145 Best Comedy Movies to WatchMovies Like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Page 3)

Simple yet captivating, Skip and Loafer is a slice-of-life anime with a refreshing approach to the high school experience. While the anime genre is mostly known for its bright, high-saturated colors and action-filled, fantastical plots, this show celebrates the ordinary, with its pastel toned design, sweet humor, and clean animation. The series is centered around the main duo Mitsumi and Sosuke, but it never skimps on their friendships with their group. In fact, despite the classmates’ different backgrounds, the show’s thoughtful introductions make it easy to see why they would all care for each other, even as we get to know their insecurities. Skip and Loafer feels like a hug from the childhood best friend you had (or the one that you wished you had) – the one who you hung out with after school, the one who inspired you, and the one that changed your life for the better. Every episode is just full of pure, simple joy.

Genre: Animation, Comedy

Actor: Akinori Egoshi, Ayumu Murase, Hikaru Tanaka, Maaya Uchida, Megumi Han, Minami Tsuda, Mitsuki Saiga, Ryohei Kimura, Tomoyo Kurosawa, Yuka Terasaki

Vibrant and quirky in a way that always rings true for its plucky protagonists, this abruptly cancelled children's series embodies the optimism and empathetic spirit that we should all hope to gain from the younger generations. By starting their own neighborhood business, the core characters of The Baby-Sitters Club (played with undeniable star power and chemistry by its young ensemble) learn how to bring joy and healing to others while facing everything from discrimination and generational trauma to their own imperfect family lives. Behind the club's humorous, sugarcoated antics is a real sense of helplessness that each character struggles with—forging ahead and doing whatever they can to fix things that they've been told are out of their control. It's an unexpectedly touching gem of a show that proves kids' entertainment can be truly beautiful.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family, Kids

Actor: Alicia Silverstone, Anais Lee, Aya Furukawa, Jessica Elaina Eason, Kyndra Sanchez, Malia Baker, Marc Evan Jackson, Mark Feuerstein, Momona Tamada, Shay Rudolph, Sophie Grace, Vivian Watson, Xochitl Gomez

Rating: PG

A black comedy with an aggressively bleak view of its own protagonist, this story of a celebrity's life falling apart starts off funny and gradually becomes more and more difficult to watch. As the titular character scrambles to keep each part of her life afloat, her sense of self begins to fracture as well—emphasizing how our lives are defined by the responsibilities we have over others and ourselves. Billie Piper is extraordinary in the lead role, spiraling further down in ways that are truly haunting, and Leila Farzad balances her out perfectly as Suzie's unapologetic, type A manager.

If the show's first season is impressive enough with its unpredictable mix of styles and stern drama, season two—which only consists of three episodes—ratchets up the tension even more, playing out like an extended anxiety attack backstage at a reality show. Think Uncut Gems but with lots of dancing. For the boldness of its direction alone, I Hate Suzie doesn't serve to just fly under the radar.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Billie Piper, Daniel Ings, Leila Farzad

Fans of sketch comedy, documentaries, and the always-hilarious duo of Bill Hader and Fred Armisen are in for a treat with Documentary Now!, a delightful miniseries that both satirizes and pays tribute to the non-fiction format. Each episode parodies a particular documentary and tone, bringing the comedians and their ever-revolving roster of guest stars to different eras, regions, costumes, accents, and more. 

With SNL veterans Hader and Armisen at the helm, this mockumentary is sure to amuse and impress even the most stoic among us, if not for the show's humor, then for its sharp attention to detail and endlessly creative references.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, Helen Mirren, Irving Azoff

Rating: TV-14

Unlike Lovesick, which rightfully changed its name from Scrotal Recall, Schitt's Creek is still called Schitt's Creek many seasons in. After flying under the radar for a while, the sitcom about a wealthy, Arrested-Development-style family coping with the sudden loss of their fortune is starting to get the attention it deserves. Warm and witty writing, very gif-able catchprases, and a great main cast have turned this slightly slim-sounding premise into a long-running cult classic. The great Catherine O'Hara plays Moira Rose, the cynical matriarch, while many of you 00s kids will immediately recognize the male lead, Eugene Levy, as “Jim's dad” from American Pie aka them most embarrassing dad ever to grace a screen. In all its simplicity, the steadily fleshed out riches-to-rags plot is hilarious, undemanding, and witty, exactly what you want a sitcom to be.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Annie Murphy, Catherine O'Hara, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Elliott, Dan Levy, Daniel Levy, Dustin Milligan, Emily Hampshire, Eugene Levy, Jennifer Robertson, Karen Robinson, Noah Reid, Sarah Levy, Tim Rozon

Rating: TV-14

At once cynical and still in love with the glamor of show business, Difficult People puts a comedic target on absolutely everybody—celebrities, executives, and fans who love media as much as they hate it. Much of the series' comedy comes from how its two protagonists (played with undeniable chemistry by Julie Klausner and Billy Eichner) constantly sabotage their own opportunities at success, as they get swallowed up in a self-cannibalizing ecosystem of fleeting trends and failed ideas. But even as Julie and Billy almost always come home defeated, there's something touching about the unwavering strength of their friendship that gets them through each day. It's an unexpected reminder of the real things and real people who are here now, laughing with us about the absurdity of it all.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Andrea Martin, Billy Eichner, Gabourey Sidibe, James Urbaniak, Julie Klausner

After the only war the Americans have lost, American post-Vietnam war portrayals tend to lean as patriotic revenge fantasies or romanticized disillusionment, but rarely do they portray the people caught in between. HBO’s The Sympathizer is an adaptation of the Pulitzer winning novel of the same name, and while it’s mainly an American production, Park Chan-wook and Robert Downey Jr.’s collaboration sticks to the Captain’s perspective, as the unnamed mole protagonist writes his confession years after from a jail in Vietnam. Chan-wook excellently mirrors his approach to Viet Thanh Nguyen’s agile storytelling, shifting time periods and languages the same way the Captain shifts perspectives, though Nguyen’s dry humor sometimes wavers when translated to the screen. Still, it’s certainly a well-crafted, ambitious depiction coming from a unique perspective.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Alan Trong, Duy Nguyen, Fred Nguyen Khan, Hoa Xuande, Kiều Chinh, Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên, Phan Gia Nhật Linh, Robert Downey Jr., Sandra Oh, Toan Le, Vy Le

Rating: TV-MA

Search Party starts off with a simple mystery: whatever happened to Chantal, that girl Dory (Alia Shawkat) barely knew in college? She's been pronounced dead by authorities but Dory is sure she's seen her alive just recently. With nothing else going on in her life, a life she imagined would be filled with big feats and adventures by now, Dory enlists the help of her fellow 20-something friends and decides to get to the bottom of the case.

What ensues is a terrific mystery—perfectly paced and twisted—elevated by Dory and company's comic self-absorption, which buoys the story with great wit and humor. It's both a self-contained mystery and a satire, and none overwhelms the other. 

As the series progresses, Search Party gets even deeper down the loony hole. The crimes get darker, the stakes get higher, and their sanities barely withstand the new cracks they get. But it also gets even more complex and interesting, with many things to say about our so-called lost generation, the millennial generation, who would rather solve mysteries and find simple cure-alls than look at ourselves in plain light.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Alia Shawkat, John Early, John Reynolds, Meredith Hagner

Rating: TV-MA

The scene: 1717, the Golden Age of Piracy; the people: brute criminals living on nothing but loot. Seems typical enough for a pirate story, but more than just an action-packed swashbuckling treat, Our Flag Means Death is also a raging ensemble comedy that is both modern and subversive as it dares to recast masculinity in a whole new light. 

The show follows Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), a flamboyant aristocrat who leaves his pampered life and turns to the sea in search of deeper meaning and purpose. Specifically, he’s out to figure out, once and for all, what it means to be a man. Does it entail remorseless murder and a stoic acceptance of one’s responsibility, as he’s been taught and taunted to do for so long, or is there more to it than that? The wannabe pirate gets closer to answering these questions when he meets and eventually falls for the legendary Blackbeard, played warmly and hilariously by Taika Waititi.

Genre: Action, Action & Adventure, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, History

Actor: Con O'Neill, David Fane, Ewen Bremner, Guz Khan, Joel Fry, Kristian Nairn, Matthew Maher, Nathan Foad, Rhys Darby, Rory Kinnear, Samson Kayo, Taika Waititi, Vico Ortiz

Rating: 18+