Summary
The 2016 filmKeanu, starring Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, is remembered as one of the best buddy comedies, and the best movies like it share similar qualities.Its unique blend of comedy, action, and satire has contributed greatly to its longevity,even if it isn’t remembered as a prestige film. However,Keanuand the projects that fall in a similar category aren’t meant to be Oscar bait or receive critical acclaim. Creators make these movies for the audience’s enjoyment, which is just as vital and noble a use of the art form.
Key and Peele are a hilarious duo and are well-known for their sketch show,Key & Peele, and their solo projects.
Key and Peele are a hilarious duo and are well-known for their sketch show,Key & Peele, and their solo projects.Peele has developed into a prolific filmmakerand is anactor who makes an even better director. He has made some of the most innovative horror movies of the past decade. However, his roots in comedy come through in all his projects, as understanding comedic timing is vital for all movies, no matter the genre. His and Key’s work across film and television has inspired many other writers and creators to make fun action movies of their own.
10 Best Comedy Movies Of 2024
The best comedies of 2024 include action flicks starring major Hollywood stars, independent comedies featuring modern TV legends, and even a musical.
10Let’s Be Cops (2014)
Directed by Luke Greenfield
Audiences might recognize the protagonists ofLet’s Be Cops, Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr., from their time costarring together on the sitcomNew Girl.
Audiences might recognize the protagonists ofLet’s Be Cops, Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr., from their time costarring together on the sitcomNew Girl. InLet’s Be Cops, they play vastly different characters.They’re two best friends from college who pretend to be police officersafter they realize how much admiration they receive from others while wearing a police costume. They’re driven to do this because of their disappointment with their own careers and dead-end jobs that nobody respects.
In almost no time, things get out of hand, and the pair are forced to engage in real police work as they uncover corruption in the force and an organized crime syndicate.Even as the stakes are raised throughout the story,Let’s Be Copsremains comedicand unconcerned with the outlandish nature of its premise.Keanufalls into the same category, forcing its characters to pretend to be someone they’re not until they find they have unexpected bravery inside them.
Let’s Be Cops
Cast
Let’s Be Cops is a buddy “cop” movie where two friends dress as police officers for a costume party. After enjoying the praise they received at a college reunion, Justin Miller and Ryan O’Malley decide to continue pretending to be cops and take on a local gang. Let’s Be Cops stars Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans, Jr.
9Get Hard (2015)
Directed by Etan Cohen
What starts as a fairly straightforward story about an out-of-touch millionaire preparing to go to prison soon spirals into something akin to a heist movie. Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart lean into the outlandish nature of their roles and the movie’s concept, as well as their height difference.Though the film spends plenty of time highlighting the stark opposites of their characters, the two men grow to like and respect each otherby the end of the film. However, that’s not before they go to extreme lengths to prove their innocence and abilities.
One of the biggest issues withGet Hardis how its attempts to satirically take on racial prejudices and injustice often end up merely being offensive and lacking a punchline. Unfortunately,many movies within the genre that attempt to push boundaries and open the door to a conversation about sensitive topics end up being offensiveand tactless. However, for fans of Ferrell and Hart, it’s worth a watch, and the chemistry of the leads is comparable to Key and Peele.
Get Hard
Get Hard is a comedy film directed by Etan Cohen, featuring Will Ferrell as hedge-fund manager James King, who is sentenced to prison for fraud. In a bid to prepare for incarceration, he enlists the help of Darnell Lewis, played by Kevin Hart, despite Darnell’s lack of criminal experience.
8The Do-Over (2016)
Directed by Steven Brill
Many of Adam Sandler’s comedic roles are in some of the worst movies of all time, and thoughThe Do-Overdidn’t win any awards, it was plenty of fun.
Many of Adam Sandler’s comedic roles are in some of the worst movies of all time, and thoughThe Do-Overdidn’t win any awards, it was plenty of fun. Also starring David Spade as Charlie, the victim of one of Max’s (Sandler) harebrained schemes, theSNLveterans push themselves out of their comfort zones with their hilarious characters. Meeting at their high school reunion many years later,Charlie confides in Max about being disappointed in how his life has turned out, and Max soon takes things too far.
WatchThe Do-Overon Netflix.
After faking their deaths, the two start overand embark on a treasure hunt for money to bankroll their new lives. They track down the money and families of the people whose bodies they used to fake their deaths and find that the identities they’ve assumed are anything but ordinary. ThoughThe Do-Overtakes the concept to the next level, inKeanu, the central characters also find themselves donning new identities and having to adapt to survive.
7Game Night (2018)
Directed by John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein
Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams are delightfully likable protagonists inGame Night, making it easy to root for the pair as they stumble through a secret mission gone wrong. It’s not uncommon for the leads of such movies to be unrelatable and difficult to connect to, butGame Nightdoesn’t have this problem. While the well-known concept of hosting a game night might seem like a boring and suburban activity, it’s flipped on its head and turned into a violent thrill ride that puts its character’s lives on the line.
However,Game Nightnever loses its sense of humor or forgets that its premise is a silly one.As one ofRachel McAdams’s best movies,Game Nightshowcases her talent for comedy, as well as Bateman’s. For fans ofArrested Development, it’s enjoyable to see Bateman back in a role that lets him be funny. One of the best parts ofGame Night, and a similarity toKeanu, is that its plot twists are surprisingly unpredictable. The movie constantly keeps the audience guessing, ensuring their attention is piqued until the end.
Game Night
Written by Mark Perez and directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. Starring Jason Bateman, Billy Magnussen, Rachel McAdams, and Sharon Horgan, the 2018 Comedy sees a routine game night turn into a mystery when one of the regular members is kidnapped.
6The Interview (2014)
Directed by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
The best part of the movie is inarguably the chemistry between James Franco and Seth Rogen, a comedic pair who have been working together for years.
The Interviewfaced a lot of backlash both before and during its premiere. However, for a movie that caused so much controversy, it isn’t as well-remembered as some audiences might think. The best part of the movie is inarguably the chemistry between James Franco and Seth Rogen, a comedic pair who have been working together for years.Similarly to Key and Peele, Franco and Rogen play off each other welland have the same sense of humor, which is on full display inThe Interview.
It’s understandable why audiences were hesitant to see that filmand why it drummed up so much discussion. A satire about assassinating a world leader is a touchy subject, to say the least, andThe Interviewis certainly one of the most audacious movies within its genre. As time has gone on, and the conversation surroundingThe Interviewhas cooled off, it’s been recognized as a story that’s reasonably predictable and easy to watch if viewers are looking for a classic comedy-action adventure.
The Interview
After Dave Skylark (James Franco) and Aaron Rapaport (Seth Rogen) land an interview with Kim Jong-un for their TV show Skylark Tonight, they are ordered by the CIA to assissinate the North Korean dictator. Sony delayed the release of The Interview by a few months after North Korea threatened the United States. North Korean terrorist groups also threatened to storm theaters showing the film, which led to the movie predominantly being released on digital.
5Ride Along (2014)
Directed by Tim Story
Hart can be seen all over the buddy comedy genre, as he’s a versatile actor who can mold himself to be a foil of whoever he’s playing against. InRide Along, his unwitting character,Ben, is taken for a ride that’s a little more than he can handle by James(Ice Cube). James has every intention of scaring Ben, who’s just started training as a police officer and just so happens to be dating James' sister. However, neither man was expecting their innocent adventure to turn into a heart-pounding thrill ride.
Taking place primarily in the course of one day,Ride Alongpacks in plenty of adrenaline-filled moments and well-choreographed action scenes for a movie that’s also a comedy. Hart and Ice Cube have surprisingly good chemistry. Hart’s high energy is balanced by Ice Cube’s calm demeanor. This tonal balance is struck throughout the movie and is part of the reason that the comedy works in even the most intense scenes. LikeKeanu,Ride Alongdoesn’t take itself too seriously, but that didn’t stop the filmmakers from including emotional moments.
Ride Along
Security guard Ben Barber talks his girlfriend’s police officer brother, James Payton, to take him for a ride-along, hoping to prove to James that he’s good enough to marry his sister. However, Ben gets more than he bargained for when he gets tangled up in James' chase for an arms dealer.
4The Heat (2013)
Directed by Paul Feig
Even thoughThe Heatdidn’t reach the heights of McCarthy’s earlier collaboration,Bridesmaids, it was still heralded as a strong follow-up, continuing Feig’s record of celebrating female friendships on screen.
Any comedy movie starring Melissa McCarthy is bound to be a hit, considering her talent and magnetism that shines through the screen in every project. Even thoughThe Heatdidn’t reach the heights of McCarthy’s earlier collaboration,Bridesmaids, it was still heralded as a strong follow-up, continuing Feig’s record of celebrating female friendships on screen. Too often, women are pitted against each other and forced to compete in cinematic stories, leaving no room for genuine love and companionship.Though McCarthy and her costar, Sandra Bullock, start at odds, they quickly develop a realistic and believable respectfor one another.
LikeKeanu,The Heatrevolves around crime, but this time, it’s from the perspective of an FBI agentand a police detective. Bullock plays the FBI agent who consults on a case with the Boston Police Department, where McCarthy’s character is a detective. Their styles of investigation and outlooks on life couldn’t be more different, but after they grow to recognize the others' value, it turns out they make a pretty good team. ThoughThe Heatdoesn’t break new ground, it’s fun and witty, encouraging audiences to develop female friendships.
The Heat
Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy star in Paul Feig’s buddy cop comedy The Heat as uptight FBI agent Sarah Ashburn and volatile Boston police officer Shannon Mullins, who form an unlikely duo to take down a drug lord.
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Melissa McCarthy is one of the most popular comedy movie stars in Hollywood, but her best movies are in both comedy and drama genres.
3Keeping Up With The Joneses (2016)
Directed by Greg Mottola
Keeping Up With The Jonesesfeatures one ofJon Hamm’s best roles besides Don Draper, demonstrating how comedic skill often translates directly to dramatic talent. While Peele went in the opposite direction from Hamm and pivoted to more serious content after beginning in comedy, there are similarities between the two.Keeping Up With The Jonesesis much likeKeanuin thatit takes two mild-mannered individuals with normal lives and catapults them into life-threatening situations.Comedy-adventure movies often use this juxtaposition, and it’s elevated by the dueling couples in the film.
Hamm and Gal Gadot play two spies who move in next door to Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher,a regular married couple. They quickly grow suspicious of their mysterious new neighbors and start spying on them, entangling them in a web of secrets, lies, and espionage. Though Galifianakis and Fisher bemoan their terrifying new existences, they also revel in the excitement and realize that there are pros and cons in every type of marriage.
Keeping up with the Joneses
A suburban couple becomes embroiled in an international espionage plot when they discover that their seemingly perfect new neighbors are government spies.
221 Jump Street (2012)
Directed by Phil Lord & Chris Miller
The movie is based on the original show from 1987, but the film and resulting sequel have blossomed into a beloved franchise that embodies the best of comedy in the 2010s.
In 2012,it was surprising to see Channing Tatum paired up with Jonah Hill,as the actors are typecast in vastly different roles. However, both performers rise above the stereotypical archetypes and create fun characters that the audience wants to spend time with. The movie is based on the original show from 1987, but the film and resulting sequel have blossomed into a beloved franchise that embodies the best of comedy in the 2010s. Featuring cameos from many amazing actors,21 Jump Streetquickly proves the relevancy of its premise.
This premise is simple: Tatum and Hill are police officers who go undercover at a high school, pretending to be students. It’s a clever way for a story to return to high school and its struggles without its central characters going through adolescence. Though they’re immature,Hill and Tatum can look at the dramas and anxieties of high school with clear eyes.However, this connection to childhood is something carried across all movies likeKeanuand21 Jump Street. The characters require a sense of wonder and a penchant for poor decisions if the story’s going to work.
21 Jump Street
An adaptation of the TV series of the same name, 21 Jump Street stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as two police officers (and best friends) who are sent into a high school undercover to bust a drug ring. Learning that high school has changed considerably since they were teenagers, the pair are forced to adapt in order to maintain their cover, threatening their friendship in the process.
1Sisters (2015)
Directed by Jason Moore
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are a prolific comedy duo,and their talent and chemistry make a case for why there should be more female comedian duos. Both actresses are well-known for their sitcoms, with Fey heading up30 Rockand Poehler leadingParks and Recreation.Sisterscame out just asParks and Recreationwas ending, allowing Poehler to make a smoother transition into the cinematic world with her partner on multiple projects. Their earlier collaboration,Baby Mama, which premiered in 2008, indicated that the pair were ready to put themselves in ridiculous situations for a laugh.
InSisters, the duo play siblings who are reunited when their parents sell their childhood home,and they have only a few days to clear it out and say goodbye. Of course, things spiral off track as the women attempt to relive their teenage years spent in the house and reconnect with each other.Sistersis refreshing because often, only men are allowed to regress and behave immaturely on screen, with women forced into the responsible role. LikeKeanu,Sisterssees the character’s best-laid plans go awry and allows the actors to have plenty of fun with the script.
Sisters
Sisters is a 2015 comedy that reunites Saturday Night Live stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. The comedic duo plays sisters Maura and Kate Ellis, who set out to have one final party in their childhood home before it’s sold. Directed by Jason Moore, Sisters stars several other comedy stars, including Maya Rudolph, Bobby Moynihan, and Rachel Dratch.
