The best crime comedies balance both of their disparate elements, delivering laughs and thrills for the audience. Crime and comedy don’t intuitively seem like they should go together, but there are countless movies which prove this wrong, often using dark humor, inept criminals and witty detectives.
Crime comedies date back to the early days of cinema, but the genre has changed a lot since then. While early hits like Sherlock Jr. focused on detectives, there are now just as many movies with criminals as the heroes. Heist movies and morally ambiguous gangster movies can be just as funny as buddy cop comedies or hilarious whodunnits.
10
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Steven Soderbergh’s Elaborate Heist Is Filled With Twists
Ocean’s Eleven is one of the best heist movies ever made, and it has set the standard for the subgenre throughout the 21st century. Brad Pitt and George Clooney lead a wonderful ensemble cast, filled with enough charisma to easily outdo the Rat Pack’s original movie from 1960.
The ending offers the same kind of rapturous reveal as The Sting.
Ocean’s Eleven is always light on its feet, bouncing around between different members of the gang while steadily developing the elaborate heist. In the end, the third act delivers twist after twist, and it’s revealed that Steven Soderbergh is the true mastermind. The ending offers the same kind of rapturous reveal as The Sting, which solidifies Ocean’s Eleven‘s status as the ultimate crowdpleaser.
9
Knives Out (2019)
Rian Johnson Reinvents The Whodunnit
Rian Johnson has often spoken about his admiration for Agatha Christie’s work, but Knives Out is more than a mere imitation. Although it’s clearly dressed as a Poirot-style whodunnit, Knives Out has a few tricks up its sleeve which it uses to reinvent the mystery genre. It shifts from a guessing game into a terrifying thriller in its second half.
Daniel Craig’s eccentric performance as Benoit Blanc is key to much of Knives Out‘s comedic appeal. The brilliant detective often demurs and acts like a simpleton, but this is merely a ploy to rope his subjects in. He’s the kind of detective who’s easy to root for, not least because his country charms disrupt the snooty exterior of his surroundings.
8
The Nice Guys (2016)
Shane Black Is A Master Of Buddy Cop Comedies
The Nice Guys
7/10
- Release Date
-
May 20, 2016
- Runtime
-
116minutes
- Director
-
Shane Black
- Writers
-
Anthony Bagarozzi, Shane Black
Shane Black first rose to prominence as the writer of Lethal Weapon, and he later directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. By the time he created The Nice Guys, he was already a veteran of the buddy cop subgenre, and this resulted in his funniest movie yet. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe star in a retro crime caper as two mismatched detectives.
Related
These 10 All-Time Comedies Will Never Stop Being Funny
Comedy is one of the great genres of film that frequently gets overlooked, but there isn’t much better than a classic, timeless comedy.
Gosling and Crowe don’t intuitively seem like a great fit, but their odd comedic tension is exactly what makes The Nice Guys so funny. Crowe is a stoic, unflinching mass, while Gosling is given full license to give one of his most expressive and flamboyant performances, complete with childish squeals and fits of anxious rage. The Nice Guys was a box office bomb, but it’s since been recognized as a cult classic.
7
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Britain And America Collide In A Hilarious Caper
A Fish Called Wanda
- Release Date
-
July 15, 1988
- Runtime
-
108 min
- Director
-
Charles Crichton, John Cleese
- Writers
-
John Cleese, Charles Crichton
A few years after the last of their Monty Python movies, John Cleese and Michael Palin worked together again on A Fish Called Wanda, a heist comedy that deals with the fallout of a diamond robbery. It’s more structured and less surreal than Monty Python, but no less hilarious.
Cleese and Palin are both in fine form in A Fish Called Wanda, and the cast is rounded out by Jamie Lee Curtis and an Oscar-winning turn from Kevin Kline. This gives the story an intelligent culture-clash element, as both the Americans and the Brits find their personal foibles getting in the way. It’s a wonderfully chaotic caper filled with dark humor.
6
Snatch (2000)
Guy Ritchie’s Farcical Gangster Romp Has A Lot Of Rewatch Value
Some of the best Guy Ritchie movies are his gangster comedies, including The Gentlemen and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Snatch is arguably the best of the bunch, as Rtchie’s flair for neatly orchestrated chaos reaches its peak. The shaggy dog story takes in illegal gambling, underground boxing, weapons trades, murder and a diamond heist pulled by thieves dressed as Hasidic Jews.
Snatch features an ensemble filled with quirky characters, as plenty of warring gangsters collide and collude with one another in a knotty crime saga that can be hard to keep track of. A few performances stand out in this cacophony, including Brad Pitt’s brash boxer and Jason Statham’s surprisingly erudite Cockney thug.
5
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Wes Anderson’s Style Is Perfect For A Knotty Crime Comedy
Wes Anderson’s movies are characterized by the director’s quirky aesthetic sensibilities, and The Grand Budapest Hotel is arguably his most pristinely beautiful film. It’s also one of his most exciting, as a cosmopolitan hotelier and his trusty lobby boy abscond with a priceless painting, pursued by a merciless hitman.
Related
10 Great Comedy Movies That Save The Best Joke Until Last
While most comedy movies end with a brief moment of sincerity, there are also those that keep the audience laughing until the very end.
The Grand Budapest Hotel demonstrates so much of what makes Anderson a special director, as his large ensemble cast, colorful compositions and deadpan comedy are all designed to get the best out of a brilliant story. It also packs an unexpected emotional punch, which adds to the richness of the peculiar world.
4
Kind Hearts & Coronets (1949)
Alec Guinness Works Overtime In The Darkest Of Dark Comedies
Kind Hearts And Coronets
- Release Date
-
June 21, 1949
- Runtime
-
106 minutes
- Director
-
Robert Hamer
- Writers
-
Robert Hamer, John Dighton
There have been plenty of instances of actors playing multiple roles in movies, especially comedies, but no one has pushed this idea to the limit quite like Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets. He plays an entire noble family, as an ousted pretender decides to take a chainsaw to the family tree.
Guinness perfects the art of the comedic death in Kind Hearts and Coronets, as each of his characters is picked off one-by-one. It’s as dark as dark comedies come, but Guinness’ deadpan performance is vital to maintaining a whimsical tone that draws plenty of laughs. Although it was released back in 1949, there have been few films as funny or as shocking.
3
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Edgar Wright’s Action Spoof Is Also A Clever Mystery
Each movie in Edgar Wright’s Cornetto trilogy parodies a different film genre. Hot Fuzz satirizes action movies, with references to Bad Boys and Lethal Weapon, but it’s also a surprisingly intelligent mystery. The story follows a battle-hardened inner city cop who is sent to a sleepy pastoral village, where he uncovers a criminal conspiracy lurking beneath the surface.
Hot Fuzz is packed with great quotes, and it has a cast stacked with comedic talent to get the best out of its script, but it also has plenty of great physical comedy. Wright’s broad palette means that he can move easily between hilarious film parodies, slapstick and sight gags. All in all, Hot Fuzz has endless ways of making its audience laugh.
2
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Billy Wilder’s Frenzied Comedy Is Still Worth Watching
Some Like It Hot
10/10
- Release Date
-
March 15, 1959
- Runtime
-
121 Minutes
- Director
-
Billy Wilder
- Writers
-
Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond
Some Like It Hot has aged surprisingly well, and it still has the power to surprise and entertain an audience over 60 years later. Billy Wilder’s comedy stars Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as two musicians who flee prohibition-era Chicago after witnessing a gangland hit, but they are tracked all the way to Florida.
Related
10 Old Hollywood Comedies That Are Still Hilarious
History is littered with once-popular comedies which have aged poorly, but there are also some Old Hollywood classics that have held up.
Some Like It Hot has plenty of great jokes about gender, as the two musicians disguise themselves as women to evade detection. This evokes William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, as the confusion caused by the disguises manifests in constantly surprising ways. However, Some Like It Hot never forgets about its crime plot, as the mob turn up in Florida for a hilariously frantic final confrontation.
1
Fargo (1996)
The Coen Brothers Classic Is Hard To Beat
Fargo
- Release Date
-
April 5, 1996
- Runtime
-
98 Minutes
- Director
-
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
- Writers
-
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Many of the best Coen brothers movies showcase their flair for crime comedies, including Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski. Any one of these could be ranked among the funniest crime comedies ever, and Fargo is also worthy of such praise. The narrative follows a man who arranges to have his own wife kidnapped so that he can extort his wealthy father-in-law for a hefty ransom.
Frances McDormand’s pedestrian, by-the-book detective subverts all expectations of the genre’s more violent archetypes.
Fargo delivers an exquisite brand of dark humor, as bumbling criminals devolve into petty arguments despite carrying out heinous crimes. Steve Buscemi’s comedic rage is arguably the highlight of his career, and Frances McDormand’s pedestrian, by-the-book detective subverts all expectations of the genre’s more violent archetypes. Few films balance crime and comedy as perfectly as Fargo.
Source link
