Funniest Movies of All Time Ranked

Directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker (1980). The original disaster-movie parody and the template for every spoof that followed. Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty star as a traumatised ex-pilot forced to land a passenger jet after the crew falls ill. Packed wall-to-wall with gags, puns, and visual jokes at a rate that has never been matched. "Surely you can't be serious." "I am serious - and don't call me Shirley."

Directed by Mel Brooks (1974). Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little star in Brooks's savage, anarchic satire of the Western genre and American racism. A Black sheriff is appointed to a corrupt frontier town in a scheme that backfires spectacularly. Blazing Saddles breaks every rule of filmmaking - including the fourth wall - and remains one of the most daring comedies Hollywood has ever produced.

Directed by Edgar Wright (2004). Simon Pegg and Nick Frost play two directionless flatmates who must navigate a zombie apocalypse in North London while also sorting out their personal lives. A loving homage to George Romero's zombie films that also works as a sharp comedy about male friendship and growing up.

Directed by Edgar Wright (2007). Simon Pegg plays a hyper-competent London police officer transferred to a sleepy English village where nothing ever happens - until a series of grisly accidents begins. Wright's direction is relentlessly inventive, and the film works simultaneously as a comedy, an action movie, and a genuine thriller.

Directed by David Zucker (1988). Leslie Nielsen reprises his role as the magnificently incompetent Detective Frank Drebin, investigating a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II during a baseball game. Nielsen's deadpan delivery is perfect, and the film's relentless gag rate is matched only by Airplane! from the same creative team.

Directed by Ben Stiller (2008). A group of pampered Hollywood actors filming a Vietnam War epic are accidentally dropped into a real conflict zone. Robert Downey Jr. delivers one of the most audacious comedic performances in recent memory as an Australian method actor, and Tom Cruise's cameo as a foul-mouthed studio executive is legendary.

Directed by Tom Shadyac (1994). Jim Carrey's breakout role as the eccentric, rubber-faced pet detective investigating the kidnapping of the Miami Dolphins' mascot. Carrey's performance is a masterclass in committed physical comedy - every scene is an opportunity for a new piece of inspired lunacy.

Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones (1975).

The Monty Python troupe - Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin - deliver one of the most quotable comedies ever made.

King Arthur and his knights embark on a hilariously futile quest for the Holy Grail, encountering killer rabbits, French taunters, and the Knights Who Say Ni. A masterclass in absurdist comedy that has never been surpassed.

Directed by Jay Roach (1997). Mike Myers plays both Austin Powers, a swinging 1960s British spy cryogenically frozen and thawed out in the 1990s, and his nemesis Dr. Evil. The film's satire of James Bond and 1960s culture is sharp and affectionate, and Myers's dual performance is a comic tour de force.

Directed by Adam McKay (2008). Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play two middle-aged men still living with their respective parents, who become step-brothers when their parents marry. Their initial hatred gives way to an intense, childlike friendship. Ferrell and Reilly's chemistry is extraordinary, and the film's commitment to its absurd premise never wavers.

Directed by Adam McKay (2004). Will Ferrell plays Ron Burgundy, the pompous, magnificently mustachioed lead anchor of a San Diego news team in the 1970s, whose world is upended when a talented woman (Christina Applegate) joins the team. Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and David Koechner complete one of the most quotable comedy ensembles of the 2000s.

Directed by Larry Charles (2006). Sacha Baron Cohen's Kazakhstani journalist Borat Sagdiyev travels across America to make a documentary, exposing the prejudices and absurdities of American culture through a series of increasingly outrageous encounters with real, unsuspecting people. One of the most audacious and genuinely shocking comedies ever made.

Directed by Ben Stiller (2001). Ben Stiller plays Derek Zoolander, a dim but impossibly handsome male model who is brainwashed by a fashion mogul to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Owen Wilson is perfect as his rival-turned-ally Hansel, and the film's satire of the fashion industry is both affectionate and merciless.

Directed by Judd Apatow (2005). Steve Carell plays Andy Stitzer, a mild-mannered electronics store employee whose co-workers discover he has never had sex and make it their mission to remedy the situation. Carell's performance is both hilarious and genuinely touching, and the film launched the Apatow comedy era.

Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber (2004). Vince Vaughn leads a ragtag team of misfits in a dodgeball tournament to save their gym from being taken over by Ben Stiller's magnificently villainous White Goodman. Stiller's performance is a comedy highlight of the decade.

Directed by Greg Mottola (2007). Jonah Hill and Michael Cera star as two inseparable best friends navigating the chaotic final weeks of high school in a desperate bid to attend a party and impress the girls they like. Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Superbad is both riotously funny and surprisingly heartfelt - a coming-of-age comedy that defined a generation.

Directed by Jon Favreau (2003). Will Ferrell plays Buddy, a human raised by elves at the North Pole who travels to New York City to find his biological father (James Caan). Ferrell's commitment to the role is total and magnificent, and the film has become one of the most beloved Christmas comedies of all time.

Directed by Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly (1994). Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels play Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, two spectacularly stupid best friends who drive a van shaped like a sheepdog from Providence to Aspen to return a briefcase to a woman Lloyd is infatuated with. Carrey is at his most unhinged, and the film remains a high-water mark for lowbrow comedy.

Directed by Ivan Reitman (1984). Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis play three disgraced parapsychology professors who start a ghost-catching business in New York City. Murray's effortlessly cool, sardonic Peter Venkman is one of cinema's great comic creations, and the film's blend of comedy, horror, and spectacular effects has never been replicated.

Directed by Chuck Russell (1994). Jim Carrey plays Stanley Ipkiss, a mild-mannered bank clerk who discovers a magical mask that transforms him into a manic, rubber-faced force of chaos. Carrey's physical comedy is at its most extraordinary here, and the film's cartoon-inspired visual effects gave him the perfect canvas for his limitless energy.

Directed by Paul Feig (2011). Kristen Wiig co-wrote and stars as Annie, a down-on-her-luck woman struggling to be the maid of honour for her best friend (Maya Rudolph) while her own life falls apart. Melissa McCarthy delivers a career-defining performance as the outrageous Megan. Bridesmaids proved that female-led comedies could be just as raucous, gross, and hilarious as anything Hollywood had produced before.

Directed by John Landis (1988). Eddie Murphy is at his absolute peak as Prince Akeem of Zamunda, who travels to Queens, New York in search of a wife who will love him for himself rather than his title. Murphy and Arsenio Hall each play multiple characters, and the barbershop scenes alone are worth the price of admission.

Directed by John Landis (1978). John Belushi leads the anarchic Delta fraternity at Faber College in a war against the uptight Dean Wormer and the rival Omega house. The film that defined the college comedy genre and launched a thousand imitators. Belushi's Bluto is a force of nature.

Directed by Judd Apatow (2007). Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl play two very different people who have a one-night stand and must figure out how to co-parent after an unplanned pregnancy. Apatow balances raucous comedy with genuine emotional depth, and the ensemble - including Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, and Jason Segel - is one of the best in modern comedy.

Directed by Martin Brest (1984). Eddie Murphy plays Detroit detective Axel Foley, who travels to Beverly Hills to investigate his friend's murder and proceeds to run rings around the local police department. Murphy's improvisational energy and magnetic screen presence make this one of the most entertaining action-comedies ever made.

Directed by Chris Columbus (1993). Robin Williams plays Daniel Hillard, a recently divorced father who disguises himself as a Scottish nanny to spend more time with his children. Williams's improvisational genius is given full rein, and the film balances its broad comedy with genuine emotional weight about family and loss.

Directed by Jonathan Lynn (1985). Based on the board game, this ensemble comedy-mystery features Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, and Lesley Ann Warren as guests at a dinner party where the host is murdered. Curry's performance as the butler Wadsworth is a masterclass in comic timing.

Directed by Adam McKay (2006). Will Ferrell plays Ricky Bobby, a NASCAR driver whose entire identity is built around winning, who must rediscover himself after being dethroned by a flamboyant French Formula One driver (Sacha Baron Cohen). Ferrell and John C. Reilly's friendship is the heart of the film.

Directed by Billy Wilder (1959). Widely considered the greatest comedy film ever made. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis play two musicians who witness a mob killing and go on the run disguised as women, joining an all-female band where they both fall for the irresistible Sugar Kane, played by Marilyn Monroe. Wilder's timing is flawless, and the final line remains one of cinema's greatest punchlines.

Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (2018). Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams play a competitive couple whose regular game night takes a sinister turn when one of the participants is apparently kidnapped. A brilliantly constructed comedy thriller with Jesse Plemons stealing every scene as the unsettling neighbour Gary.

Directed by Mark Waters (2004). Lindsay Lohan plays Cady Heron, a home-schooled teenager who transfers to a suburban Illinois high school and falls in with the school's ruling clique, the Plastics, led by the terrifying Regina George (Rachel McAdams). Written by Tina Fey, Mean Girls is a razor-sharp satire of high school social hierarchies.

Directed by Amy Heckerling (1995). Alicia Silverstone plays Cher Horowitz, a wealthy, well-meaning Beverly Hills teenager who fancies herself a matchmaker and style guru. A brilliantly observed update of Jane Austen's Emma set in 1990s Los Angeles, Clueless coined a generation's slang and remains one of the sharpest teen comedies ever made.

Directed by Penelope Spheeris (1992). Mike Myers and Dana Carvey play Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar, two metalhead friends who host a public-access cable show from Wayne's basement in Aurora, Illinois. The film is packed with pop-culture references, fourth-wall breaks, and genuine affection for its characters.

Directed by Barry Levinson (1987). Robin Williams plays Adrian Cronauer, a fast-talking Armed Forces Radio DJ whose unfiltered broadcasts delight the troops in 1965 Saigon and infuriate his commanding officers. Williams's improvised radio monologues are some of the most electrifying comedy performances ever committed to film.

Directed by Tom Shadyac (1997). Jim Carrey plays a lawyer who is physically incapable of lying for 24 hours after his son makes a birthday wish. The premise is a perfect vehicle for Carrey's elastic physicality and improvisational gifts, and the courtroom scenes in particular are among the funniest he has ever filmed.

Directed by Rob Reiner (1984). The mockumentary that invented the mockumentary. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer play the members of a fading British heavy metal band on a disastrous American tour. Shot in an improvisational style that felt so real many viewers thought it was a genuine documentary. "These go to eleven."

Directed by Harold Ramis (1993). Bill Murray plays a cynical TV weatherman who finds himself trapped in a time loop, reliving the same day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania over and over again. What begins as a comedy of frustration gradually becomes something deeper and more philosophical. Murray's performance is among his very best, and the film has only grown in stature since its release.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick (1964). Peter Sellers plays three roles - including the unforgettable ex-Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove - in Kubrick's pitch-black satire of nuclear deterrence and Cold War paranoia. A deranged US general triggers a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, and the world's leaders scramble helplessly to stop it. One of the darkest and funniest films ever made.

Directed by Harold Ramis (1983). Chevy Chase plays Clark Griswold, a well-meaning but catastrophically unlucky father who drags his family on a cross-country road trip to the Walley World theme park. Written by John Hughes, the film spawned one of comedy's most beloved franchises.

Directed by Mike Judge (1999). Ron Livingston plays a software engineer who, after a hypnotherapy session goes wrong, simply stops caring about his soul-crushing job and becomes inexplicably happy. Judge's satire of corporate culture and cubicle life is so precise it feels less like fiction than documentary.

Directed by Seth Gordon (2011). Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis play three friends who decide to murder their respective terrible bosses - played by Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, and Colin Farrell. The three leads have outstanding chemistry, and the bosses are each memorably awful in completely different ways.

Directed by Jay Roach (2000). Ben Stiller plays Greg Focker, a male nurse who spends a disastrous weekend trying to impress his girlfriend's intimidating ex-CIA father (Robert De Niro). The film is a masterclass in escalating comic humiliation, and De Niro's Jack Byrnes is one of the great comic antagonists of modern cinema.

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen (1998). Jeff Bridges plays Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski, a supremely laid-back Los Angeles slacker who gets mistaken for a millionaire of the same name and dragged into a kidnapping plot. John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, and Julianne Moore round out one of the most beloved cult comedies of all time. The Dude abides.

Directed by Wes Anderson (2014). Ralph Fiennes is magnificent as Gustave H., the fastidiously charming concierge of a legendary European hotel, who becomes embroiled in a murder mystery and a stolen painting. Tony Revolori plays his devoted lobby boy Zero. Anderson's most purely funny film, with a pace and wit that never lets up across its 99 minutes.

Directed by Todd Phillips (2009). Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis wake up in a trashed Las Vegas hotel suite with no memory of the previous night and a missing groom to find before his wedding. The Hangover was a genuine cultural phenomenon on release, and Galifianakis's Alan remains one of the funniest comedy creations of the 21st century.

Directed by Rob Reiner (1987). Cary Elwes and Robin Wright star in this fairy-tale adventure-comedy about true love, swashbuckling, and revenge. Mandy Patinkin's Inigo Montoya delivers one of cinema's most beloved lines, and the film balances romance, action, and comedy with effortless grace.

Directed by David Gordon Green (2008). Seth Rogen and James Franco play a process server and his drug dealer who go on the run after witnessing a murder. Franco's Saul Silver is one of the great stoner characters in comedy history, and the film's blend of action and absurdist humour is perfectly calibrated.

Directed by Martin Brest (1988). Robert De Niro plays a bounty hunter hired to transport a bail-jumping accountant (Charles Grodin) from New York to Los Angeles. The chemistry between De Niro and Grodin is extraordinary - one of the great odd-couple pairings in comedy history. Funny, warm, and genuinely moving.

Directed by David Wain (2001). Set on the last day of a 1981 summer camp, this ensemble comedy features an extraordinary cast - including Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, and Michael Showalter - in a loving, absurdist parody of 1980s summer camp movies.

Directed by John Hughes (1986). Matthew Broderick plays the impossibly charming Ferris Bueller, a high school senior who engineers the perfect day off in Chicago with his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) and girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara), while staying one step ahead of the relentless Dean of Students Ed Rooney.