By admin 
Sometimes, the only cure for a long week of brain-frying work is a good, loud laugh. No need to think, just grab a snack and let your funny bone do the rest. Netflix, as it turns out, has quite a selection of reliably funny movies, the kind that range from classic absurdist flicks to smarter, even action-packed comedies.
Since I watch a clown car full of Netflix every month, for this weekend, I’ve pulled together three of my recent favorites, including a legendary Vegas night-out adventure, a ridiculous English crime caper with a stacked cast early in their careers, and a classic ’80s buddy cop comedy with an even more classic theme song.
3
The Hangover
It’s anyone’s guess why this 2009 comedy is in the global top 10 of Netflix’s most popular movies this month, but does it really matter? The Hangover rewrote the rule book for epic, over-the-top buddy comedies, and it’s still one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, spawning two sequels, also available to stream on Netflix right now.
The Hangover is the ultimate bachelor party movie. Its relentless pace is on from the word go, and follows the hazy path of three friends—straight-laced schoolteacher Phil (Bradley Cooper), awkward dentist Stu (Ed Helms), and weirdo soon-to-be brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis)—who wake up in their trashed Vegas hotel suite. It’s one of the best establishing scenes of any movie: there’s a tiger in the bathroom, Stu is missing a tooth, there’s a baby in the closet, and the groom, Doug (Justin Bartha), is nowhere to be found.
The rest of The Hangover follows the guys as they try to piece together their drug-and-booze-fuelled night and retrace their steps across Sin City to track down Doug so they can get him home in time for his wedding. The film was a huge critical and box-office hit, and Galifianakis’ breakout performance as the hip sack-wearing (“it’s a satchel!”) Alan spawned a million Halloween costumes that year.
2
Beverly Hills Cop
Watching Eddie Murphy’s new Netflix biopic, Being Eddie, recently, made me want to revisit the work of the living comedic legend. But where to start? Sure, his iconic stand-up special Delirious is probably the first thing of his I ever saw, but it was his role as cool and clever cop Axel Foley that really got me.
Beverly Hills Cop helped define the action-comedy buddy cop genre, and turned Murphy into a bona fide star—and its theme song, by Harold Faltermeyer, is still a banger today. Murphy stars as Foley, a Detroit detective whose investigation of his murdered childhood friend leads him to Beverly Hills, where the local police are less than enthusiastic about his nosing around. Not to be deterred, Foley sidesteps the investigation of stuffy L.A. officers Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Sergeant Taggart (John Ashton), often with hilarious gags (a banana in the tailpipe) and clever evasions.
Eventually, the three learn to work together to take down the criminal mastermind behind it all, a wealthy art dealer named Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff). Murphy absolutely crushes it as Foley, playing the role with charisma and with the right amount of edge that helped audiences take him seriously as a leading man.
Beverly Hills Cop II, III, and the 2024 reboot, Axel F, are also streaming on Netflix, but be sure to watch them soon, as the first three originals will be leaving Netflix on November 30.
1
Snatch
Guy Ritchie’s second feature, following Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, 2000’s Snatch, further solidified the British filmmaker as a purveyor of gritty, gangster-rich crime dramas and series. But as violent and dark as his work can be, it’s also full of comedy, with Snatch being one of the best examples.
For starters, its intertwining storylines and chaotic happenstances are a riot. The heist of an enormous 86-carat gem goes wrong, which draws out the riffraff, including a small-time crook (Benicio Del Toro), New York mob boss (Dennis Farina), and some of the baddest (and dumbest) dudes in London’s criminal underworld who will kill to get it.
Meanwhile, Turkish (Jason Statham) and his wide-eyed partner Tommy (Adolescence star Stephen Graham), try to make their nut in fixed bare-knuckle boxing, but find themselves dealing with Irish Gypsy boxer Mickey O’Neill (an unintelligible Brad Pitt, in one of his greatest roles ever), who doesn’t know how to lose. Somehow, all of these nutters find themselves crossing paths, and the chaos is a delight.
Snatch‘s rapid-fire British dialogue is infinitely quotable, and its stacked cast of colorful characters makes it one of the darkest and funniest movies of the time, and it still holds up today.
There’s no shortage of comedy movies available to watch on Netflix, but its library of titles is always coming and going, making it tricky to keep up. But don’t worry, we’re steadfast in our efforts to serve you up some good suggestions for bringing laughs to your weekend.
- Subscription with ads
-
Yes, $8/month
- Simultaneous streams
-
Two or four
Stream licensed and original programming with a monthly Netflix subscription.