We know there is some speculation on what is actually funny, but we’ve found that these comedys can stand the test of time. We chose these ten as our favorites because of their comedic timing, as well as their impeccable dialogue. Happy Reading.
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1. Juno
Juno is a 2007 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. Elliot Page stars as the title character, an independent-minded teenager confronting an unplanned pregnancy and the subsequent events that put pressures of adult life onto her. Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney and J. K. Simmons also star. Filming spanned from early February to March 2007 in Vancouver, British Columbia. It premiered on September 8 at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, receiving a standing ovation.
Juno won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and earned three other Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for 20-year old Page (the fifth-youngest nominee in the category). The film’s soundtrack, featuring several songs performed by Kimya Dawson in various guises, was the first chart-topping soundtrack since Dreamgirls and Fox Searchlight‘s first number one soundtrack. Juno earned back its initial budget of $6.5 million in twenty days, the first nineteen of which were when the film was in limited release. It went on to earn $231 million worldwide. Juno received acclaim from critics, many of whom placed the film on their top ten lists for the year. It has received criticism and praise from members of both the anti-abortion and abortion rights communities regarding its treatment of abortion. -Wikipedia
2. The Hangover
The Hangover is a 2009 American comedy film directed by Todd Phillips, co-produced with Daniel Goldberg, and written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. It is the first installment in The Hangover trilogy. The film stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, and Jeffrey Tambor. It tells the story of Phil Wenneck, Stu Price, Alan Garner, and Doug Billings, who travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party to celebrate Doug’s impending marriage. However, Phil, Stu, and Alan wake up with Doug missing and no memory of the previous night’s events, and must find the groom before the wedding can take place.
Lucas and Moore wrote the script after executive producer Chris Bender’s friend disappeared and had a large bill after being sent to a strip club. After Lucas and Moore sold it to the studio for $2 million, Phillips and Jeremy Garelick rewrote the script to include a tiger as well as a subplot involving a baby and a police cruiser, and also including boxer Mike Tyson. Filming took place in Nevada for 15 days, and during filming, the three main actors (Cooper, Helms, and Galifianakis) formed a real friendship.
The Hangover was released on June 5, 2009, and was a critical and commercial success. The film became the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2009, with a worldwide gross of over $467 million. The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and received multiple other accolades. It is the tenth-highest-grossing worldwide film of 2009, as well as the highest-grossing R-rated comedy ever in the United States at the time (before its sequel broke the record), surpassing a record previously held by Beverly Hills Cop for almost 25 years.
A sequel, The Hangover Part II, was released on May 26, 2011, and a third and final installment, The Hangover Part III, was released on May 23, 2013. While both were also box-office hits, neither were well-received.-Wikipedia
3. Knocked Up
Knocked Up is a 2007 American romantic comedy film written, co-produced and directed by Judd Apatow, and starring Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, and Leslie Mann. It follows the repercussions of a drunken one-night stand between a slacker and a recently promoted media personality that results in an unintended pregnancy.
The film was released on June 1, 2007, to box office success, grossing $219 million worldwide, and acclaim from critics.-Wikipedia
4. Easy “A”
Easy A (stylized as easy A) is a 2010 American teen romantic comedy-drama film directed by Will Gluck, written by Bert V. Royal and starring Emma Stone, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Thomas Haden Church, Dan Byrd, Amanda Bynes, Penn Badgley, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Aly Michalka, and Malcolm McDowell. The screenplay was partially inspired by the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Shot at Screen Gems studios and in Ojai, California, the film was released on September 17, 2010, received positive reviews with praise for Stone’s performance, and was a major financial success, grossing $75 million worldwide against a budget of $8 million. -Wikipedia
5. Legally Blonde
Legally Blonde is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic in his feature-length directorial debut. Written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith from Amanda Brown‘s 2001 novel of the same name, it stars Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victor Garber, and Jennifer Coolidge. Witherspoon plays Elle Woods, a sorority girl who attempts to win back her ex-boyfriend Warner Huntington III by getting a Juris Doctor degree at Harvard Law School, and in the process, overcomes stereotypes against blondes and triumphs as a successful lawyer through unflappable self-confidence and fashion/beauty knowhow.
The outline of Legally Blonde originated from Brown’s experiences as a blonde going to Stanford Law School while being obsessed with fashion and beauty, reading Elle magazine, and frequently clashing with the personalities of her peers. In 2000, Brown met producer Marc Platt, who helped her develop her manuscript into a novel. Platt brought in screenwriters McCullah Lutz and Smith to adapt the book into a motion picture. The project caught the attention of director Luketic, an Australian newcomer who came to Hollywood on the success of his quirky debut short film Titsiana Booberini. “I had been reading scripts for two years, not finding anything I could put my own personal mark on, until Legally Blonde came around,” Luketic said.
The film was released on July 13, 2001, and was a hit with audiences, grossing $141 million worldwide on an $18 million budget, as well as receiving moderately positive reviews from critics, with particular praise going to Witherspoon’s performance. It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy. Witherspoon received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and the 2002 MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance.-Wikipedia
6. Liar Liar
Liar Liar is a 1997 American fantasy comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac, written by Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur and starring Jim Carrey, who was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Comedy. It tells the story of a lawyer who built his entire career on lying, but finds himself cursed to speak only the truth for a single day, during which he struggles to maintain his career and to reconcile with his ex-wife and son whom he alienated with his pathological lying.
The film is the second of three collaborations between Carrey and Shadyac, the first being Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and the third being Bruce Almighty. It is also the second of three collaborations between Guay and Mazur, the others being The Little Rascals and Heartbreakers.-Wikipedia
7. 500 Days of Summer
500 Days of Summer (stylized as (500) Days of Summer) is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and produced by Mark Waters. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, and employs a nonlinear narrative structure, with the story based upon its male protagonist and his memories of a failed relationship.
As an independent production, the film was picked up for distribution by Fox Searchlight Pictures and premiered at the 25th Sundance Film Festival. It garnered favorable reviews and became a successful “sleeper hit“, earning over $60 million in worldwide returns, far exceeding its $7.5 million budget. Many critics lauded the film as one of the best from 2009 and drew comparisons to other acclaimed films such as Annie Hall (1977) and High Fidelity (2000).
The film received Best Original Screenplay and Best Screenplay awards at the 14th Satellite Awards and 25th Independent Spirit Awards, respectively, as well as two nominations at the 67th Golden Globe Awards: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor – Musical or Comedy (Gordon-Levitt).-Wikipedia
8. There’s Something About Mary
There’s Something About Mary is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly. It stars Cameron Diaz as the title character with Ben Stiller, Matt Dillon, Lee Evans and Chris Elliott all playing men who are in love with Mary and vying for her affections.
There’s Something About Mary was released theatrically on July 15, 1998, by 20th Century Fox. It received generally positive reviews from critics who praised its humor and Diaz’s performance. The film became a major box office success, grossing over $369 million worldwide against its $23 million budget, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year. It is placed 27th in the American Film Institute‘s 100 Years, 100 Laughs: America’s Funniest Movies, a list of the 100 funniest movies of the 20th century. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted There’s Something About Mary the fourth-greatest comedy film of all time.
Diaz won a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, an MTV Movie Award for Best Performance, an American Comedy Award for Best Actress, a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Best Actress. Her performance additionally was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. It won four out of eight MTV Movie Awards, including Best Movie.-Wikipedia
9. American Pie
American Pie is a 1999 American sex comedy film directed and co-produced by Paul Weitz (in his directorial debut) and written by Adam Herz. It is the first film in the American Pie theatrical series and stars an ensemble cast that includes Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Alyson Hannigan, Natasha Lyonne, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tara Reid, Mena Suvari, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Seann William Scott and Eugene Levy. The plot centers on five classmates (Jim, Kevin, Oz, Finch, and Stifler) who attend East Great Falls High. With the exception of Stifler (who has already lost his virginity), the youths make a pact to lose their virginity before their high school graduation.
The title is borrowed from the song of the same name and refers to a scene in which the protagonist is caught masturbating with a pie after being told that third base feels like “warm apple pie“. Writer Adam Herz has stated that the title also refers to the quest of losing one’s virginity in high school, which is as “American as apple pie.”
The film was a box-office hit and spawned three direct sequels: American Pie 2 (2001), American Wedding (2003), and American Reunion (2012). In addition to the primary American Pie saga, there are five direct-to-DVD spin-off films bearing the title American Pie Presents: Band Camp (2005), The Naked Mile (2006), Beta House (2007), The Book of Love (2009) and Girls’ Rules (2020).
In response to the success of American Reunion, a fifth theatrical film, under the working title American Pie 5 was announced on August 4, 2012. In August 2017, Seann William Scott said in an interview that the fourth film probably had not made enough at the domestic box office to warrant another film.-Wikipedia
10. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is a 1999 American spy comedy film directed by Jay Roach. It is the second installment in the Austin Powers film series, after International Man of Mystery. It stars franchise co-producer and writer Mike Myers as Austin Powers, Dr. Evil and Fat Bastard. The film also stars Heather Graham, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Seth Green, and Elizabeth Hurley. The film’s title is a play on the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).
The film grossed around $312 million in worldwide ticket sales, taking more money during its opening weekend than the entire box office proceeds of its predecessor. It was nominated at the 72nd Academy Awards for Best Makeup (Michèle Burke and Mike Smithson). It is followed by Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).
-Wikipedia
Let us know what your favorite comedy scripts are below!