The 20 Best Comedies on Netflix Right Now

November 29, 2024

How We Pick Our Films

Critic Brian Tallerico watches and writes about movies and TV every day. To curate this list, he dives into Netflix’s comedy catalogue every month to surface laugh-out-loud funny titles — using his taste and a lifetime of cinema study as his guide, instead of whatever the algorithm happens to be pushing. After triple-checking to make sure they’re still available, he watches each and writes his recommendation. We highlight more than just the crowdpleasers: Comedy can be a venue to present interesting ideas, make an impact on cinema, and change our culture. Read on to find something to watch.

The Addams Family

Year: 1991
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Forget that newer animated junk and stick with the 1991 live-action adaptation of the hit cartoon and TV series about the creepiest family in town. Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston are splendid as Gomez and Morticia Addams, and director Barry Sonnenfeld brings his witty visual style to play in this hit comedy.

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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Year: 2018
Runtime: 2h 13m
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

The Coen brothers delivered one of their most inventive and enjoyable films in this anthology film that tells a series of stories with a Western theme. Tim Blake Nelson sets the stage beautifully with his opening bit about a singing cowboy, but there are a number of scene-stealers here including Harry Melling, Tom Waits, and Bill Heck. It’s one of the most underrated modern Westerns.

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*Blazing Saddles

Year: 1974
Runtime: 1h 32m
Director: Mel Brooks

The ultimate “could they make that movie anymore” conversation piece remains one of the funniest films ever made. Cleavon Little plays the new Sheriff in town as Brooks and his team skewer Western genre conventions and race relations in a way that’s unforgettably hysterical. It’s quite literally one of the funniest movies ever made.

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*The Blues Brothers

Year: 1980
Runtime: 2h 12m
Director: John Landis

One of the most beloved comedies of all time, this musical classic stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as Jake and Elwood Blues, characters they developed together on Saturday Night Live. The humor in John Landis’ classic has held up, but the music really holds it together, including appearances from James Brown, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, and Chaka Khan.

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Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

Year: 2020
Runtime: 2h 3m
Director: David Dobkin

Why did it take so long to satirize the wonderful, unapologetic excess of the Eurovision Song Contest? It was worth the wait because one of the funniest movies of 2020 starred Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams as a pair of hapless Icelandic singers who turn the international singing contest upside down. Unapologetically goofy, this movie is a great escape for viewers from any country.

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Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Year: 2008
Runtime: 1h 51m
Director: Nicholas Stoller

Nicholas Stoller directed this charming rom-com that stars Jason Segel as a man desperately trying to get over a recent break-up with a celebrity girlfriend named Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). To move on, he goes to Hawaii for a vacation, and just so happens to run into Sarah and her new boy toy, played so memorably by Russell Brand that he actually got a spin-off of his own in Get Him to the Greek.

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Glass Onion

Year: 2022
Runtime: 2h 19m
Director: Rian Johnson

The writer/director of Knives Out returned in late 2022 with a sequel to that smash hit, exclusively on Netflix. Daniel Craig returns as Benoit Blanc, the casual crime solver who finds himself on a billionaire’s island in this latest comedy/mystery. Once again, Johnson assembles a murderer’s row of talent, including Kate Hudson, Janelle Monae, Ed Norton, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., and more. It’s smart, funny, and thoroughly entertaining.

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Good Boys

Year: 2019
Runtime: 1h 29m
Director: Gene Stupnitsky

One of the funnier movies of 2019 is this story of three sixth-graders who really want to go to a party but have a lot of trouble getting there. More than just a comedy built on kids doing and saying bad things—although there’s that too—this is a consistently clever flick, one that’s anchored by a particularly fun performance from Room star Jacob Tremblay and the comedic tone of producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as they make what’s kind of a mini-Superbad.

Good Boys watch on netflix

Hot Tub Time Machine

Year: 2010
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director: Steve Pink

They can’t all be think pieces. Sometimes you just want a goofy movie with which to unwind after a long day at work or school. Hot Tub Time Machine should get the job done. John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke star in a film about, well, it’s kind of right there in the title. Remarkably and defiantly silly, this was such a surprise hit that it even produced a sequel. Avoid that one, but revisit the original, a comedy that has held up surprisingly well.

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*Meet the Parents

Year: 2000
Runtime: 1h 47m
Director: Jay Roach

It’s hard to imagine a studio comedy becoming the phenomenon the way Meet the Parents did back in 2000 when it was heavily quoted everywhere and made over $300 million worldwide. It was a hit because of the clash of styles between the on-screen personas of Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro as the father-in-law from Hell.

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The Mitchells vs. the Machines

Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 53m
Directors: Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe

Originally planned for a theatrical release by Sony (with the much-worse title Connected), the studio sold this off to Netflix during the pandemic…and probably regretted that decision. One of the most critically and commercially beloved animated films of 2021, this is an incredibly smart and sweet family vacation movie, a comedy that’s as much about a tender relationship between a father and daughter as it is the fact that they end up having to save the world together.

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Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Year: 1975
Runtime: 1h 29m
Directors: Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones

During a hiatus between the third and fourth seasons of Monty Python’s Family Circus, the gang of mega-talented comedians decided to make movie history. Inspired by the King Arthur legend, Holy Grail is a timeless comedy, the rare kind of film that will still be making people laugh hundreds of years from now. And while the Monty Python boys were already famous, this film took them to another level, cementing their place in movie history.

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My Best Friend’s Wedding

Year: 1997
Runtime: 1h 44m
Director: P.J. Hogan

Julia Roberts might never have been more charming than she is in this comedy about a young woman who made a pact in college to marry her best friend, played by Dermot Mulroney. Not until her buddy gets engaged to someone else (the wonderful Cameron Diaz) does she realize she really loves him. A great blend of physical humor and memorable characters makes this one of the best rom-coms of the ‘90s. They really don’t make them like this anymore.

My Best Friend's Wedding watch on netflix

The Nice Guys

Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 55m
Director: Shane Black

A bomb at the box office, this buddy comedy grows a more vocal fan base every time it drops on Netflix. It’s easy to see why — it’s a smart, funny, incredibly rewatchable comedy. The flick stars Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling as a pair of awkward allies who get caught up in the case of a missing girl (Margaret Qualley). The real star here — other than the excellent chemistry of the leads — is Shane Black’s razor-sharp dialogue. Watch this one so maybe they can get the budget together for a sequel before it’s too late.

The Nice Guys Watch on Netflix

No Hard Feelings

Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Gene Stupnitsky

Jennifer Lawrence is fearless in this raucous comedy about a woman who’s paid by a rich couple to “date” their son. The kind of movie that it feels like the Farrellys would have made 25 years ago, it’s the increasingly rare studio comedy that deserves a bit of attention. Some of it kind of comes apart, but it’s funny enough on a lazy Netflix weekend, and a reminder that Lawrence has killer comic timing.

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The Other Guys

Year: 2010
Runtime: 1h 47m
Director: Adam McKay

One of the final films of the McKay/Ferrell partnership is also maybe the most underrated. Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg star in this buddy comedy about the two cops who almost never get to the save the day, but they’re forced into action when the legends at the precinct make a fatal mistake. The comedy timing between Wahlberg and Ferrell is some of the best of its era and this movie is much sharper than people remember.

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Sausage Party

Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 28m
Director: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon

It may look like it, but this one is not for kids. Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Jonah Hill, and the rest of the gang behind movies like This is the End collaborated on this goofy, raunchy animated comedy about, well, a sausage. When he’s not trying to place himself in a bun—if you know what I mean—he’s discovering that food that leaves the grocery store doesn’t have a happy fate. This is a perfect background noise comedy for after the bar.

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*School of Rock

Year: 2003
Runtime: 1h 49m
Director: Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater directed Jack Black to the best comedy of his career in this movie about a guitarist who becomes a substitute teacher at a prep school and teaches the stuck-up kids there how to rock. It’s a smart, funny family comedy with a huge heart and one of Black’s most truly wonderful performances.

School of Rock watch on netflix

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Year: 2010
Runtime: 1h 52m
Director: Edgar Wright

Michael Cera stars in Edgar Wright’s vibrant adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel, a movie that feels like it could come out exactly the same way today, almost a decade after its release. Wright’s style is perfect for this material, capturing the tone and structure of the source material with his razor-sharp editing and wit. Note: Netflix is returning to this world in November 2023 with the animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World watch on netflix

Sleepless in Seattle

Year: 1993
Runtime: 1h 45m
Director: Nora Ephron

We could all use a little romance every now and then and movies don’t get much sweeter than this 1993 blockbuster that made Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan one of the most beloved movie couples of all time. Nora Ephron directs this story of a widower who moves to Seattle and tries to raise his 8-year-old son, and the Baltimore woman who hears his tragic tale and falls in love. Hopelessly romantic, it’s the kind of movie they don’t make that much anymore.

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Stand by Me

Year: 1986
Runtime: 1h 28m
Director: Rob Reiner

One of the best Stephen King adaptations remains this 1986 coming-of-age story based on the author’s short story “The Body.” Rob Reiner directed a fantastic young cast that includes River Phoenix, Jerry O’Connell, Wil Wheaton, and Corey Feldman as four friends who go on a hike to find a dead body.

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