273 Best Grown-up Comedy Movies to Watch (Page 12)

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Looking for a chuckle? Kids will laugh at anything, but a good adult-friendly comedy can be harder to come by. From laugh-out-loud misadventures to inky black humor, here are the best grown-up comedies to stream right now.

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, 1986

As a comedy made in the 80’s all about a gay couple, viewers not familiar with this indie film might expect something tragic, raunchy, or insensitive, but Parting Glances is surprisingly understated. The main relationship is refreshingly treated with the same domesticity as a straight couple would, and the main conflict isn’t concerned with acceptance– after all, Michael and Robert were already accepted by their urban Manhattan community. In writing this, first-time director Bill Sherwood is able to focus on the upcoming long-distance relationship, Michael realizing Robert wants the distance, while Robert feels uncertain over Michael’s feelings for his ex dying from AIDS. The film doesn’t shy away from the touching, but even with the difficult pain of losing parts of the community, it’s still straightforward, unsentimental, and so funny with the witty repartee between the well-written characters. Parting Glances is a true gem.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Adam Nathan, Bob Koherr, Cam Brainard, John Bolger, Kathy Kinney, Michael Medeiros, Nicholas Hill, Patrick Tull, Richard Ganoung, Steve Buscemi, Victor Rivers, Yolande Bavan

Director: Bill Sherwood

Rating: NR

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, 1999

Before “burnout,” “bullshit jobs,” and “quiet quitting” became part of our everyday lexicon, there was a film in the ‘90s that prophesied the rise of these workplace problems. Office Space follows three co-workers who, having had enough of their dreary low-paying jobs, fight back against their company via an embezzlement scheme. 

Office Space makes the most out of its indie budget as it mostly takes place in the cramped quarters of a company, effectively bottling us into the cubicled windowless world of the characters. But the real beauty of the film is in the details, from its quick zingers and thoughtful takes on the essence of work down to its elaborate “planning to plan” scheme in the background and the employees’ forced politeness singing happy birthday to their boss. Modern viewers will notice that Office Space sits right in between the dystopian thriller Severance and the beloved sitcom The Office—a dark comedy that highlights the necessity of humanity in everyday work. 

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Ajay Naidu, Alexandra Wentworth, Ali Wentworth, Barbara George-Reiss, Cassie Townsend, Charissa Allen, David Herman, Diedrich Bader, Gabriel Folse, Gary Cole, Greg Pitts, Heath Young, Jack Betts, Jackie Belvin, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Jane Emerson, Jesse De Luna, Joe Bays, John C. McGinley, Josh Bond, Justin Possenti, K. Todd Lytle, Kinna McInroe, Kyle Scott Jackson, Linda Wakeman, Michael McShane, Mike Judge, Orlando Jones, Paul Willson, R.C. Keene, Richard Riehle, Ron Livingston, Rupert Reyes, Samantha Inoue Harte, Spencer Kayden, Stephen Root, Todd Duffey, Tom Schuster

Director: Mike Judge

Rating: R

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, 1994

Though it's still very much a product of a time of certain jokes that haven't aged well, it's still remarkable how the humor and the satirical edge of this mockumentary has remained so current. As a very-low budget mockumentary of a still-young American hip hop scene, there's so much more effort that goes into these fake songs and music videos than you'd expect. But the film doesn't stop at simply poking fun at the rappers and hip hop artists of the era; the jokes always circle back around to the racism of the time and the self-seriousness of the culture in the music industry. It's a hilarious time capsule with some brutally incisive lines in practically every scene.

Genre: Comedy, Mockumentary, Music

Actor: Barry Shabaka Henley, Deezer D, Devin Kamin, Don Reed, Faizon Love, G. Smokey Campbell, Homeselle Joy, Kasi Lemmons, Larry B. Scott, LaVerne Anderson, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Monique Gabrielle, Penny Johnson Jerald, Rose Jackson, Rusty Cundieff

Director: Rusty Cundieff

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, 2007

Generally, most people would like foreigners to like their country, but most people can’t control what their fellow countrymen have done abroad, good or otherwise. And while now these opinions are relegated to most only on online spaces, there are some incidents when this actually affects real world crises. California Dreamin' is based on the real life delay of NATO forces during the Kosovo War, but it’s less concerned with the actual war, and more concerned about the village itself, and their perspective on the NATO troops intruding in their way of life. Co-writer and director Cristian Nemescu depicts this event with a slice-of-life approach, with the culture clash between American soldiers and Romanian village folk forming most of the comedy, but it never forgets the way American aid was once requested but denied in black-and-white memories of World War II. While the length and editing wasn’t completed due to the death of Nemescu, Nesfârșit still keeps its edge, slicing through satire the difficult dynamic between the two countries.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Andi Vasluianu, Armand Assante, Constantin Diţă, Gabriel Radu, Gabriel Spahiu, Ion Sapdaru, Jamie Elman, Maria Dinulescu, Nicodim Ungureanu, Răzvan Vasilescu, Sabina Brândușe, Teodor Corban, Tomi Cristin

Director: Cristian Nemescu

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, 2023

The sooner you accept that Bottoms is not, in fact, rooted in reality in any way, the easier it should become to get on its wavelength for its uniquely absurd brand of comedy. This is ostensibly a satire, though it isn't totally clear what exactly the film is trying to comment on. And its loosely defined world makes it challenging to get emotionally invested in any of the characters' failures or victories. But it does—more than any comedy we'll probably get in a while—capture this feeling of high school being its own heightened, insulated world, where the class system of strict high school stereotypes clashes with the unchecked id and ego of teenagers who think they're more grown-up than they really are. Director and co-writer Emma Seligman gives this movie a certain sheen that you rarely find in comedies this lowbrow (care of lush cinematography by Maria Rusche, and a bumping electronic score by Leo Birenberg and pop star Charli XCX). This contrast between polished exteriors and unapologetically raunchy content makes the jokes all the more startling—which are delivered by a cast clearly having great fun. Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri stick to their cringe-comedy skill set to great effect, while Ruby Cruz and Havana Rose Liu shine with deceptively tricky material, and Nicholas Galitzine gets to be a himbo for the ages.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Alyssa Matthews, Ayo Edebiri, Bruno Rose, Cameron Stout, Dagmara Domińczyk, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, Krystal Alayne Chambers, Liz Elkins Newcomer, Marshawn Lynch, Miles Fowler, Nicholas Galitzine, Punkie Johnson, Rachel Sennott, Ruby Cruz, Ted Ferguson, Toby Nichols, Virginia Tucker, Wayne Pére, Zamani Wilder

Director: Emma Seligman

Rating: R

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, 2023

If you've never encountered Beth Stelling before, it might take some getting used to before her brand of comedy really hits. Her routine in this special isn't necessarily built around huge punchlines, animated delivery, or edgy subject matter. But there's plenty of oddly specific detail to her many, many anecdotes that gradually begins to feel warm and easy to connect with, whether or not you've ever been to Ohio. Stelling usually comments on the absurdity of many of these details herself—which, surprisingly, never ruins the joke but helps invite the audience in closer. Her storytelling is consistently engaging all throughout, painting this easygoing outlook on life, which just happens to be punctuated by the most bizarre memories that still remind us of the people we're fondest of.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Beth Stelling

Director: Mo Welch

Rating: R

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, 2010

When a film is about a person, most depictions would be presented in the best possible light, all to present them as a person to be admired. That being said, Barney’s Version does not do that. The novel does give the adaptation some trouble– after all, Barney is a guy that fell in love with a woman other than his wife on his wedding night– but while Barney isn’t exactly the best person you’d like to meet, the way the story is structured, Paul Giamatti’s sympathetic performance and the way Barney remains honest with himself and his desires all throughout life makes the title character easy to root for, even with all his blunt ways. Barney’s Version does take plenty of familiar tropes, sometimes stereotypical, but it handles this life drama with subtle comedy and excellent performances.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Anna Hopkins, Arthur Holden, Atom Egoyan, Brittany Drisdelle, Bruce Greenwood, Clé Bennett, David Cronenberg, Denys Arcand, Dustin Hoffman, Ellen David, Harry Strandjofski, Harvey Atkin, Howard Jerome, Howard Rosenstein, Jake Hoffman, Larry Day, Linda Sorensen, Macha Grenon, Marina Eva, Mark Addy, Mark Camacho, Massimo Wertmüller, Maury Chaykin, Mélanie St-Pierre, Minnie Driver, Paul Giamatti, Paul Gross, Paula Jean Hixson, Pauline Little, Rachelle Lefevre, Rebecca Croll, Richard J. Lewis, Rosamund Pike, Saul Rubinek, Scott Speedman, Ted Kotcheff, Thomas Trabacchi

Director: Richard J. Lewis

Rating: R

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, 2023

An all-female action comedy that doesn’t get self-serious about the way it’s subverting the genre — Wingwomen feels like a breath of fresh air. It wisely grasps that plot isn’t paramount for a movie like this, and so it joyously dunks on cerebral scenarios with its unabashedly silly story convolutions, like when its professional thieves take a brief pause from their momentous One Last Job™️ to sail to Italy and exact bloody, flamenco-delivered revenge on the gangsters who killed their beloved rabbit. Exotic Mediterranean location-hopping isn’t the only way Wingwomen milks Netflix’s finance department for all it can get, either: director-star Mélanie Laurent also packs in all manner of stunts, from spectacular base-jumping sequences to dramatic drone shootouts. For all its breezy style, though, there is real heart here, and not the kind that feels crafted by an algorithm. It’s true that a late twist unwisely uses the movie’s embrace of implausibility for emotional ends, but otherwise, the relationship between its professional thieves — ostensibly platonic but very much coded otherwise (a la Bend It Like Beckham) — has surprisingly sincere warmth. Thanks to the cast’s natural chemistry and characters that feel human despite the ridiculous plot, Wingwomen is much more moving than you might believe possible for a Netflix action-comedy.

Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama

Actor: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Annick Roux, Aurélien Gabrielli, Camille Verschuere, Felix Moati, Foued Nabba, Isabelle Adjani, Jean-François Perrone, Jean-Philippe Ricci, Leona D'Huy, Manon Bresch, Mélanie Laurent, Meriem Serbah, Myriam Azencot, Philippe Katerine

Director: Mélanie Laurent

Rating: R

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, 2013

Sure, it takes a special type of crazy to try to make it in the movies, especially if you’ve been at it for ten years without any sort of premiere, but the strangely persistent four-man production of Why Don’t You Play in Hell? takes this to even crazier heights, involving a yakuza gang war and potentially their lives. Writer-director Sion Sono infuses his signature gore with much more playful comedy, slinging together chaotic action scenes through the pure power of cool, and the entire roster’s enthusiasm for cinema is just so infectious, it’s compelling to watch, even when the plotlines don’t fully mesh well. Why Don't You Play in Hell? is such a fun tribute to gritty action filmmaking.

Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama

Actor: Akaji Maro, Akihiro Kitamura, Akira Yamamoto, Daisuke Kuroda, Denden, Donpei Tsuchihira, Fumi Nikaido, Gen Hoshino, Hakase Suidobashi, Hideo Nakaizumi, Hiroki Hasegawa, Hiroyuki Onoue, Itsuji Itao, Jun Kunimura, Jyonmyon Pe, Kazuki Namioka, Kenjirou Ishimaru, Kyōko Enami, Megumi Kagurazaka, Mickey Curtis, Motoki Fukami, Nanoka Hara, Ōmiya Ichi, Riko Narumi, Shimako Iwai, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Tak Sakaguchi, Taro Suwa, Tasuku Nagaoka, Tetsu Watanabe, Tomochika, Tsugumi

Director: Sion Sono

Rating: NR

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, 2017

In this French movie based on a true story, a med-school graduate from Congo is offered a job as the doctor to the president of Zaire. He refuses and chooses instead to move to a small town in France in hopes of getting French citizenship and securing a better future for his children.

The story, which starts in 1975, is set in a village where people had never seen a Black person. To that, Seyolo, the doctor, says: “so what? Now they will.”

The culture clash is both villagers-to-new-arrivals and the other way. Seyolo tells his family that he was hired in a village “north of Paris”, but all they hear is “Paris”, only to be shocked by the state of the rainy and muddy countryside village.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Aissa Maiga, Bayron Lebli, Bernard Eylenbosch, Bwanga Pilipili, Christophe Lambert, Diogène Ntarindwa, Édith Le Merdy, Emilie Rouhart, Frédérick Bukolé, Ingrid Heiderscheidt, Jean Bediebe, Jean-Benoît Ugeux, Jean-Marie Barbier, Jean-Michel Balthazar, Jonathan Lambert, Jovial Mbenga, Julien Rambaldi, Kamini Zantoko, Laurent Caron, Marc Zinga, Marie-Philomène Nga, Marius Yelolo, Mata Gabin, Medina Diarra, Michel Schillaci, Micheline Dieye, Narcisse Mame, Riton Liebman, Rodolphe Jonathan Lambert, Rufus, Stéphane Bissot, Stéphane Brodzki, Stéphanie Crayencour, Sylvestre Amoussou, Tatiana Rojo, Thomas Vandenberghe, Thomas VDB, Vincent Lecuyer, Vincent Martin

Director: Julien Rambaldi

Rating: N/A

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