134 Best Comedy Movies to WatchBest TV-MA Movies to Watch (Page 8)

A parody of the true crime industry, Based on a True Story is as dark as a comedy can go. It follows Ava and Nate (Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina), a couple who, in an attempt to save their marriage and bank accounts, partner up with serial killer Matt (Tom Bateman) to create a podcast about Matt’s killing sprees. It proves to be a hit in murder-obsessed America, but Ava and Nate soon realize that their success comes with a bloody price. 

Based on a True Story is the type of show that has a lot of fun trying on different hats—all at once, it's a satire, thriller, horror, and romance—and though it’s not always successful at balancing them out, there’s something addictive about watching it try. Even when the constant tonal shifts and murky morals threaten to tear the show down, you can't bring yourself to look away. This is mostly thanks to Cuoco and Messina, whose dynamic chemistry and live-wire performances all but prove their status as sitcom veterans. Bateman is also effectively terrifying, able to maintain his killer guise amidst ever-shifting genre backgrounds. 

Often, the show treads the fine line between making light of and shedding light on violence in modern-day America. But the risk pays off, making it a killer watch for anyone willing to give it a try.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Alex Alomar Akpobome, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Chris Messina, Kaley Cuoco, Li Jun Li, Liana Liberato, Natalia Dyer, Priscilla Quintana, Tom Bateman

Rating: TV-MA

With the show transporting us straight into its colorful alien world without context, The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy may not be the best animated sci-fi comedy out there, but it’s fairly entertaining once you get into it. It’s a strange amalgamation of genres, as the workplace issues and medical technobabble are made much more colorful, wacky, and fun with its alien sci-fi, but the show mostly works through the empathizable characters, led here by the comedic personalities of Stephanie Hsu and Keke Palmer. The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy is not quite out of this world, but if you’re a fan of American animated sitcoms, this might be right up your alley.

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Keke Palmer, Kieran Culkin, Maya Rudolph, Sam Smith, Stephanie Hsu

Rating: TV-MA

Ensemble romance stories are great for exploring different aspects of relationships, but this time, Taiwanese comedy drama Let’s Talk About CHU tackles sexual relationships. Centered on the Chu family, each of the members struggle in that aspect of their relationships– the parents are at the brink of divorce because of it, Ai prioritizes pleasure but not connection, Yu-sen is taken for granted because of it, and Wei struggles with the expectations of having children. It’s refreshing to see the show tackle these issues, which, until recently, has been mostly taboo to talk about, but it also happens to be direct, honest, and forthcoming about them in such a relatable way. While the show does struggle to balance the plotlines, Let’s Talk About CHU is a multi-generational conversation that’s important to have.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family

Actor: Chien-Ho Wu, Hsia Yu-chiao, JC Lin, Kai Ko, Tzu Hsuan Chan

Director: Remii Huang

Rating: TV-MA

Many fantasy K-dramas stick to the serious side, but Destined with You feels more lighthearted as it starts off with a light jab at the handsome grim reaper trope with SF9’s Rowoon. The show honors many of modern-day fated love tropes, and sometimes makes fun of it, but the series does it in a way that’s grounded in its characters and setting. The show first introduces the main duo as individual people, specifically, characters working with and for the public at large. Because of their jobs, Destined with You acknowledges the modern-day systems we use to deal with day-to-day injustices, but also provides the fantasy of having a second recourse in witchcraft. With the show’s pairing, there’s a hope that one way or another, the two could meet halfway.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Ha Jun, Jo Bo-ah, Lee Pil-mo, Rowoon, Yura

Director: Nam Ki-hoon

Rating: TV-MA

The success of Average Joe’s humor lies in showing us how ordinary people realistically react to extraordinary events (in this case, being hunted down by the Russian mafia). Joe and his friends are blue-collar workers who barely make ends meet, so it makes sense that they won’t immediately know expert self-defense. They’re no John Wick, they don’t have combat skills hidden up their sleeves. And even with a police accomplice, they wouldn’t know how to hide bodies and launder money. But they’re forced to try, and those attempts are as clumsy as they are darkly funny. One of Joe’s friends fumbles a body part they try to hide and vomits at the sight of blood. Meanwhile, his wife comes up with all sorts of uncanny solutions, such as slathering peanut butter on dead bodies to attract hungry animals in the woods. The tonal shifts can be jarring sometimes, but the show is consistently funny and frightening. It’s also just refreshing to see everyday people go through all the fuss action stars go through and place ourselves in their shoes. Joe and his friends are just like us, but funnier and way more prone to gore. 

Genre: Comedy, Crime

Actor: Ashani Roberts, Deon Cole, Pasha D. Lychnikoff

Rating: TV-MA

Starring a knock-out cast of comediennes that include Carol Burnett, Laura Dern, Allison Janney, and Wiig, Palm Royale is a visual treat filled with a handful of memorable performances. But as funny as these women and as vibrant as these costumes are, the series never seems truly believable and lived in. It instead feels like a neverending comedy sketch—a parody of a melodrama, to be exact. Despite its tender moments, it’s difficult to feel sympathetic for characters who are played for laughs and laughs only. Look, I love Wiig as much as the next person who grew up watching seasons 31-37 of SNL, but the loudness of her performance can’t hide the fact that she can’t find her character’s core, which ultimately weakens the act. Wiig is usually excellent in dramatic roles, so this one comes as a surprise.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Allison Janney, Amber Chardae Robinson, Carol Burnett, Josh Lucas, Kaia Gerber, Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Leslie Bibb, Ricky Martin

Rating: TV-MA

If you've been following the bubbly personality that is Vanessa Bayer since her days in SNL, I Love That For You will come as a delight. It showcases the best of Bayer's abilities, which is to induce both hilarious cringe and endearing awe, and it features an ensemble that comes with its own strengths. Comic vet and fellow SNL alum Molly Shannon surprisingly delivers much of the show's emotional punch as she plays an aging host who longs to be seen as more than just the artificially happy persona she's required to be. Meanwhile, Jenifer Lewis plays the CEO whose no-nonsense girlbossness adds a much-needed comic acidity to the humor. 

In a show that largely satirizes the oversized artifice and pomp of the sales and showbiz industry, it matters that the leads are weighty enough to ground us through their journey. That's thankfully the case in I Love That For You, which amuses and affects in equal measure.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Ayden Mayeri, Jenifer Lewis, Matt Rogers, Molly Shannon, Paul James, Vanessa Bayer

Rating: TV-MA

Obliterated brings back the raunchy, yet epic ‘90s action through an inter-organization task force from the best of the best. From the team of Cobra Kai, it was expected to bring back some nostalgia, and it delivers with crazy, coked-up shenanigans with over-the-top explosions and great fight scenes in the neon-lit party city of Las Vegas. That being said, the actual story spreads thin across eight episodes, and the story beats are familiar if you’ve watched plenty of action films before, but it’s totally entertaining as they scramble around to get their wits together to be sober enough to fight old school Russian terrorists.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Actor: Alyson Gorske, C. Thomas Howell, Eugene Kim, Kimi Rutledge, Nick Zano, Paola Lázaro, Shelley Hennig, Terrence Terrell

Rating: TV-MA