But, yeah, it is difficult to narrow it down to a top 3.

Do you give extra points to movies that are funny while also delivering some sort of deeper message like a Groundhog Day or Coming to America? And which movies qualify as comedies? Should I only mention pure comedies? Or would something like Back to the Future qualify as well even though it's more of an adventure comedy?

And now, I'm suddenly reminded of a conversation we had on this topic a few years back about different movie genres.. lol
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Yeah, I remember talking about a continuum of pure comedy to comedic (other genre) to (other genre) comedy, and I liked that system.

Groundhog Day is a perfect example in my mind. It's not really a comedy in my mind. It's a movie that has a lot of funny stuff in it, but that's not the purpose of the movie. Yet somehow it's also funny enough to get on my list of great comedies.

I almost didn't put Coming to America on my list for a similar reason. If I think about the plot of Coming to America, it's not a comedy. It's a romance. But it's a romance told in a really funny style.

Same with Back To The Future. I actually think it's an action/adventure movie. I love the movie, and it's funny, but in my mind it's not a comedy.

So I think I actually penalize a movie in my comedy rankings if I think it serves another plot more than comedy. But sometimes it's also so funny that it gets on my top list anyway.
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OK, OK.. so, gun to my head, top 3 favorite comedy movies..

I'm goinggggg...

Trading Places
Friday
Dumb and Dumber
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Trading Places is a masterpiece of modern comedy. I still occasionally say something about the "GI Joe with the Kung Fu grip", even though no one gets the reference any more. I think most people would say that Coming to America was Eddie Murphy's peak, or maybe Beverly Hills Cop, but I think it's Trading Places.

I've never seen Friday. Looking at a plot synopsis, I can see why, because I'm typically turned off by plots that revolve around drugs. But hey, if Harold and Kumar can pull it off, I may have to give Friday a try. And I liked Chris Tucker.

I can appreciate Dumb and Dumber even if it's not near the top of my list. It's in the cateogry of those Leslie Nielson movies where the movie is 100 percent comedy with no attempt at being anything else. I think I prefer a little more meat on the plot bones.

It makes me realize that I have no Jim Carrey movies at the top of my list. He has a lot of movies that I've liked, but none that I've loved, other than maybe Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is a different animal.
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Yep, 100%. I had a similar issue with another on your list in The Hangover. I spent months hearing about how funny the movie was, best thing since sliced bread, yada yada. I also missed that one in theaters so the hype just continued to build.

I finally watched it on DVD and I'm like.. "... That's it?"

In fairness, that one actually has really grown on me since that moment. That's one I'll pretty much always turn to if I find myself channel surfing.

OK, lots of thoughts here:

I agree that Trading Places was the peak and it holds a special place in my heart. Just something about it. It's so perfect. Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop are classics in their own right. Hell, I also loved The Golden Child, Boomerang, and Life. 80s/90s Eddie Murphy is in the Hall of Fame, for sure.

So.. fair warning. Friday is definitely a "black comedy" and I don't mean that in the classic sense. I'm black myself, I grew up around black people so the humor from the culture is all good to me. I know it's just not everyone's bag of tea. At any rate, I think it's great, as are the sequels Next Friday and Friday After Next. Ridiculous plots, classic characters, big name actors, extremely quotable (you've probably heard the expression "Bye, Felicia" at some point within the last 5 years or so- that line came from the original Friday). It's got everything I look for in a comedy.

You're right about Dumb and Dumber. I'd generally give extra points for "more meat on the bones", but sometimes I just like to put on a movie and laugh and I'm not sure any movie does that better than Dumb and Dumber. That 90s Jim Carrey had a direct line to my funny bone. Ace Ventura, Liar Liar, The Mask, The Cable Guy- all great.
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Yeah, I was skirting that matter, but honestly it makes the movie a bigger risk if I didn't grow up in the culture to understand the underpinnings of the humor.

But this makes me laugh, because I wonder if it's part of why I like Napoleon Dynamite so much when you're meh on it.

You grew up in a black culture, and I grew up in a rural yokel culture. That's what Napoleon Dynamite is built on, so I really identify with it. Maybe I'm off base if you also grew up in a yokel culture, but there'a a whole lot of Napoleon Dynamite that I recognize from my youth, so the humor really resonates with me.
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More or less so than 'Black Knight'?

My buddy and I went and saw that in the theater and man, that was an experience. My friend and I were just laughing our asses off at these poor classically trained Shakespearian actors with their over the top received pronunciation accents just being the butt of all these god-awful Martin Lawrence jokes.
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Funny you mention it, my mom is actually white as the driven snow from Smalltownville, OH (her high school graduating class had like 16 people) and my dad's from DC so I dabble in both cultures.

Napoleon Dynamite definitely gave me more rural Iowa vibes than rural Ohio vibes. Sounds like a small difference but I feel like there is something to be said there.

I'm going to shoot straight with you, the Friday franchise probably won't be up your alley, but I will stand by my claim that they're very entertaining comedies and maybe your life will be a wee bit enriched having stuck your toe in the culture lol

Ha- have you never seen any of the Fridays, DJ? I'm shocked. I thought you were like mid-to-late 30s, figured that one would have been in your catalog.

I haven't seen Black Knight in years so it's tough to remember all of it, but the entire cast of Friday is either black or Hispanic. Like, they literally don't even leave the neighborhood during the movie so I don't think a white person gets a single second of screen time in that movie. Whereas, Black Knight is kind of the opposite based on my memory. It's basically a black dude telling jokes around a bunch of 1500s white folk.. so I guess I'd have to imagine Friday leans a little more into the black humor..? Though I will say that Chris Tucker's humor definitely seems to be a bit more mainstream than Martin Lawrence's so maybe it's the opposite.
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Now y'all have me wondering which comedies would be considered more "black humor" or more mainstream.

Eddie Murphy's career is a weird one. I think Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop are straight mainstream comedies, IMO. Coming to America and the Nutty Professor are mostly mainstream but lean a little more into the black humor. Life and Boomerang I'd say are definitely black comedies through and through.

Then the year 2000 hit and he switched gears to entirely family comedies.

Wild ride.
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Regarding Eddie Murphy, he's an interesting one. In Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop, his being black is used as a device to play up how different he is relative to other characters, but the movie isn't about him being black. He's just different. You could have put a white actor in those movies without changing the basic plot. Maybe some of the jokes would need to change a bit, but it's hard to separate out Eddie being unabashedly black from Eddie just being hilarious. So I agree that those are mainstream comedies.

I would actually argue that Coming to America is mainstream as well. If you used all white actors and had them coming from Lithuania or Moldova, I think the movie still stands. It was enhanced a little by them being from Africa just because it reinforced how different America was for them, but Crocodile Dundee kind of pulled off the same trick. I think maybe there was some unique black humor in that preacher or huckster scene and the hair gel plot device, but those weren't really central to the movie. For the most part I would say that it was a mainstream movie that just happened to be all black. What would you say were some black humor elements?

I didn't see Boomerang. I've seen snippets of the Nutty Professor, which seemed mainstream, but I didn't see the whole movie to make a call.

I would conclude that Eddie mostly does mainstream movies, but he uses (at least before he went the family movie route) his being black as a comedic tool very effectively. I don't know if some people might find that exploitive, and some of his early SNL stuff probably doesn't age well, but overall in his classic movies, he's just a funny guy who happens to be black and it often makes him a fish out of water.

So if I conclude that Eddie is, and always has been a mainstream comedian, then what is a "black movie"? That's a really good question.

I don't like this answer, but on first blush I think it would have to be set in a venue that seems somewhat unique to black people, and/or the plot would have to center around being black, and/or it would have to have dialogue that's more around "black humor" or black-centric culture. I don't know how to identify black-centric culture other than to say I recognize it when I see it.

Friday may be an example. Again, I haven't seen it, but it looks like it's set in a large urban area and revolves around a drug deal and threats. I don't have a polite way to say this, and I'm sure most black people don't live in that setting, but I don't know any white people who live in that setting. It's hard to put myself in the character's world.

It's weird to think about, because if I can place myself in Luke Skywalker's shoes in Star Wars, then I should be able to place myself in a black character's shoes in a movie that's set in a black community with black-centric humor and dialogue. Why is that harder for me?

I wonder if in some way it's because Luke Skywalker is so different that I set aside everything, but in a "black movie" everything is close enough to my existence that any differences are magnified. It's like traveling overseas. I went to India and everything was so different that I just rolled with it, but when I went to Australia it was sometimes harder because things were really close but just slightly enough off that it would put me off balance - odd spices in the pizza sauce, and people who were 20 percent more extroverted than I'm used to.

It makes me wonder how deep a difference is in a "black movie" versus a "white movie". Presumably there's a theme and perhaps a bigger message in most movies, which should be universal. So is it just the window dressing that makes a movie "black" - how the dialogue is written and spoken, and where the movie is set? Does being black in America lead to different reactions or different thinking within a plot? I think it's deeper than that, but I wonder if it's not a lot deeper.
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Don't forget Vampire in Brooklyn.
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No, I actually agree that Coming to America is more mainstream. I think it definitely did lean a bit more into the black humor from time to time. As you mention, the Soul Glow bits and the preacher/Randy Watson scene as well as the bits in the barbershop. Still, I'd say that one's like 80-90% mainstream comedy, which is probably why it's so beloved.

I would also agree that it's difficult for me to articulate what differentiates a black comedy from a.. erm, non-black comedy. Setting is a good one as you mention. Movies that take place in a predominantly black neighborhood like the Friday trilogy are prime candidates as well as a movie like The Barbershop, which takes place in a predominantly black barbershop obviously. Casting and target audience are probably the easiest markers. A movie like Soul Plane or Pootie Tang, the Madea movies, or Undercover Brother feature casts that are 90+% black. There is no doubt who those movies are catering to.

I do find your bit on being able to see yourself as Luke Skywalker a bit interesting. Like I mentioned, that's not something I have issues with given my background. I suppose I haven't encountered that issue as much since I don't have much experience with comedies from Hispanic or Asian cultures. I've watched a bit of the George Lopez show and seen Hispanic comedians talking about their fear of the chancla and blah blah blah. Perhaps I don't have issues with those because 1) I actually have spent a fair amount of time around those cultures (I live in Florida and appear to be some sort of Hispanic) and 2) the comedians I'm seeing are telling jokes that are watered down for a broader audience so I'm more likely to be able to relate..?

Interesting stuff to consider either way.

Whew. I haven't seen not a one of these. These appear to be all pre-1990s flicks, which would put them before my time.

How do you feel about the newer wave of comedies, say since 1990? I pegged you as a Christmas Vacation fan, for sure. Don't ask me why.

Hah, yeah, I was going to mention that one.

It's so dumb but I love it.
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The oldest movie on my list (Arthur) is from 1981. The most recent (Galaxy Quest) is from 1999.

Admittedly, I'm not a huge comedy fan, generally don't go to see comedies at the theater or go out of my way to watch them elsewhere. I don't typically go in for really stupid stuff (didn't care for Dumb and Dumber, for example) but there are exceptions.

You really should check some of these out, though. Particularly Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Ruthless People.
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So you're not a Christmas Vacation fan?

I feel like I don't even know you anymore!
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I'd recommend Dirty Rotten Scoundrels over Citizen Kane. Granted, I've never seen Citizen Kane, but there's no way it's as funny as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
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