Hi all. In June the Wickeds are dreaming of Hollywood and talking about some of our favorite movies.
Sometimes we just need to laugh, and I mean belly laugh. When laughter is what you seek, what is your go-to favorite movies and why?
Jessie: I love A Fish Called Wanda. I always adore movies featuring John Cleese and his performance as a straight-laced solicitor whose life takes an exciting turn when he falls for Jamie Lee Curtis never fails to make me laugh.
Edith: I’ll vote for just about any Marx Brothers movie: “Night at the Opera,” “Day at the Races,” you name it. Also, and here’s another nod to John Cleese, Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” really cracks me up. When his mother says, “‘E’s not the Messiah, ‘e’s just a very nau’y [naughty] boy!” When the people are standing so far back they can’t hear him and they think he says, “Blessed are the cheesemakers.” When he’s running from his followers and loses a sandal and they stop and declare, “The shoe is the sign!” And on and on.
Liz: Ok, I’m really behind in my movie watching, so I have to go back to the 80s (but really, isn’t everything awesome from the 80s??) – “Adventures in Babysitting” with Elizabeth Shue. OMG, that movie never fails to crack me up, even today if I catch bits of it in reruns. It’s about a girl who gets stood up by her boyfriend on a Saturday night, so instead she goes to babysit for a family with a young daughter and a teenage boy who has a crush on her. But her best friend decides to run away from home and gets stranded at the bus station in downtown Chicago, so she has to go pick her up. And of course, everything that can go wrong…it’s freakin hilarious.
Barb: I loved A Fish Called Wanda and Adventures in Babysitting. One of my fondest memories is of seeing It’s a Mad Mad World in a theater in Manhattan with my grandparents. My little brother laughed so hard he got wedged between his seat and its back and had to be rescued by an usher. Now that’s a comedy. Just to prove that the Wickeds have laughed during the twenty-first century, I really loved 40 Year Old Virgin, Crazy Stupid Love, and Mean Girls.
Sherry: I loved Crazy Stupid Love and Mean Girls too, Barb. First, my oldest one — Young Frankenstein with Gene Wilder and Madeline Kahn. I can still recite lines from that movie. Jump ahead a decade to Jumpin’ Jack Flash with Whoopie Goldberg. The first 3/4 quarters of that movie are so funny, it makes me chuckle to think about it. And the end is sweet and romantic. I noticed when I looked to see what year it came out it’s called a action/thriller. It has elements of that too. My third pick is Saving Grace (2000) with Brenda Blethyn and Craig Ferguson. The blurb on IMDb says: A small-town English widow, facing financial troubles after her husband’s suicide, turns to agriculture of an illegal kind. This wouldn’t usually be my thing, but oh, my!
Julie: I love, love, love to laugh. In addition to many of these (A Fish Called Wanda–I haven’t seen that for years!) I have to add two Rob Reiner movies, Spinal Tap and The Sure Thing. I’d add When Harry Met Sally, but that isn’t belly laughs. Also, have to call out the genius that is Christopher Guest–Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind. PS, Barb, I love the story of your brother laughing that hard.
Readers: What are your go-to movies when you really need a laugh?
“Galaxy Quest” makes me laugh no matter how many times I see it. And I love any comedy staring Meg Ryan.
And Spaceballs–speaking of space movies. When he was young, my son could recite whole scenes.
Arsenic and Old Lace – an oldie but a goodie.
Such a goodie!
Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward in Tremors…I know it isn’t supposed to be funny but….
Hmm! I remember the movie, but I must check this out.
I enjoy this one too.
We watch “Young Frankenstein” every New Year’s and laugh all the time. It may be awful to admit it, but I also laugh at “Blazing Saddles.”
Grace, I love “Galaxy Quest.”
“Quigley Down Under,” although I don’t think it’s technically comedy – but it has some funny moments.
Hey, practically the entire Mel Brooks oeuvre will make you laugh.
Agree!
Liz: My wife was just talking about Adventures in Babysitting last week! She loves that movie and is looking forward to Dash seeing it too. Movie night ahead!
That scene, where they’re on the skyscraper. Yikes!
Oh I loved Adventures in Babysitting.
I’m not much of a movie goer, but Caddy Shack and Blazing Saddles come to mind first. Anything by Monty Python or Gene Wilder. The wackier, the better.
How could Caddy Shack not have come up until now?
What About Bob, Blazing Saddles, Analyze This, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. . .
What About Bob? Great addition!
Stripes with Bill Murray and Hello Dolly with Barbra Streisand.
Love Stripes. I don’t think of Hello Dolly as a classic comedy, but come to think of it…
Weekend At Bernie’s never fails to get me laughing, certain scenes in A Christmas Story can do the trick. Analyze This, most anything with Billy Crystal. Gosh, I could go on and on…
Weekend at Bernies–Yes! And Analyze this. Love Billy Crystal.
Mine are: 9 to 5; The First Wives Club; Parenthood; Arthur (Dudley Moore version). Those movies make me laugh every time.
Parenthood is one of my favorite movies ever. I’ve quoted that Jason Robards speech to Steve Martin (basically, I love your wayward adult brother exactly the same way you love your little kids, it doesn’t change) to people dozens of times.
We’ve got the Mel Brooks box set so if we need to laugh we usually put on one of those.
My all time favorite funny movie is Clue. It doesn’t matter which ending because they’re all hysterical. Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, and Eileen Brennan are so on point.
The whole family adores it and we watch it several times a year but a few years ago we started declaring the Saturday before Halloween Clueoween. We watch the movie, we play the game, and we just have a silly evening.
The cast of Clue is amazing. How could that combination of actors not be terrific?
Airplane still makes me laugh! I also love Young Frankenstein, Caddyshacks, and Blazing Saddles. Another movie that makes me just thinking about it is What’s Up, Doc? with Streisand and Ryan O’Neal.
Can’t believe we got so far down the list before Airplane came up. “Looks like I picked the wrong day to give up…”
The first movie that sprang to mind is Mad World. So funny. Also have to second Galaxy Quest and Clue. Then there’s another mystery spoof – Murder by Death. That one is very funny as well.
And outside the box pick is The Court Jester. My review of it (from 7 years ago) popped up on Facebook today. I’ve just seen it once, but I thought it was great. My friend and I were laughing the entire way through. His wife and her friend were more amused at us than the movie, I think.
And you can’t help but laugh at some of the lines in The Princess Bride.
Rodents of unusual size — cracks me up every time!
I love Murder by Death!
Soapdish is always a good choice along with Young Frankenstein and Airplane. As a person who grew up watching soaps with my Mom I really enjoy Soapdish. My Dad used to roll his eyes when he’d hear Mom and me talking about them. Then after he retired he started coming in the house for lunch when As the World Turns was on. There are several others mentioned above that I enjoy as well.
It’s interesting how many of these really funny movies are send-ups of popular genres of the time.
One of my favorite funny movies is “Three Men And A Baby”. It always gets some guffaws from me. I’m also partial to the old screwball comedies, especially the Tracy/Hepburn movies. “The Long, Long Trailer” with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and a couple of Red Skelton movies “The Yellow Cab Man” and “The Fuller Brush Man” always leave me in stitches. And of course, any Mel Brooks movie.
Same era, I love the Sold Gold Cadillac, but maybe it’s a romantic comedy?
High Anxiety and Money Pit crack me up
Both are so funny!
The Money Pit. I have seen it (so many times) and lived it.
Raising Arizona. Parts of that movie made me laugh until I felt physically ill.
I have got to watch that one of these days!
I agree. Raising Arizona is hysterical.