• Other than the ball dropping at midnight, my favorite part of any year coming to a close are all the year-end lists. Best music. Best TV. Best moments. Most importantly though (at least for me), best movies.
I love seeing what pops up on critics’ lists and friends’ lists and where the two overlap. Pretty much everyone agreed on Everything Everywhere All At Once (who can dislike that instant classic?) and Barbarian but many were divided on biggies like Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis.
However, what I find most interesting is the oddities that appear on folks’ lists — that’s where they get their personality. It’s almost like a flex. “Oh, you loved George Clooney and Julia Roberts in Ticket To Paradise?” Suddenly, your list got interesting. I’m interested in what you have to say. Clearly, you didn’t copy-paste critics’ lists and sought out flicks that matched your taste rather than what everyone everywhere all at once claimed was great (heh heh, that’s a lil joke).
All that being said, I’d like to present my top 11 movies of the year (this may change quite a bit in a few months since there’s still so much to see):
11.) Bob’s Burgers: The Movie dir. Loren Bouchard, Bernard Derriman
10.) I Love My Dad dir. James Morosini
9.) Vengeance dir. BJ Novak
8.) The Lost City dir. Aaron and Adam Nee
7.) Glass Onion dir. Rian Johnson
6.) Spirited dir. Sean Anders
5.) Funny Pages dir. Owen Kline
4.) Everything Everywhere All At Once dir. The Daniels (putting it here to be interesting)
3.) Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers dir. Akiva Schaeffer
2.) Barbarian dir. Zach Cregger
1.) Marcel the Shell with Shoes On dir. Dean Fleischer Camp
As you may have noticed, all of these movies are comedies or comedy-adjacent.
In a time where the future of film appears to be bleak (heck, with the advent of ChatGPT, writing appears to be on the way out too; just today, Anna Paone told me there was AI to help with resumes too), and comedies have long since been considered almost guaranteed box office , quite a few films that can be classified as comedies were miraculously released in 2022.
And me, being the nerd I am, I compiled a big ol’ list of all the comedy films that hit theaters and streamers over the past year categorized by sub-genres to show a) the genre is alive and well (for now) and b) everything you may have missed and may want to check out (it’s also very possible you saw all of this on Twitter. If you did, it’s the same stuff!).
Enjoy!
Buzzy indie
Funny Pages
I Love My Dad
Cha Cha Real Smooth
Sharp Stick
Not Okay
On The Count of Three
Windfall
Emergency
Absurd and artsy with long titles
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Triangle of Sadness
Marcel The Shell with Shoes on
Three Thousand Years of Longing
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
The Sky Is Everywhere
Self-Aware Reboots
Confess, Fletch
Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers
Father of the Bride
The Munsters
Scream
Cheaper By The Dozen
Showbiz parodies
The Bubble
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent
The Valet
Smart high school comedies
Senior Year
Honor Society
Do Revenge
Hello, Goodbye, And Everything In Between
Moonshot
Better Nate Than Ever
Darby and the Dead
Metal Lords
Crush
Sneakerella
Anything’s Possible
Rosaline
Murder mystery satires
Glass Onion
Vengeance
The Menu
See How They Run
Chilling yet funny horror films
Nope
Barbarian
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Fresh
The Curse of Bridge Hollow (this isn't chilling but I threw it in as a courtesy)
Romcoms
Bros
Marry Me
Ticket To Paradise
The Lost City
Meet Cute
I Want You Back
Spin Me Round
Fire Island
The People We Hate At The Wedding
Spoiler Alert
7 Days
Adult animated show jumps to features
Bob’s Burger Movie
Beavis and Butthead
South Park The Streaming Wars
South Park The Streaming Wars 2
Inspirational sports dramedies
Hustle
Home Team
1Up
Celebrity vanity projects
Good Mourning
Easter Sunday
Studio 666
Comedic sci-fi
The Adam Project
Dual
Something In The Dirt
BigBug
Oscar fare with comedic elements
Armageddon Time
White Noise
Babylon
Amsterdam
(Haven't seen any of these but reviews seem to hint at these movies being funnyish- feel free to roast me for this one)
Historical nostalgia
Banshees of Inisherin
Cyrano
Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris
Sequels
Jackass Forever
Clerks III
A Madea Homecoming
Hocus Pocus 2
Disenchanted
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Old school action comedies
Bullet Train
Day Shift
Secret Headquarters
Family Friendly animation
Lightyear
Turning Red
Strange World
Night At The Museum
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid
League Of Super Pets
Luck
Wendell and Wild
Marmaduke
Bad Guys
Minions
Puss In Boots
Paws Of Fury
Lyle Lyle Crocodile
Hotel Transylvania
Ice Age Adventure of Buck Wild
TMNT
Family friendly live action
Matilda The Musical
Catherine Called Birdy
Dog
Christmas
Spirited
A Christmas Story Christmas
Something From Tiffany's
The Noel Diary
Violent Night
Falling For Christmas
Middle of the road boomer feel good films
A Man Called Otto
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande
The Greatest Beer Run Ever
Mack and Rita
Jerry and Marge Go Large
The Good House
Sam and Kate
Didn't make much noise
The Estate
Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul
Kevin Hart starrers
The Man From Toronto
Me Time
Religious
Family Camp
Documentary
Stutz
If you made it this far, tell me if I missed anything or what you liked this year. Or what you hated. Or what I mis-genre’d. Or if Tár is a satire. I haven’t seen it.
Also, happy new year too
