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Best Comedy Movies Of 2023 So Far – Looper

Various aspects of being a human being on planet Earth have been a struggle these past few years, to put it mildly. Good ol’ fashioned escapism has always been a tried-and-true way of dealing with our real-life problems, and that’s as true now as it’s ever been. Movies in particular seem to be an especially effective source of comfort for people of late, with comedies being among the best genres for turning a bad day around or making a good day even better — that is to say, funnier.

2023 has already been a great showcase for a wide variety of comedies in almost every type of subgenre imaginable. The best comedies of the year so far also run the gamut from big-budget studio fare to small indie flicks, encompassing both Hollywood and international productions. Fans of almost any type of comedy have been able to find something to laugh at this year, and those who are all-in on the comedy genre as a whole have certainly been kept busy by all the funny business that has appeared on movie screens and or came from streaming services in 2023. And we bet comedy fans will continue to have plenty to slap a knee, bust a gut, and split a side over as this year goes on. 

You Hurt My Feelings

A24

The brilliance of Julia Louis-Dreyfus dominated the small screen for at least 30 years across multiple TV shows, from “Seinfeld” to “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Veep.” But for whatever reason, she’s never had an especially commanding presence in movies save for minor roles here and there. That is, except for the films of writer and director, Nicole Holofcener, who cast Louis-Dreyfus as the female lead in her brilliant 2013 rom-com, “Enough Said,” and has once again proven what dynamite collaborators they are by way of “You Hurt My Feelings.”

Matching the well-deserved 95% Rotten Tomatoes score earned by “Enough Said,” “You Hurt My Feelings” sees both women at the top of their creative games. Louis-Dreyfus plays a novelist named Beth who finds that her marriage to husband Don (Tobias Menzies) might not have what it takes to survive his negative opinion of her latest book. Many of us find that we don’t have as thick of skin as we’d like to think we do when faced with criticism from those whose opinion we trust the most, and “You Hurt My Feelings” is a bitingly funny look at that very relatable scenario. Louis-Dreyfus may not star in that many movies, but she tends to make it count when she does, and “You Hurt My Feelings” is another excellent showing in a career of excellent performances.

Cocaine Bear

Universal Pictures

It can be a tricky thing trying to make an intentional B-movie-style romp without actually having to face the creative and financial limitations that actual B-movies contend with that give them their charm. And oftentimes, such movies fail miserably — see “Snakes on a Plane” as a textbook example of this type of thing falling flat on its face. But “Cocaine Bear,” the third directorial effort from Elizabeth Banks, deftly succeeds in almost every way that “Snakes” did not.

As loosely based on a true story as a movie based on a true story can possibly get, “Cocaine Bear” takes the basic premise of a bear that accidentally ingests the titular drug and runs with it, imagining the animal going on a hilariously violent, drug-fueled rampage worthy of ’70s grindhouse movies. As such, you aren’t going to find complex characters or an intricate plot, but, as Chicago Sun-Times film critic Richard Roeper put it, the movie is a “wildly entertaining and darkly hilarious B-movie blood-fest.”

It’s also worth mentioning that “Cocaine Bear” was the first of several posthumous releases for Ray Liotta, and Banks spoke highly of what it meant to have Liotta not only in the film but to be so supportive of her as a director.

When You Finish Saving the World

A24

In 2020, actor Jesse Eisenberg released an award-winning audio drama called “When You Finish Saving the World.” Starring Eisenberg and Finn Wolfhard, it focuses primarily on three characters — eventually, two parents and their child – over the span of about ten years of the trio’s individual and combined lives. A few years later, Eisenberg made his feature film directorial debut when he adapted “When You Finish Saving the World” into a movie. 

Wolfhard reprises his role as Ziggy, though neither Eisenberg nor the character he played in the audio version is anywhere to be found. Instead, the focus moves to the relationship between Ziggy and his mother, Evelyn (Julianne Moore). The shifting narratives and time periods are also wisely ditched in favor of sticking with a 17-year-old Ziggy throughout.

Admittedly, this coming-of-age dramedy leans a little more heavily on the drama side, but there are plenty of laughs to be found, with Monica Reid of Far Out proclaiming that the movie “contains an ongoing thread of comedy — caustic and intensely sharp-edged humour at times, but also surprisingly hilarious even as it stings.” Fans of filmmaker Noah Baumbach, in particular, should check out “When You Finish Saving the World,” as that seems to be the audience that Eisenberg is aiming for here. 

Blackberry

Elevation Pictures

One formula that has proven quite effective in the last few years is biopics with a strong comedic edge to them. But while movies like “Air” and “Flamin’ Hot” mix plenty of laughs with their rough retelling of pivotal pop culture moments and the people involved in them, “Blackberry” takes things much further into being a full-on biographical comedy. The second-highest-rated movie of 2023 on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing — comedy or otherwise — “Blackberry” tells the wild story of the unlikely invention, dizzying rise, and eventual complete collapse of the line of mobile devices from which the title is derived.

While it follows a lot of the typical beats of both biopics in general and tech-focused entries in particular, “Blackberry” stands out as a high-water mark of the genre largely by way of the stellar performances of a very talented cast. A perfect mixture of the stars of yesterday of today, the actors that bring this outrageous story to life include Jay Baruchel, Cary Elwes, Glenn Howerton, Michael Ironside, SungWon Cho, and Saul Rubinek. It also announces one of the newest filmmakers to watch in writer and director, Matt Johnson, who had previously only made low-budget found-footage thrillers and a music mockumentary series for Vice TV. 

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

DreamWorks Animation

Perhaps the most unlikely entry into the running for great comedies of this or any other year, the presumably final entry in the “Puss in Boots” animated franchise is a genuinely hilarious and heartfelt film and arguably one of the best DreamWorks animated movies of all time. “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” sees Antonio Banderas return to voice the lead character, who began life as a scene-stealer in “Shrek 2,” and has since gone on to successfully lead his own separate franchise of films, TV shows, and more.

What’s especially surprising about “The Last Wish” turning out as well as it did is that it had been in various stages of development hell for over a decade, not to mention the sharp decline and eventual hiatus of the “Shrek” franchise. But “The Last Wish,” the story of a swashbuckling feline who had been so careless with his safety throughout years of adventures that he didn’t realize he was down to the last of his nine lives, proved that the team over at DreamWorks have gotten their creative groove back with one of the sharpest and funniest movies they’ve ever produced. After seeing this film and what this studio is still capable of, we suddenly have much higher hopes for that “Shrek” revival, whatever form it ends up taking.

Rye Lane

Searchlight Pictures

Rom-coms often get a bad rap, which is usually well-earned given that a disproportionately large amount of entries in the genre are formulaic and forgettable. But every once in a while, a movie like “Rye Lane” comes along and reminds us how special a rom-com can be and why some of the all-time great comedies are of the romantic persuasion. With critical praise that compares it favorably to the works of all-time great filmmakers like Spike Lee and Richard Linklater, “Rye Lane” isn’t just one of the best rom-com or even comedy films of the 2020s so far but one of the best overall films of this decade up to this point, period.

Set in South London and also serving as a wonderful love letter to that city, “Rye Lane” stars David Johnson and Vivian Oparah as young twentysomethings Dom and Yas, respectively. Beginning as strangers who stumble upon each other and quickly realize their undeniable chemistry and that they have much in common, the movie follows Dom and Yas over a single magical day of getting to know each other as they visit various southeast London neighborhoods. What’s perhaps most impressive about “Rye Lane” is that it doesn’t resort to cheap genre clichés to drum up artificial drama, but instead has the confidence to just depict a nearly perfect first day in the budding relationship of its leads. 

Champions

Focus Features

While most of the movies on this list are critical darlings, “Champions” failed to resonate with most critics but has an impressive 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Of course, this is nothing new for director Bobby Farrelly who, both alone and with his brother Peter, has a history of making comedies that critics wrote off but were beloved by moviegoers — with the duo’s “There’s Something About Mary” being one of their only brushes with wide critical acclaim.

“Champions” stars semi-regular Farrelly collaborator, Woody Harrelson, as a disgraced minor-league basketball coach who finds himself with the court-ordered job of teaching a team of intellectually disabled athletes. It’s definitely tricky material to handle in a sports comedy setting while making sure to always be laughing with the characters rather than at them, but “Champions” is able to consistently stay on the right side of that line. The results might not reinvent the wheel of that particular genre all that much, but like any good example of it, you’ll be laughing, cheering, and maybe even wiping away a tear or two by the end of this fairly by-the-numbers but still extremely entertaining film. 

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre

Lionsgate

Another movie that audiences liked a whole lot more than critics did is Guy Ritchie’s latest heist comedy. That said, a few critics did come to bat in a big way for “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre,” such as Fiona Underhill of The Digital Fix who said that it was Ritchie matching his early career greatness while gushing that “a brilliant cast deliver one liners with aplomb, in this hugely enjoyable spy thriller caper.”

Indeed, that brilliant cast teams Aubrey Plaza — currently having a well-earned “moment” — with Jason Statham, Hugh Grant, Cary Elwes, and the underrated Josh Hartnett, who has often been unlucky in his career but proves his chops when he is able to land a quality script like the one Ritchie and his co-writers provided for him here. The movie has all of the classic Ritchie staples and executes them well, from whip-smart dialogue that flies faster than bullets to more twists and double-crosses than five film noir movies put together. 

Whether it’s truly equal to the filmmaker’s best work is debatable, but there’s no denying that it’s one of the better movies of late from Ritchie who, unfortunately, has tended to have more hits than misses among his most recent fun of films. 

Renfield

Universal Pictures

After a string of direct-to-video movies and other forgettable productions that the actor would later admit he did to pay down his debt, Nicolas Cage seems to have gotten his career back on track in a big way in the 2020s. In addition to critically-acclaimed movies like “Pig” and “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” not to mention a recent cameo that we won’t spoil but had fans of a certain comic book character’s movie adaptation history giddy with delight, Cage added another example of how he continues to steer his career in the right direction this year with the hilarious horror comedy, “Renfield.”

If anyone was born to depict a version of Dracula that chews the scenery as frequently as he chews necks, it’s Cage, here playing the iconic character as he tortures his long-suffering titular servant (Nicolas Hoult). Renfield discovers, through the help of a support group, that his relationship with Dracula is toxic and co-dependent, and he seeks a way to finally free himself of Dracula’s grasp. What follows is some extremely gory violence interspersed with laugh-out-loud moments between Dracula and Renfield, who portray one of the funniest dysfunctional couples seen on screen in years. 

Polite Society

Focus Features

While it might lack the grandeur and the gleefully over-the-top tone of 2022’s surprise international hit, “RRR,” British action-comedy, “Polite Society,” deserves to have its own equally massive presence on this side of the pond. The feature film debut of writer and director, Nida Manzoor — who previously directed several episodes of Jodie Whitaker’s “Doctor Who” run – “Polite Society” stars Priya Kansara as Ria Khan, a teenager skilled in martial arts who dreams of becoming a movie stunt performer. 

But Ria, aka The Fury, isn’t battling a major crime boss or some supernatural beast. Instead, she has to put her skills — and those of her allies — to the test in order to save her sister from getting married. It’s a ridiculous setup for a ridiculous movie but in the best possible ways. The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus, which scores the movie at 90% by the way, sums “Polite Society” up best, saying that it “throws, kicks, and punches the genre etiquette book out the window to deliver a fun film that blends Bollywood splendor and British wryness.” Fans of Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy” will also find a familiar face in the character of Lena, played by Lila Pitts portrayer, Ritu Arya. 

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

Lionsgate

The highest-rated movie of 2023 so far in any genre is the coming-of-age comedy, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” Based on Judy Blume’s seminal 1970 novel that has helped multiple generations of girls better understand the complexities and anxieties of puberty, it’s somewhat surprising that it took over 50 years for the story to make it to the big screen. But it was worth the wait, as the source material got as excellent of an adaptation as anyone could’ve possibly hoped for.

The title role is played to perfection by Abby Ryder Fortson, otherwise best known as Cassie Lang from the first two “Ant-Man” movies. Resisting the urge to try and modernize the story, the “Are You There God?” movie retains the novel’s 1970 setting, keeping the innocence and the ignorance of the characters intact in a way that kids, unfortunately, would largely lose in the generations that followed thanks to technology and the like.

It was an especially wise choice in terms of serving the comedic elements of the movie, as watching these girls have no choice but to rely on rumors and hearsay without the internet to refer to, to dispel ridiculous myths about periods, body development, and other such topics is where most of the movie’s best laughs come from. Bonus points for Rachel McAdams as Margaret’s mom, who has now transitioned into the phase of her career where she plays the parent and is pitch-perfect at doing so. 

Smoking Causes Coughing

Gaumont

Remember the 2010 French movie, “Rubber,” a horror comedy that literally starred a tire as the antagonist that had the ability to blow people up with its … mind, we guess? Well, that movie’s writer and director, Quentin Dupieux, has continued steadily working since then and his most recent release is a comedy called “Smoking Causes Coughing.” Actually released in France in 2022 but not coming stateside until this year, the movie is as absurd as you would expect given both its title and the pedigree of its filmmaker.

Focusing on a superhero team known as Tobacco Force with member names that come from the various toxins typically found in cigarettes, “Smoking Causes Coughing” sees the group forced to go on a team-building retreat to repair the damage to their confidence after a tough battle against a giant turtle. Needless to say, the break from the action ends up being anything but when another even deadlier threat appears that the team needs to defeat.

While the movie is actually trying to say things about pollution, Big Tobacco, superhero movie burnout, and various other topics, none of that is the point — you watch a movie like “Smoking Causes Coughing” to just go along for the ridiculous ride. Those that hate movies like this won’t be converted by “Smoking Causes Coughing,” but those that live for this type of cinematic experience will find one of their new favorites in this absurd adventure.