When I watch a movie just for fun, not to critique, I like certain kinds of movies. One of my favorite categories is comedy. I like movies that make me laugh. Not just a little, however, because I want to laugh a lot! Here are some of my expert choices for movies that will tickle your funny bone: - Coming to America. With an all star cast including Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, Madge Sinclair, and John Amos, this film had winner written all over it before it ever hit the screen. Little did anyone know at the time that there was another batch of “stars” not listed in the credits that would bring as much to the screen as anyone else. And they were all Eddie Murphy or Arsenio Hall.
The premise of the film is simple. The prince of a small African country is told he must find a queen. Although his parents want him to marry the girl of their choice, he has other ideas. He wants an American bride, preferably one from Queens. After coming to America, he quickly identifies the woman of his dreams but must woo her by pretending to be a down on his luck individual so that the object of his affection's father will offer him a job.
The focus of the movie is on Akeem's (Murphy's) attempts to win over his lady love while still keeping his best friend, Semmie out of trouble. John Amos plays father of Akeem's lady fair. Sinclair and Jones play Akeem's parents.
This movie is funny on so many levels that it is hard to put it all into words. All I can say is, if you haven't seen it, you should. You'll roar with laughter and you'll feel great when the movie is over.
- Jumanji. I'm not a big fan of this 1995 film, but my husband loves it. There are definitely funny moments, but I found some of it difficult to watch. It stars Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, and a young Kirsten Dunst.
When young Alan Parrish (Williams) discovers a mysterious game, he and his best friend Sarah decide to play it. Little do they know at the time that it will change their lives forever. Twenty-six years later, a brother and sister duo finds the game and also begins playing it. With each move they make, however, the game escalates at a frantic pace; letting loose animals and altering reality.
If you like slapstick comedy, this is a film you should enjoy. It is loud, boisterous, and chaotic.
- Liar Liar. This Jim Carey 1997 comedy was the perfect vehicle to showcase the talent and charms of Carey. Fletcher Reede (Carey) is both a workaholic and a fast-talking lawyer who can't tell the truth to save his soul.
Although Fletcher loves his wife Audrey Reede (played by Maura Tierney) and his son Max, he can't seem to find time to spend with them, often making up excuses or lying about why. But little does he know that his days of stretching the truth are about to end when its son makes a birthday wish that his father wouldn't lie for just one day.
This movie shows us how we human beings often get caught up in our little white lies, ultimately making messes from which you can never recover. That journey of truth also leads Fletcher to realize the error of his ways and puts him back on the pathway of a happy life.
Let's face it, Carey is a comic master; a skill that rings through loud and clear in this rip-roaring good time of a movie.
- Look Who's Talking. Who wouldn't love a talking baby that sounds like Bruce Willis? A winning mixture of an cute screenplay, perfect chemistry between actors John Travolta and Kirstie Alley, and a voice over track of Mikey's thoughts provided by Willis, combine to make this 1989 film hilarious.
Mollie (Alley) is an accountant with a crush on a client (played by George Segal). The problem is, he's not at all interested in leaving his wife and children for her. Finally convinced she'll have to raise her child alone, she meets cab-driver James (Travolta) on her way to the hospital to give birth. He stays to help her and a relationship begins, moving from friendship into the real thing. Of course, Mikey has to do a little helping of his own along the way.
This movie will make you laugh. It isn't sophisticated or high art. It's just plain old good fun!
- Man's Favorite Sport. This 1964 classic film stars Rock Hudson and Paul Prentiss and features a supporting cast of wonderful character actors including John McGiver and Regis Toomey.
Hudson plays Roger Willoughby, a magazine sports writer recognized as one of the world's greatest angling experts. His life is full of fun and women; two things he loves. But it's all about to change. His boss has entered him into a fishing competition. There's only one problem, Willoughby has never been fishing in his life.
Enter Abigail Page, a fishing expert who can give Roger the skills he needs to win the competition. Unless, of course, she manages to kill him before then. Prentiss plays the perfect bumbling female with passive aggressive tendencies. In the process, she manages to hold her own against one of Hollywood's most legendary leading men.
This is an old fashioned film where sex is implied but never really shown. It is, however, full of wonderful double entendres and lots of wonderful setups and gags. It is frolicking good fun!
- Overboard. Watching this film makes it clear why the chemistry between Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell lasted through more than ten years of “non marriage.” They sizzle on screen (and off.)
Rich bitch, Joanna Stayton (Hawn), is definitely not a nice person. When she hires Dean Profitt (Russell) to make a shoe closet for her ship, she decides to cheat him out of payment because he didn't make it out of cedar. So when Joanna falls overboard and lands in the hospital with amnesia, Profitt sees an opportunity to make his money back - in servitude.
Little does Dean suspect that Joanna could fall in love with his children and with her new poverty-stricken life. And little does Joanna know that Dean - - a man without two cents to rub together - - could be the man of her dreams.
Although I admit that certain scenes in this film are overplayed, that's half of the fun. It's a good old fashioned poke of fun at greed, sacrifice, and love in general.
- Romancing the Stone. This 1984 film paired Kathleen Turner with a swash buckling Michael Douglas. The pairing proved to make on-screen magic, spawning two sequels.
Romance writer Joan Wilder (Turner) has never been anywhere or done anything. She simply stays home and writes; that is, until her sister gets herself in trouble in Columbia. Then Joan must attempt a rescue. However, she immediately errs and gets on the wrong bus, which stops in the middle of the Colombian jungle.
When everyone runs off leaving her alone, Joan tries to pay a fortune seeker, Jack Colton, to help her. The movie covers their adventures as they try to find the object that will save Joan's sister and keep their lives in tact. That proves no easy accomplishment with Ira (played by Zack Norman) and Ralph (Danny De Vito) hot on their trail.
The chemistry between Turner and Douglas is both explosive and humorous, making this movie a comedy gem from start to finish.
- Sister Act. This movie is the first time I heard Whoopi Goldberg sing. She is actually quite good! But then so were most of the nuns in her choir. Yes, I said choir.
The premise of this film is that lounge singer, Delores Van Cartier, hides in a convent; not by choice but because her long-term gangster beau has decided he wants her dead. So while she's hanging around the convent anyway, why not be useful by teaching the choir how to really sing.
Although Goldberg is definitely the star, I think most will admit that the ensemble cast could not have been more perfect. Kathy Najimy as a perky “sister” and Mary Wickes as former choir master, Sister Mary Lazarus were inspired choices. Maggie Smith as Mother Superior is no slouch either.
This is a rollicking good time with some wonderful 60's Motown music thrown in for good measure. I pull this film out whenever I need a good laugh because it's sure fire, every single time.
- Some Like it Hot. This wonderful gender-bending film starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon, is listed as one of the American Film Institute's 100 top movies of all time. As well it should be because never was a guy dressed up as girl more funny than the two played by Curtis and Lemmon.
Joe (Curtis) and Jerry (Lemmon) are two musicians who accidentally witness a gangland shootout. Knowing their ticket may be up, the duo decide to take a gig as musicians in an all girl band, which has a singer named Sugar (Monroe) that both guys want to win over.
Poor Daphne (Lemmon, in his feminine version) attracts the attention of a lovelorn millionaire (played by legendary comic Joe E. Brown) which makes for some of the funniest sequences in the film. Then, of course, there is the romance between Sugar and Joe, which she shares tenderly with her girl friend Josephine (Curtis, in his feminine version). For just plain fun and loads of laughs, Some Like it Hot is the real ticket.
- The Trouble With Angels. This 1966 movie matched screen great Rosalind Russell with “it” girl of the moment, Hayley Mills. Russell plays Mother Superior at the St. Francis Academy for Girls, a quiet sedate little convent school; that is, until Mary Clancy (Mills) enrolls.
To say trouble follows wherever Mary goes, is a major understatement. Mary is trouble in the purest form. She and her new best friend, Rachel pull off a number of pranks which include substituting bubble bath for sugar, smoking cigars in the boiler room, and trying to make a plaster-of-paris mask out of a friends face.
Who will survive: The girls or the nuns? It will be close either way. In the meantime, a good time will be had by all.
- The Unsinkable Molly Brown. You can't always acquaint comedy with musicals, although more often than not, musical and comedy go hand in hand. That is certainly the case with this 1964 film starring Debbie Reynolds and Harve Presnell.
Debbie Reynolds plays Molly, a character that survived a flood in nothing but a basket, while everything around her floated away. That positive omen is the premise of this 1968 film. If Molly didn't know something, she figured a way to learn it. Nothing stopped her - Ever!
Although Molly meets her match in Johnny Brown, who eventually wins her a fortune worthy of any Rockefeller, she still isn't happy. It seems that money can't buy you friends in Denver society. So Molly bags her bags and heads to Europe, where being eccentric is expected.
After winning over everyone there, she heads back Denver only to be rejected again; not only by her friends but by her husband as well. Molly eventually decides that she's had enough of Europe and that she needs her “Johnny” and heads back to the United States via the “Titanic.” But she proves once again to be “unsinkable.”
This is a cute movie if you like musicals and love to laugh. This role was tailored made for Reynolds. She never looked more beautiful or sounded better.
- Victor Victoria. This 1982 musical comedy stars Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, and Lesley Ann Warren. Based in Paris, this story of a girl dressed as a guy dressed as girl is a laugh-a-minute.
Andrews plays Victoria Grant, a highly trained soprano who can't find a job because she sings too well. Along comes Carroll “Toddy” Todd (Preston), who befriends her and takes her home for a good night's rest. When his male lover arrives the next morning, Victoria defends Toddy's honor and by doing so, unleashes an idea in Toddy's mind. What if she pretended to be a European Count who performed in drag as a woman?
The Count wins a spot at a prestigious Paris club where he makes a smashing debut, which is caught by an American of disreputable affiliation (Garner). He is shocked when the girl on stage removes her wig and appears to be a man. His girl friend (Warren), on the other hand, is delighted that the she is really a he but she obviously doesn't know that the “he” is really a she. Confusing, I know. That's what makes this film so darn funny!
Lesley Ann Warren's performance in this film is “must see.” She is worth the price of a ticket (or rental) any day of the week.
That represents some of my “go to” movies when I need a good laugh. If you haven't seen them, give them a try. I think you will be happy that you did. |
