Why don't we see great comedy movies anymore?

[1987_Lakers]

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a great comedy movie that has been released in the last 10 years or so.

The last comedy I remember seeing lots of hype before coming out was 22 jump street, back in like 2014. Seems like comedy has died since then.

[ShawkFactory]

I think comedy is like rock music specifically where it's difficult to continue making similar style movies and have the freshness remain the same.

Nowadays comedy is more widespread and blended into other genres and done with more subtlety than before.

[GOBB]

What about action movies? Seem to fell off as well. And I get the superhero/conic stuff out. Just feels like that’s it for action. I wonder how much cancel culture has impacted comedy movies. The Barbie movie could be labeled comedy. But comedy movies as we have know it seem to be dead. Guess once someone hits gold with one other will follow suit. Seems to be the Hollywood way.

[highwhey]

just watch fox news bro, it's hilarious.

[Lakers Legend#32]

Comedies seem to be leaving theaters and going to streaming services like Netflix.

I mean how else can you explain Happy Gilmore 2 not getting a theatrical run?

[1987_Lakers]

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a great comedy movie that has been released in the last 10 years or so.

The last comedy I remember seeing lots of hype before coming out was 22 jump street, back in like 2014. Seems like comedy has died since then.

I stand corrected.

I loved this movie which came out in 2017, but still a long time ago.

https://resizing.flixster.com/7S3-zluKBYMzkWXy9I4ruTvULts=/fit-in/705x460/v2/https://resizing.flixster.com/-XZAfHZM39UwaGJIFWKAE8fS0ak=/v3/t/assets/p14158577_v_v13_ac.jpg

[1987_Lakers]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyIvLTnQ-hk

[tpols]

Yea that is true. I miss the SuperBad era of comedies. Deadpool was the only funny one I seen in maybe a decade.

[Phoenix]

I was showing my god-daughter some Married with Children clips( Al Bundy) movie and she couldn't even hide the disgust on her face when he was insulting different women. Most of what is considered classic comedies wouldn't have been made past 2015.



What about action movies? Seem to fell off as well. And I get the superhero/conic stuff out. Just feels like that’s it for action. I wonder how much cancel culture has impacted comedy movies. The Barbie movie could be labeled comedy. But comedy movies as we have know it seem to be dead. Guess once someone hits gold with one other will follow suit. Seems to be the Hollywood way.

Action peaked in the 80s/ 90s with Arnold, Stallone, Willis, Van Damme, Seagal, Norris etc. Most of those guys now would be seen as symbols of 'toxic masculinity' and wouldn't appeal to 'modern audiences'. I mean you've got something like John Wick today, but he's sort of a blank canvas personality-wise and inoffensive. Cancel culture has most definitely neutered comedy from its peak days.

[SouBeachTalents]

I mean, you look at just 2008 alone

Tropic Thunder
Step Brothers
Pineapple Express
Forgetting Sarah Marshall

That legitimately blows away the last 10 years of comedies combined. As insane as this is to admit, the last comedy I believe I saw in theatres was This is the End, and that shit was 12 years ago :lol

I feel a big reason for the decline in comedies is how insanely politically correct Hollywood became, a movie like Tropic Thunder, which skewers so many taboo subjects, would have zero chance of being made today, the blowback would be too severe.

[Bill Gates]

It does feel like both comedy and action have topped-out.

Hard to find a new place to go with them. Comedy basically went through a "shock-humor" phase at kind of started with American Pie, Something About Mary, ect where it was all based in shocking sex related jokes. And now we are over it and no longer shocked by anything like that. And now Comedy is looking for a new place to go, and there is no place. Stand ups are getting attention by being political, but that is a difficult place for a movie and anyone to go because you go in knowing you will be alienating a large group no matter what.

Action kind of topped out with Keanu Reeves. The Matrix series, John Wick. And now what?

[ShawkFactory]

It does feel like both comedy and action have topped-out.

Hard to find a new place to go with them. Comedy basically went through a "shock-humor" phase at kind of started with American Pie, Something About Mary, ect where it was all based in shocking sex related jokes. And now we are over it and no longer shocked by anything like that. And now Comedy is looking for a new place to go, and there is no place. Stand ups are getting attention by being political, but that is a difficult place for a movie and anyone to go because you go in knowing you will be alienating a large group no matter what.

Action kind of topped out with Keanu Reeves. The Matrix series, John Wick. And now what?

Well there is...it's television. Comedies now are usually infused with action, drama, and most recently horror.

[Bill Gates]

Well there is...it's television. Comedies now are usually infused with action, drama, and most recently horror.

Sure, movies and shows are using comedy to help break up the serious parts. Not sure that counts as a new place for comedy to go though.



As for action, I think it now needs to evolve into a "REAL" place. Get away from the over the top fight scenes that you would see in John Wick that would never happen in real life. That approach might be tricky to pull off though, as much of it is exactly what you would see in MMA, a lot of rolling around on the ground and such. But it being realistic would certainly help create real tension and emotions in the viewer that just are not there when the two fighters are doing repeated triple flip kicks at light speed.

[fsvr54]

Tropic Thunder was the last one. 17 years ago.

[beasted]

Most of the comedy kings have been me-too'd and shamed into private shows. Even releasing a Netflix special is met with a ton of controversy.

[warriorfan]

Like people said that now it seems like they try to genre mix with comedy more. I think it’s half because of people don’t want to stir up stuff and get cancelled. I know it’s an overused word but it fits.

The genre mixing also helps the movies that just don’t hit hard like they used to for a variety of reasons. So instead they try to spin it off as a comedy movie so you don’t have take it seriously (because there was no way to take it seriously if they tried to do it straight up)


But sometimes they can pull it off pretty well. The Menu was hilarious. They did a great job of making it a weird horror mystery movie but also great satirization of celebrity chefs and foodie culture. I thought it was really good and funny.

[tpols]

Key and Peele provided some of the best comedy ive ever seen though outside their movies.

[Phoenix]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezg4sr67OGA&ab_channel=ComedyCentral

[tpols]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezg4sr67OGA&ab_channel=ComedyCentral

One of my favorite skits of all time.


https://youtu.be/cK98jx7gw7w?si=VC2dFZ90UPoCyJ1l

But they have so many its hard to choose.

[John8204]

Two things really killed comedy, identity politics and the death of the star system. Comic actors used to be able to release one film a year, they might not all hit but it was constant and their was always 5-6 of them. Can you imagine a straight white female actress releasing romantic comedies for 10 straight years. Chris Pratt, Ryan Reynolds, Seth Rogan, Steve Carrell, Adam Sandler, and Jim Carrey are still around but they aren't releasing pure comedy films.

[TheMan]

It does feel like both comedy and action have topped-out.

Hard to find a new place to go with them. Comedy basically went through a "shock-humor" phase at kind of started with American Pie, Something About Mary, ect where it was all based in shocking sex related jokes. And now we are over it and no longer shocked by anything like that. And now Comedy is looking for a new place to go, and there is no place. Stand ups are getting attention by being political, but that is a difficult place for a movie and anyone to go because you go in knowing you will be alienating a large group no matter what.

Action kind of topped out with Keanu Reeves. The Matrix series, John Wick. And now what?

American Pie was in the same vein as Porky's, which came out in the early 80s and was panned by critics but enjoyed by teens.

[TheMan]

Now that I think about it, OP is right, comedy movies are no longer a thing. Last comedy movie I thoroughly enjoyed was Napoleon Dynamite... recommend me some comedy movies, bros

[Phoenix]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPF4lm75NcI&ab_channel=PatrickCc%3A

[Baller234]

The reason comedy "died" was because Hollywood was run by the left.

When Donald Trump became president, they were obligated to pretend that now was not the time for comedy. The stakes are too high.

Hillary Clinton was perfect. She was smart, seasoned, everything you could want from a president. The fact that she lost to this dumb loudmouth oaf is proof positive that the world devalues women and is sexist beyond repair. We need to show these hillbillies that women are smart and capable too. Start replacing all the male heroes with female heroes. Start making women the front and center of all our major film franchises.

And how could they vote for that evil racist? Don't they care about black people? Time to make everything black.

Don't they care about gays and trannies? Time to make everything gay and weird. We'll show Trump and his evil supporters! But we shall not laugh. The moment we laugh is the moment we admit this is all a put on.

And this is how you end up with men in female sports. An entire generation manipulated into supporting madness because of Hollywood propaganda. Look at HIGHwhey. He thinks every violent criminal on the street has a sob story. He thinks every thief is Aladdin stealing a loaf of bread. His mind has been totally warped.

[ShawkFactory]

The reason comedy "died" was because Hollywood was run by the left.

When Donald Trump became president, they were obligated to pretend that now was not the time for comedy. The stakes are too high.

Hillary Clinton was perfect. She was smart, seasoned, everything you could want from a president. The fact that she lost to this dumb loudmouth oaf is proof positive that the world devalues women and is sexist beyond repair. We need to show these hillbillies that women are smart and capable too. Start replacing all the male heroes with female heroes. Start making women the front and center of all our major film franchises.

And how could they vote for that evil racist? Don't they care about black people? Time to make everything black.

Don't they care about gays and trannies? Time to make everything gay and weird. We'll show Trump and his evil supporters! But we shall not laugh. The moment we laugh is the moment we admit this is all a put on.

And this is how you end up with men in female sports. An entire generation manipulated into supporting madness because of Hollywood propaganda. Look at HIGHwhey. He thinks every violent criminal on the street has a sob story. He thinks every thief is Aladdin stealing a loaf of bread. His mind has been totally warped.

You are unhinged.

[BurningHammer]

The reason comedy "died" was because Hollywood was run by the left.

When Donald Trump became president, they were obligated to pretend that now was not the time for comedy. The stakes are too high.

Hillary Clinton was perfect. She was smart, seasoned, everything you could want from a president. The fact that she lost to this dumb loudmouth oaf is proof positive that the world devalues women and is sexist beyond repair. We need to show these hillbillies that women are smart and capable too. Start replacing all the male heroes with female heroes. Start making women the front and center of all our major film franchises.

And how could they vote for that evil racist? Don't they care about black people? Time to make everything black.

Don't they care about gays and trannies? Time to make everything gay and weird. We'll show Trump and his evil supporters! But we shall not laugh. The moment we laugh is the moment we admit this is all a put on.

And this is how you end up with men in female sports. An entire generation manipulated into supporting madness because of Hollywood propaganda. Look at HIGHwhey. He thinks every violent criminal on the street has a sob story. He thinks every thief is Aladdin stealing a loaf of bread. His mind has been totally warped.
https://c.tenor.com/g5skbZoCXmoAAAAM/razor-ramon-letter.gif

[tpols]

90s 00s was peak comedy. Before that movies were too serious and after they just suck now. :lol

Movies like original Dumb and Dumber wont ever be beat.

[Phoenix]

90s 00s was peak comedy. Before that movies were too serious and after they just suck now. :lol

Movies like original Dumb and Dumber wont ever be beat.

You could throw 80s in there easily. All the Eddie Murphy classics, all the spoof stuff like Spaceballs, Top Secret, Naked Gun, Airplane, National Lampoon, Ferris Bueller, Goonies, Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, Gremlins, Roger Rabbit, Bill and Ted,shit even Arnold stepped out of Terminator mode to do stuff like Twins, and you could name about 50 other movies that are either strict comedies or have heavy comedic elements. You could probably mix and match comedy with other genres more than anything else. I'm not too up on 70s movies other than stuff like the first Superman movie, Rocky, Star Wars, but at least out of the decades I've watched movies the 80's to 2000s is comfortably better than the 2010s and 2020s across the spectrum of genres, for my money anyway.

[1987_Lakers]

The way things are going in Hollywood, I don't think Superbad will be touched anytime soon. Probably the GOAT comedy, what makes it impressive is how well it has aged, while 40 year old virgin which was another huge hit, didn't age as well IMO.

I always thought Old School (2003) was underrated, popular during its time, but doesn't really get talked about anymore. Me and my friends still say "Is KFC still open?" whenever we are out drinking.

[GOBB]

You could throw 80s in there easily. All the Eddie Murphy classics, all the spoof stuff like Spaceballs, Top Secret, Naked Gun, Airplane, National Lampoon, Ferris Bueller, Goonies, Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, Gremlins, Roger Rabbit, Bill and Ted,shit even Arnold stepped out of Terminator mode to do stuff like Twins, and you could name about 50 other movies that are either strict comedies or have heavy comedic elements. You could probably mix and match comedy with other genres more than anything else. I'm not too up on 70s movies other than stuff like the first Superman movie, Rocky, Star Wars, but at least out of the decades I've watched movies the 80's to 2000s is comfortably better than the 2010s and 2020s across the spectrum of genres, for my money anyway.

Add Blues Brothers. Spaceballs or Airplane the goat comedy movie. Airplane being the more popular pick but Spaceballs was it for me.

[Meticode]

Personally I think great comedies aren't made as frequently because of unoriginality and money. Studios don't back comedies nearly as much as they used to in the 80s and 90s because those aren't the big money makers now and a lot of that stems because of most of it being recycled crap.

You can't recycle a comedy and make a billion dollars like you can a Disney classic turning it into a full CGI real-life take (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King) or keep pumping out comic book movie after comic book movie.

Happy Gilmore 2 was decent though. Not as good as the original obviously, but they didn't totally ruin the sequel nor original either. There was some legit funny moments in it. (ie: Eminem).

[Phoenix]

Would it be accurate to say the one genre that hasn't really 'fallen off' per se is the thriller/horror genre? They don't really require massive budgets or headliner stars (if anything, the writer/director in these kinds of films seem to be the selling point. Case in point, the biggest name in the next Jordan Peele thriller is Peele himself, not the main actor/actress), so as long as there's a good idea and execution they're still marketable. Though I'm not sure if 'headliner' stars are really a thing anymore. The mega star with their name on the marquee is going to end with Tom Cruise( and others of that ilk like Schwarzenegger, Ford, Stallone, Pitt, Hanks etc etc etc etc).

[Phoenix]

You can't recycle a comedy and make a billion dollars like you can a Disney classic turning it into a full CGI real-life take (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King) or keep pumping out comic book movie after comic book movie.



Comic book movies have mostly nose-dived as well since Endgame. I think the last billion dollar one was Deadpool and Wolverine. None of the films this year ( Superman, Thunderbolts, Captain America 4, Fantastic 4) came close.

[John8204]

Jimmy Carr has a movie coming out at some point called Fackham Hall which had me in stitches. They ran it before This is Spinal Tap II.