘Rock Hard’ Rod (Cena) to play Ricky and prove that the elusive friend has existed all along. However, Rod becomes obsessively invested in his role, causing chaos for the three friends.
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