I’m a big fan of comedy movies. I’m a sucker for some high-concept artsy movies too, but you have to be in a particular mood to watch those. That’s not the case with comedies. You can watch comedies any time. If you’re sad they’ll serve as a pick-me-up. If you’re bored they’ll entertain you. If you’re happy, they’ll give you something to laugh about.
And when it comes to comedy, there’s nothing that compares to the dry wit of British comedy. So, here are the 10 best British comedy movies!
Cornetto Trilogy
I usually leave my favorites for the end of the list, but I can’t contain my excitement about this recommendation! The Cornetto Trilogy is the best. The “trilogy” consists of three movies that are related only by their cast (Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Bill Nighy, Martin Freeman) and the fact that at some point a Cornetto ice cream cone is eaten by one of the characters.
Shaun of the Dead is a brilliant parody of a zombie movie. It has great editing, an amazing cast, and visual gags delivered with a level of cleverness that puts all other visual gags to shame!
Hot Fuzz is a funky twist on a buddy-cop movie.
The World’s End is a movie about an alien invasion that takes over the hometown of a group of friends who just want to do a nice good pub crawl to remember the good days.
None of these descriptions do the movies any justice, so if you’re going to watch anything from this list – make it these three movies!
Monty Python
Monty Python are like the grandfathers of British comedy movies. With classics like Monty Python’s Holy Grail and Monty Python’s Life of Brian, you’d be hard pressed to find a sketch comedy troupe with a more solid catalogue of quotable sketches, obnoxious visual gags, and a blend of high-brow and low-brow comedy in a single movie.
In the Loop
In the Loop is the movie spin-off of the British TV show “The Thick of It”. You know how the entire world is crumbling around us because of politics? Well, this movie is an absolutely brilliant look at how chaotic the world of politics actually is. Warning: this movie has a lot of swearing in it, but the delivery is spectacular.
The Boat that Rocked
Hands down, this movie has the best soundtrack from all the movies on this list. The movie shows us what life was like on a pirate radio station that plays rock’n’roll at a time when this music was considered dangerous to the youth.
Wallace & Gromit
Look, if a claymation movie about a man and his inventive dog traveling to the moon because they ran out of cheese for their crackers doesn’t pique your interest, I don’t know if we can be friends.
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
This is my go-to “pick-me-up” movie. A down-on-his-luck guy loses a lot of money during a poker game, and in an attempt to pay back what he owes he and his friends end up in a catastrophically hilarious chain of events involving two old guns and what seems like the entire criminal underworld of the city they live in.
Withnail and I
Withnail and I is so quotable. Two out-of-work actors bounce around between their dirty flat, the unemployment office, the local pub, and their friends countryside house. And throughout all this they are drunk, miserable, and go on incredibly hilarious monologues about how unfair life has been towards them.
Mr. Bean
I’m a fan of the Mr. Bean TV Show, but when it comes to the movies, Mr. Bean On Vacation is my favorite. The silliness of the character, the ridiculous situations his stupidity puts him in – all of it is extremely hilarious.
Ali G InDaHouse
What happens if you take the “East Coast vs West Coast” hip-hop battle and put it into an extremely over-the-top parody that’s set in Britain? Only one of the most hilarious movies to have ever been made! This movie is worth watching for seeing Martin Freeman in yellow overalls.
Death at a Funeral
It seems like Hollywood has a monopoly on comedies about dysfunctional families. There’s Meet the Fockers. There’s Little Miss Sunshine. There are The Royal Tenenbaums, Silver Linings Playbook, and Our Idiot Brother. But none of them can compare to the level of humor that is the British movie Death at a Funeral!
