This classic masterpiece is the creation of Charlie Chaplin, the master of comedy. It follows a little tramp who is trying his level best to cope up with factory machinery but fails. He keeps ending up in jail for every mistake. After befriending an orphan girl, he tries to get into modern life by taking an odd job.
Not just in this particular film, he perfected his ‘Tramp’ character with every single performance during the era of silent films. The Library of Congress placed ‘Modern Times’ among their 25 films for preservation in the US national film registry.
Big / 1988 / USA / Fantasy
Rating: 7.3/10 (IMDb) and 97% (RottenTomatoes)
Every magic has its own consequences. It came to the senses of a 12-year-old Josh after turning into a fully grown-up man. Everything was going well including taking a job and getting the promotion. But when his beautiful colleague fell in love with him, things kept falling apart.
With this interesting story written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg, ‘Big’ is directed by Penny Marshall. Tom Hanks played the grown-up version of Josh. For this role, he got the Golden Globe Award and Oscar nomination. The film was also nominated for an Oscar in the best original screenplay.
Four Weddings And A Funeral / 1994 / UK / Romance
Rating: 7.1/10 (IMDb) and 96% (RottenTomatoes audience score)
This is a romantic-comedy story of a handsome man and his friends. He thinks of an American beauty – who he had suddenly met – as the love of his life. She made sure that they are only friends. But he didn’t give up as their paths crossed in four weddings and a funeral.
The heartthrob actor Hugh Grant played the handsome man. This role brought him many awards including BAFTA and Golden Globe. The producer Duncan Kenworthy and the writer Richard Curtis were nominated for Oscar in the best picture and the best writing respectively.
Monster in Paris / 2011 / France / Musical
Rating: 6.7/10 (IMDb) and 87% (RottenTomatoes)
This animated film produced by Luc Besson is composed of Sci-Fi, fantasy, music, and of course romantic comedy. The story evolves with a flea that became a monster one night. It does no harm to the town-people. A cabaret singer discovers that it has a beautiful singing voice and can play guitar. But the people won’t let it live.
The voice-over artists were Sean Lennon, Vanessa Paradis, Adam Goldberg, Danny Huston. Bibo Bergeron and Matthieu Chedid won Cesar Award for directing the best-animated film and for the best original music respectively.
Kung Fu Hustle / 2004 / China / Action
Rating: 7.7/10 (IMDb) and 91% (RottenTomatoes)
This martial-art film made by and starring Stephen Chow was commercially successful. It centered on murderous people who get into a village posing as the members of a Gang. But they don’t notice that some of the residents know how to save the natives as well as themselves.
The comic acting of Eva Huang, Yuen Qiu, Yuen Wah, Kwok-Kwan, Leung Siu-lung, and Danny Chan will keep pushing you to laugh-out-loud.
It showcased its hall of fame with the Golden Globe Award and BAFTA nomination. This action movie won Hong Kong Film Awards in six categories including Best Action Choreography.
3 Idiots / 2009 / India / Drama
Rating: 8.4/10 (IMDb) and 100% (RottenTomatoes)
Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, this real-life drama comes with a lifelong message with a good laugh. Abhijat Joshi, along with Rajkumar Hirani has written the screenplay based on the novel named ‘Five Point Someone’ by Chetan Bhagat.
This legendary comedy film stars Aamir Khan, Boman Irani, Kareena Kapoor, Omi Vaidya, R. Madhavan, and Sharman Joshi. The storyline depicts the courage of 3 young men in following passion over what society imposes. This evergreen film won three National Film Awards, and six Filmfare Awards including Best Film and Best Director.
Welcome to Dongmakgol / 2005 / South Korea / War
Rating: 7.7/10 (IMDb) and 88% (RottenTomatoes)
Two teams of North and South Korean soldiers and a US pilot encounter each other in Dongmakgol, a village in a nice-looking valley. The things that happened between them other than fighting each other are wonderful.
Park Kwang-Hyun emerged as a film director with this film centered on Jang Jin’s stage play of the same-named. Every actor including Jung Jae-young, Seo Jae-Kyung, Ryu Deok-Hwan, Kang Hye-Jung, Im Ha-Ryong made their best to show the suspense and simplicity of the film.
It made commercial success besides winning 3 Blue dragon film awards, 6 Korean film awards, a Grand Bell Award.
Life is Beautiful / 1997 / Italian / War
Rating: 8.6/10 (IMDb) and 80% (RottenTomatoes)
Although it is full of comedies, this creation of Roberto Benigni can’t be called a comedy film totally. In fact, your smiley face will take a drastic turn into sadness at the very ending. It shows the love of a father to his son by telling the story of a Jewish during the 2nd World War.
Benigni’s wife Nicoletta Braschi also acted in this film. The cute appearance of little Giorgio Cantarini has got this movie out of the War-horror. It received the Grand Prix at the 51st Cannes Film Festival, and three Oscars including featuring Benigni as the best actor.
Made in Bangladesh / 2007 / Bangladesh / Political Satire
Rating: 8.1/10 (IMDb)
Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, an Unorthodox filmmaker of Bangladesh, made this full-length drama. The experienced actors including Zahid Hasan, Fazlur Rahman Babu, Shahiduzzaman Selim, Jayanta Chattopadhyay, Tariq Anam Khan, Dilara Zaman, Amirul Haque Chowdhury, Tania Ahmed, and Shahidul Alam Sachchu played different roles in the film.
The story is all about an unemployed young man who manages to get into a Government rest house with a briefcase claiming to have a bomb within. He takes hostages of important people in society until his demands are met.
This film bagged the Special Mention (Best Film) award at Dhaka International Film Festival (2008).
The Lizard / 2004 / Iran / Drama
Rating: 8.5/10 (IMDb) and 95% (RottenTomatoes)
Under the direction of Kamal Tabrizi, this film is a nice presentation of morality. Peyman Ghasem Khani has written its script.
A thief on the run takes harbor in a village and disguises himself as a so-called religious man titled Molla. He inspires the residents to perform fair and just even without realizing it. Eventually, it leaves some funny activities throughout the movie.
Parviz Parastui stars in this Manouchehr Mohammadi Production. At the Montreal world film fest, it won Golden Zenith for Best Asian Film.
Summing Up
So far, we have listed out 10 best comedy movies from different cultures, nations and languages. However, the number of movies under this broad genre is huge. The humorous films have now enriched themselves by adding a variety of elements to themselves since the classic era. Still, they are evolving. They have tangled with even every serious movie in the 21st century.
Source: United News of Bangladesh