Buzzworthy Suggestions for Comedic Films

A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). One of the oldest genres in film — and derived from the classical comedy in theatre — some of the earliest silent films were comedies, as slapstick comedy often relies on visual depictions, without requiring sound. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1920s, comedy films took another swing, as laughter could result from burlesque situations but also dialogue. Comedy, compared with other film genres, puts much more focus on individual stars, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to the film industry due to their popularity. While many comic films are lighthearted stories with no intent other than to amuse, others contain political or social commentary (such as The King of Comedy and Wag the Dog).

Favorite Comedic Film of All Time

Cosmo voters’ favorite comedy films of any subgenre. The winner of Best Comedic Film of All Time at the first Cosmos is not eligible.

Not Eligible: Foul Play

Buzzworthy: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) • Adam’s Rib (1949) • Airplane! (1980) • Almost Famous (2000) • Amélie (2001) • American Graffiti (1973) • American Hustle (2013) • An American in Paris (1951) • Andaz Apna Apna (1994) • Annie Hall (1977) • The Apartment (1960) • Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) • Arthur (1981) • The Artist (2011) • As Good as It Gets (1997) • Auntie Mame (1958) • The Awful Truth (1937) • Babe (1995) • Back to the Future (1985) • Ball Of Fire (1941) • Bananas (1971) • Barfi! (2012) • Beauty and the Beast (1991) • Beetlejuice (1988) • Being There (1979) • Beverly Hills Cop (1984) • Big (1988) • Big Fish (2003) • Blazing Saddles (1974) • Booksmart (2019) • Born Yesterday (1950) • Breaking Away (1979) • Bringing Up Baby (1938) • Broadcast News (1987) • Bull Durham (1988) • Cabaret (1972) • Caddyshack (1980) • Carmen Jones (1954) • Carry On, Munna Bhai (2006) • Cat Ballou (1965) • The Chaos Class (1975) • Chicago (2002) • City Lights (1931) • City Slickers (1991) • Clue (1985) • Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) • Coco (2017) • The Court Jester (1956) • A Day At the Races (1937) • Deadpool (2016) • Dil Chahta Hai (2001) • Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) • Diner (1982) • Dinner At Eight (1933) • Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) • Dreamgirls (2006) • Driving Miss Daisy (1989) • Duck Soup (1933) • Easy A (2010) • Evita (1996) • Fargo (1996) • Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982) • Father Of the Bride (1950) • The Favourite (2018) • Fiddler on the Roof (1971) • Finding Nemo (2003) • A Fish Called Wanda (1988) • The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005) • Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) • The Freshman (1925) • Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) • The General (1927) • Ghostbusters (1984) • The Gold Rush (1925) • Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) • The Goodbye Girl (1977) • The Graduate (1967) • The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) • The Great Dictator (1940) • Green Book (2018) • Green Card (1990) • Groundhog Day (1993) • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) • Guys and Dolls (1955) • The Hangover (2009) • Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) • Harold and Maude (1972) • Harvey (1950) • The Heartbreak Kid (1972) • Heaven Can Wait (1978) • Hera Pheri (2000) • His Girl Friday (1940) • Hope and Glory (1987) • Horse Feathers (1932) • I Heart Huckabees (2004) • Inside Out (2015) • The Intouchables (2011) • It Happened One Night (1934) • It’s A Gift (1934) • It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) • The Jerk (1979) • The Kid (1921) • The Kids Are All Right (2010) • The King and I (1956) • La La Land (2016) • Lady Bird (2017) • The Lady Eve (1941) • Les Girls (1957) • Les Misérables (2012) • Life Is Beautiful (1997) • The Lion King (1994) • Little Miss Sunshine (2006) • Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) • The Longest Yard (1974) • Lost In America (1985) • Lost in Translation (2003) • A Majority of One (1961) • Manhattan (1979) • The Martian (2015) • Mary and Max (2009) • MAS*H (1970) • The Miracle Of Morgan’s Creek (1944) • Modern Times (1936) • Monkey Business (1931) • Monsters, Inc. (2001) • Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) • Moonrise Kingdom (2012) • Moonstruck (1987) • Moulin Rouge! (2001) • Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) • Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936) • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) • Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) • Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) • My Fair Lady (1964) • My Man Godfrey (1936) • My Sassy Girl (2001) • Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996) • National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) • The Navigator (1924) • A Night At the Opera (1935) • 9 To 5 (1980) • Ninotchka (1939) • The Nutty Professor (1963) • The Odd Couple (1968) • Oliver! (1968) • OMG: Oh My God! (2012) • The Palm Beach Story (1942) • The Philadelphia Story (1940) • PK (2014) • The Player (1992) • Private Benjamin (1980) • Prizzi’s Honor (1985) • The Producers (1968) • Queen (2013) • Raising Arizona (1987) • Rang De Basanti (2006) • Road To Morocco (1942) • Romancing the Stone (1984) • The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966) • The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969) • The Seven Year Itch (1955) • Shakespeare in Love (1998) • Shampoo (1975) • She Done Him Wrong (1933) • Sherlock, Jr. (1924) • Sholay (1975) • A Shot In the Dark (1964) • Sideways (2004) • Silver Streak (1976) • Singin’ In the Rain (1952) • Sleeper (1973) • Snatch (2000) • Some Like It Hot (1959) • Sons Of the Desert (1933) • The Sound of Music (1965) • A Star Is Born (1976) • The Sting (1973) • Sullivan’s Travels (1941) • The Sunshine Boys (1975) • Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) • Take the Money and Run (1969) • That Touch of Mink (1962) • There’s Something About Mary (1998) • The Thin Man (1934) • This Is Spinal Tap (1984) • 3 Idiots (2009) • To Be Or Not To Be (1942) • Tom Jones (1963) • Tootsie (1982) • Topper (1937) • Toy Story (1995) • Toy Story 2 (1999) • Toy Story 3 (2010) • Up (2009) • Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) • Victor/Victoria (1982) • Vizontele (2001) • Walk the Line (2005) • What We Do in the Shadows (2015) • What’s Up, Doc? (1972) • When Harry Met Sally (1989) • Wild Tales (2014) • With a Song in My Heart (1952) • The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) • Woman Of the Year (1942) • Working Girl (1988) • Yentl (1983) • Young Frankenstein (1974) • Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011)

Favorite Camp Classic Film

Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many of modernism’s notions of what art is and what can be classified as high art by inverting aesthetic attributes such as beauty, value, and taste through an invitation of a different kind of apprehension and consumption. Camp can also be a social practice and function as a style and performance identity for several types of entertainment including film, cabaret, and pantomime. Where high art necessarily incorporates beauty and value, camp necessarily needs to be lively, audacious and dynamic. “Camp aesthetics delights in impertinence.” Camp opposes satisfaction and seeks to challenge. The visual style is closely associated with gay culture. Camp art is related to – and often confused with – kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as “cheesy”. When the usage appeared in 1909, it denoted “ostentatious, exaggerated, affected, theatrical; effeminate or homosexual” behavior, and by the middle of the 1970s, camp was defined by the college edition of Webster’s New World Dictionary as “banality, mediocrity, artifice, [and] ostentation … so extreme as to amuse or have a perversely sophisticated appeal”. The American writer Susan Sontag’s essay Notes on “Camp” (1964) emphasized its key elements as: “artifice, frivolity, naïve middle-class pretentiousness, and shocking excess”.

Not Eligible: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Buzzworthy: Addams Family Values (1993) • The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) • All About Eve (1950) • Barbarella (1968) • Basket Case (1982) • Berserk (1967) • Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) • The Big Cube (1969) • Blood Feast (1963) • Bluebeard (1972) • But I’m a Cheerleader (1999) • Camp (2003) • Can’t Stop the Music (1980) • Clue (1985) • The Day the Fish Came Out (1967) • Death Becomes Her (1992) • Drum (1976) • El Topo (1971) • Eraserhead (1976) • Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965) • Female Trouble (1974) • Flesh (1968) • Forbidden Zone (1982) • Freaks (1932) • Glen or Glenda (1953) • Harold and Maude (1971) • Hold Me While I’m Naked (1966) • The Honeymoon Killers (1970) • I Spit on Your Grave (1977) • The Last House on the Left (1972) • The Love Machine (1971) • Mommie Dearest (1981) • Moonrise Kingdom (2012) • Myra Breckinridge (1970) • Orgy of the Dead (1965) • The Oscar (1966) • Pink Flamingos (1972) • Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) • Queen of Outer Space (1958) • Reform School Girls (1986) • Showgirls (1995) • Sins of the Fleshapoids (1965) • Steel Magnolias (1989) • Strait-Jacket (1964) • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) • To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995) • Trash (1970) • Valley of the Dolls (1967) • Vixen (1968) • Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) • The Women (1939)

Favorite Comedic Horror Film

Some of these films genuinely try to give audiences a scare but break them up the tension with comedic moments. Others are clearly comedies that use a horror backdrop to deliver the laughs. Cosmo voters will have to decide individually what their preferences are.

Buzzworthy: The Addams Family (1991) • Addams Family Values (1993) • An American Werewolf in London (1981) • Army of Darkness (1992) • The Babysitter (2017) • The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020) • The Beta Test (2021) • Black Friday (2021) • Bride of Chucky (1998) • Colossal (2016) • Creepshow (1982) • Cult of Chucky (2017) • Curse of Chucky (2013) • Dark Shadows (2012) • The Dead Don’t Die (2019) • Death Becomes Her (1992) • Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) • The Final Girls (2015) • Freaky (2020) • Fright Night (1985) • Fright Night (2011) • Goosebumps (2015) • Gremlins (1984) • Hocus Pocus (1993) • Hotel Transylvania (2012) • Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022) • Jennifer’s Body (2009) • Krampus (2015) • Little Shop of Horrors (1986) • The Lost Boys (1987) • Once Bitten (1985) • Piranha 3D (2010) • Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) • Ready or Not (2019) • The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) • Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015) • Seed of Chucky (2004) • Shaun of the Dead (2004) • Silent Night (2021) • Spree (2020) • Tremors (1990) • Trick ‘r Treat (2007) • The Trip (2021) • Tusk (2014) • Vivarium (2019) • Warm Bodies (2013) • Werewolves Within (2021) • What We Do in the Shadows (2014) • Willy’s Wonderland (2021) • The Witches (1990) • The Witches (2020) • The Witches of Eastwick (1987) • The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020) • Zombieland (2009) • Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)

Favorite Dark Comedies

Dark comedy, also known as black comedy, black humor, dark humor, dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss. Writers and comedians often use it as a tool for exploring vulgar issues by provoking discomfort, serious thought, and amusement for their audience. Thus, in fiction, for example, the term black comedy can also refer to a genre in which dark humor is a core component. Popular themes of the genre include death, crime, poverty, suicide, war, violence, terrorism, discrimination, disease, racism, sexism, and human sexuality.

Buzzworthy: Adam’s Apples (2005) • Adaptation. (2002) • After Hours (1985) • Arsenic and Old Lace (1943) • The Art Of Self-Defense (2019) • Bad Santa (2003) • Better Off Dead (1985) • The Big Lebowski (1998) • Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) (2014) • The Brand New Testament (2015) • Brazil (1985) • Burn After Reading (2008) • Carnage (2011) • Catch-22 (1970) • Cheap Thrills (2013) • Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) • The Death Of Stalin (2017) • Delicatessen (1991) • Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) • Eating Raoul (1982) • Ed Wood (1994) • Fargo (1996) • Female Trouble (1975) • The Firemen’s Ball (1967) • Four Lions (2009) • Freeway (1996) • Game Night (2018) • Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) • Happiness (1998) • Harold and Maude (1971) • Heathers (1988) • Hot Fuzz (2007) • In Bruges (2008) • In Order Of Disappearance (2016) • In The Loop (2009) • Ingrid Goes West (2017) • Jawbreaker (1999) • Killer Joe (2011) • Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) • Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005) • The Ladykillers (1955) • Little Miss Sunshine (2006) • The Lobster (2015) • Man Bites Dog (1992) • Men & Chicken (2015) • Monsieur Verdoux (1947) • Multiple Maniacs (1970) • Network (1976) • A New Leaf (1971) • Parasite (2019) • Pink Flamingos (1972) • Polyester (1981) • The Producers (1968) • Punch-Drunk Love (2002) • Raising Arizona (1987) • The Ref (1994) • Ruthless People (1986) • A Serious Man (2009) • Seven Psychopaths (2012) • Shaun of the Dead (2004) • Snatch (2000) • T2 Trainspotting (2017) • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) • To Be or Not To Be (1942) • To Be or Not To Be (1983) • Trainspotting (1996) • The Trouble With Harry (1955) • Used Cars (1980) • The Voices (2014) • The War Of The Roses (1989) • Welcome To The Dollhouse (1995) • Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966) • Wild Tales (2014) • Withnail And I (1987) • The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) • World’s Greatest Dad (2009)

Favorite Disaster Parodies

Parodies of disaster movies are almost as old as the disaster movie genre itself. They play off the tropes made cliché in films about crashes, natural disasters, and zombies and other monster attacks.

Buzzworthy: Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) • Airplane! (1980) • Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! (1978) • The Big Bus (1976) • Cooties (2014) • Disaster Movie (2008) • Disaster! (2005) • Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) • Epic Movie (2007) • Freaks of Nature (2015) • Life After Beth (2014) • Mars Attacks! (1996) • Night of the Comet (1984) • Rapture-Palooza (2013) • Rise of the Dinosaurs (2013) • Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015) • Shaun of the Dead (2004) • Snakes on a Plane (2006) • The Starving Games (2013) • This Is the End (2013) • The Walking Deceased (2015) • Warm Bodies (2013) • Zombieland (2009)

Favorite High School and Coming of Age Comedies

John Hughes made a career out of comedies set in high school – right when the founders of the Cosmique Movie Awards were in high school. This genre, of course, predates the 80s by eons and will outlive the cockroaches.

Buzzworthy: 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) • 17 Again (2009) • Adventureland (2009) • Almost Famous (2000) • American Graffiti (1973) • American Pie (1999) • Better Off Dead (1985) • Booksmart (2019) • The Breakfast Club (1985) • Bring It On (2000) • But I’m a Cheerleader (1999) • Can’t Buy Me Love (1987) • Can’t Hardly Wait (1998) • Charlie Bartlett (2007) • A Cinderella Story (2004) • Class Act (1992) • Clueless (1995) • Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004) • Crooklyn (1994) • Cry-Baby (1990) • The Curiosity of Chance (2006) • Dazed and Confused (1993) • Dope (2015) • The DUFF (2015) • Easy A (2010) • Edge of Seventeen (1998) • The Edge of Seventeen (2016) • Eighth Grade (2018) • Empire Records (1995) • Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) • Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) • Flower (2017) • Ghost World (2001) • Heathers (1989) • House Party (1990) • I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009) • John Tucker Must Die (2006) • Juno (2007) • Just One of the Guys (1985) • Lady Bird (2017) • Love, Simon (2018) • Mean Girls (2004) • Mid90s (2018) • Napoleon Dynomite (2004) • Not Another Teen Movie (2001) • The Outsiders (1983) • The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) • Porky’s (1981) • Pretty in Pink (1986) • Project X (2012) • Raise Your Voice (2004) • Risky Business (1983) • Rushmore (1998) • Saved! (2004) • Say Anything (1989) • She’s All That (1999) • She’s the Man (2006) • Sixteen Candles (1984) • Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) • Stand by Me (1986) • Submarine (2010) • Superbad (2007) • The Way, Way Back (2013) • Weird Science (1985)

Favorite Romantic Comedies

Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice-of-life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is “a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily.” Another definition suggests that its “primary distinguishing feature is a love plot in which two sympathetic and well-matched lovers are united or reconciled.” In a typical romantic comedy, the two lovers tend to be young, likeable, and seemingly meant for each other, yet they are kept apart by some complicating circumstance (e.g., class differences, parental interference, a previous girlfriend or boyfriend) until, surmounting all obstacles, they are finally united. A fairy-tale-style happy ending is a typical feature.

Buzzworthy: 2 Days in Paris (2007) • The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) • (500) Days Of Summer (2009) • About a Boy (2002) • Adam’s Rib (1949) • Amélie (2001) • The American President (1995) • An Ideal Husband (1999) • Annie Hall (1977) • The Apartment (1960) • Appropriate Behavior (2014) • Arthur (1981) • The Artist (2011) • As Good As It Gets (1997) • The Awful Truth (1937) • Beginners (2010) • Belle Epoque (1992) • Benny & Joon (1993) • Big Eden (2000) • The Big Sick (2017) • Born Yesterday (1950) • Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961) • Bridesmaids (2011) • Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) • Bringing Up Baby (1938) • Broadcast News (1987) • Bull Durham (1988) • Chasing Amy (1997) • City Lights (1931) • Clueless (1995) • Crazy Rich Asians (2018) • Crossing Delancey (1988) • Cyrano De Bergerac (1990) • Dave (1993) • Desk Set (1957) • Down With Love (2003) • Edge Of Seventeen (1998) • Emma (1996) • Enchanted (2007) • Enough Said (2013) • The Fairy (2011) • Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) • Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) • Funny Ha Ha (2003) • Groundhog Day (1993) • Hannah And Her Sisters (1986) • Happiest Season (2020) • Harold And Maude (1971) • The Heartbreak Kid (1972) • High Fidelity (2000) • His Girl Friday (1940) • Holiday (1938) • How To Marry A Millionaire (1953) • The Importance Of Being Earnest (1952) • Indiscreet (1958) • It Happened One Night (1934) • Italian For Beginners (2000) • Jerry Maguire (1996) • Juno (2007) • The Kids Are All Right (2010) • Knocked Up (2007) • L.A. Story (1991) • The Lady Eve (1941) • Long Shot (2019) • Love Actually (2003) • Love in the Afternoon (1957) • Love, Simon (2018) • Maggie’s Plan (2015) • Manhattan (1979) • Moonstruck (1987) • Much Ado About Nothing (1993) • Much Ado About Nothing (2012) • Muriel’s Wedding (1994) • My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) • My Man Godfrey (1936) • Ninotchka (1939) • Obvious Child (2014) • Palm Springs (2020) • Pat And Mike (1952) • The Philadelphia Story (1940) • Pillow Talk (1959) • Play It Again, Sam (1972) • Plus One (2019) • Pretty Woman (1990) • The Princess Bride (1987) • The Purple Rose Of Cairo (1985) • Roman Holiday (1953) • Roxanne (1987) • Sabrina (1954) • Saving Face (2004) • Say Anything… (1989) • The Seven Year Itch (1955) • Shakespeare in Love (1998) • The Shop Around the Corner (1940) • Show Me Love (1998) • Silver Linings Playbook (2012) • Sleepless in Seattle (1993) • Some Like It Hot (1959) • Splash (1984) • Stolen Kisses (1968) • Strictly Ballroom (1992) • There’s Something About Mary (1998) • To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018) • Top Five (2014) • Trainwreck (2015) • Trick (1999) • Trouble in Paradise (1932) • Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) • Waitress (2007) • The Wedding Banquet (1993) • What’s Up, Doc? (1972) • When Harry Met Sally… (1989) • Woman of the Year (1942) • Your Sister’s Sister (2011)

Buzzworthy Suggestions for Other Awards

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