Sadly these iconic comedy titles are no longer available to stream on Netflix UK! Here are Rory Doherty’s capsule reviews of them anyway, where you can access their new streaming homes.
About a Boy (2002)
Hugh Grant ditches the foppish charm for pathetic misanthropy, and has never been finer. While trying to hook up with single mothers, he forms a friendship with a decidedly odd boy, played by Nicholas Hoult. There’s a darker edge to this British romcom, with more twisted laughs but no less heart.
Bad Neighbours (2014)
It’s always surprising how good Seth Rogen comedies turn out to be, and Bad Neighbours (retitled from Neighbors in the UK because of a certain popular Aussie soap) ranks amongst his most solid efforts. New parents Rogen and Rose Byrne have just settled into their baby-rearing life when a fraternity, led by Zac Efron, moves next door, and civility soon turns into all-out, back-stabbing, foul-mouthed war. There’s a lot of joy found in the schemes and pranks they play on each other, and the whole affair ends up being great fun.
Booksmart (2019)
Often compared to Superbad in premise (two high school seniors try to have fun before college), but their biggest similarity is probably in how they each capture the dialogue of their intended audience. The chemistry of the two main performances (Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein) is winning, and there’s a bristling authenticity to their friendship as they fall through one chaotic night, filled with anxiety of the changes to come. A shining calling card for first-time director Olivia Wilde.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
A surprisingly inventive and visually dynamic kids film, Cloudy set off the careers of comic visionaries Phil Lord and Christopher Miller in the vibrant, glorious way by which they’d soon define their careers. The puns are magnificent, the energy is peerless, and the animation style would soon be mimicked by the powerhouse of Disney/Pixar. It’s just too much fun to resist.
Coming to America (1988)
You can’t have an Eddie Murphy revival film on the list (below) without including one of his classics. Bored with his regal life, Prince Akeem (Murphy) travels to New York with his loyal servant and advisor (Arsenio Hall) to find himself a suitable wife. It’s basically an excuse for Murphy and Hall to play as many absurd characters as they want, but you can tell Murphy is giving it his all, and the result is rousing 80s comedy fare.
Emma. (2020)
A lot of Apatow-esque comedies, ones that rely on improvised riffing and jokey dialogue, can end up with a completely unremarkable visual style. But who says they have to look boring? Autumn de Wilde’s luscious adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma with a cast packed with good-looking, well-costumed people, all photographed beautifully. De Wilde really captures the crisp ironies and stuttering faux pas that fuel so much of Austen’s comedy, showing how funny it can be for a modern audience without transforming too much of the text (as Clueless lovingly did, above).
Ghostbusters (1984)
A beloved exercise in deadpan comedy, Ghostbusters was lightning in the bottle. Tight direction, crazy ideas, and the finest minds SNL had to offer came together in a film that sends up Reaganism while still shooting lasers at spooky spectres, with an endlessly quotable script to boot.
Gremlins (1984)
It’s a miraculous combination of the ridiculous and heartfelt, that also happens to be one of the best Christmas films around. Disaster strikes an unassuming small town (that looks suspiciously like a studio backlot) when an adorable exotic pet accidentally spawns an out-of-control mob of monstrous critters. A ludicrous family film that’s sure to inspire gleeful laughter when the comic violence is dialled up.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
Before he was a box-office draw and Oscar-winning screenplay, Taika Waititi gave us his funniest and most deceptively mature film. When a troublemaking foster kid and an easily-irked southern man get lost in the New Zealand outback, the authorities mistake their disappearance for a kidnapping, and an extensive manhunt is set into motion. There’s a lot of joy seeing the well-defined characters play off one another, and matched with Taika’s dialogue, they pack a lot of laughs into its brisk runtime.
Lady Bird (2017)
Calling Lady Bird a debut for Greta Gerwig seems a little disingenuous, seeing as she had already written and starred in a few tonally similar films in the preceding years. It’s probably why the film seems so singular and fully-formed, with a sense of humour that’s both wry and heightened. Every line may feel superlatively witty and a little constructed, but they’re all spoken by such grounded, relatable characters that it all comes together beautifully.
The Mask (1994)
Jim Carrey reached near untouchable status in the 90s, and no film has taken advantage of his unhinged comedy more than this 1994 caper. When wearing an ancient cursed mask, his character turns into a… monster? Animated character? Creature able to transform his body at will? It’s all a bit hazy, but the transformation from meek bank clerk to insane cartoon man is brilliantly realised.
Mean Girls (2004)
Tina Fey brings her incredibly tight comic sensibilities to an overplayed and oft-underwhelming genre—the high school comedy. The ensemble is entirely made up of fantastic characters, and every member of the stacked cast gets incredibly quotable lines. As the stakes are raised and the drama unfolds, Mean Girls proves to be as compelling as it is side-splitting.
Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
Parody movies are the definition of hit or miss. You either strike gold with the stupid thrills of Airplane! or make an on-fire wheelie bin with Epic/Disaster/Superhero Movie. While Not Another Teen Movie appears to be the latter, it takes a lot of cues from the former, being incisive with its parody and flat-out weird enough in execution to justify its existence amongst a sea of unwatchable contemporaries.
Notting Hill (1999)
With this unlikely pairing of an awkward London bookshop owner (Hugh Grant) and an A-list celebrity (Julia Roberts), screenwriter and British comedy giant Richard Curtis demonstrated how effortless it is for him to whip up a rom-com classic. Perfectly cast and filled with Curtis’ trademark bumbling characters and sharp dialogue, it’s hard to have too many problems with a film with this many sweet moments and chuckles.
The Other Guys (2010)
Out of director Adam McKay’s trilogy of corporate injustice comedies (this, The Big Short, and Vice), you may be surprised that this Mark Wahlberg/Will Ferrell buddy-cop comedy isn’t the weakest. It’s certainly the least tied to reality, but the ludicrous story tangents it takes are supported enough with incisive criticism of banking malfeasances. Ferrell and Wahlberg bring the heat amongst a strong cast, with Michael Keaton’s irascible police chief/furniture salesman being a standout. The Other Guys can sometimes feel overlong and unfocused, but it’s hard to argue with the incendiary anger and brilliant ensemble.
Pineapple Express (2008)
On paper, a stoner action film sounds equally stupid and genius, and with this comedy, the team behind Superbad certainly made something singularly their own. When a schlub (Seth Rogen) and his dealer (James Franco) witness a murder, they’re chased across town by gangsters and gunmen as they try, in a chaotic fashion, to escape with their lives. Not as seamless an effort as Superbad, but packed with strong character performances.
Pitch Perfect (2012)
Definitively the only time acapella choirs weren’t annoying, Pitch Perfect has a lot to answer for in regards to introducing that cup song into popular culture. But with a cast of such vocal and comedic talents, a tight script by Kay Cannon, and ridiculous yet likeable characters, it hits the high note on every watch.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
John Hughes is a masterful writer of character-focused comedies, and there’s a good chunk of his directing career where everything he produced was gold. Moving away from teens, he showed us the tribulations of a newfound friendship between two businessmen (legends Steve Martin and John Candy) over Thanksgiving break. It’s hilarious how irritating one man can find another, while still holding onto Hughes’ trademark sweetness and heart.
School of Rock (2003)
Jack Black has gone on record as saying this is the only one of his films that’s worth something, and it’s not hard to see why. Richard Linklater helms his most accessible film with a script from Mike White (The White Lotus creator) about an aimless schlub who gets kicked out of his terrible band and cons his way into training a class of elementary school pupils into the best rock band imaginable. It’s full of heart, laugh-out-loud dialogue, and one of the most unjust competition results of all time.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)
Nearly half of Edgar Wright’s filmography turning up on this list is no surprise, when his movies are so rewatchable that Netflix haven’t taken them off the platform in years. His first North American effort, Wright’s distinct British humour melds perfectly with the uber-Canadian fantasy rom-com about an objective loser Scott (Michael Cera) having to stand up for the woman he’s fallen for (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) by battling her superpowered exes. There’s an expert rhythm to the film: one where cuts, camera movements, and special effects add as much humour as the lines of dialogue.
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
As it turns out, there’s something to be gained from working in British television comedy for the good part of a decade – you get the skills to make one of the finest horror comedies ever made, and access to some of the best comics working. Shaun of the Dead works because writer-director Edgar Wright has such a deep, confident familiarity with both horror and comedy, and manages to sculpt something that’s laugh-out-loud funny, legitimately suspenseful, and surprisingly affecting.
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
It’s loud. It’s abrasive. It’s radical. And amongst all its gloriously flagrant anti-capitalism, it’s very, very funny. Boots Riley’s searing treatise on race, performance, and corporatism, where a lowly Black telemarketer adopts a “white” voice in order to appease customers, is so outlandish in its style but devastatingly accurate in its commentary—meaning Sorry to Bother You is often scarily insightful when it’s not funny.
Step Brothers (2008)
It’s hard to tell who’s doing the best performances in Step Brothers; the over-the-top turns from Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as middle-aged man-children, or those around them who have to deal, stony-faced, with their nonsense. Regardless, it’s a fun mix, and the intolerable immaturity on display from all makes this a heightened, nonsensical good time.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)
Nic Cage is a meme, yes, but Nic Cage is also very concerned with how he’s perceived and if he can control his public image. Enter a comedy that asks us if a meme can have a neurotic, existential crisis. Cage stars as a fabricated, but appropriately washed-up version of himself and Pedro Pascal co-stars as the goofiest billionaire ever—it’s a buddy comedy for the ages, where Cage must step up to be the meme we know and love.
Zombieland (2009)
While the seams of Shaun of the Dead admittedly show at points due to its miniscule budget, we get to see a comedy tackle zombie apocalypse on a grander scale in Zombieland. Pop culture references, food obsessions, and neurotic how-to guides for surviving the undead all make this road trip comedy worth a watch—plus an excellent extended cameo from someone unafraid of self-ridicule.
