Funniest Movies

Last night, I was talking to my friend Rinda about favorite funny movies of all time. I always hesitate to tell people "You must see this movie! It's hilarious!" because humor, more than almost anything else in life, is so subjective. Something I think is fall-down -laugh-aloud you might think is the dumbest thing you've ever seen. This isn't helped by the fact that maybe I have an odd sense of humor. I'm not much for slapstick usually, or potty humor (though, honestly, who doesn't think that scene from Blazing Saddles is funny???). I've discovered that what I really love is something that seems very silly and goofy, but has something smart and even biting underneath. Or something just plain silly. So, here are some of my favorites:

This is Spinal Tap (just like I always cry at the end of Breakfast at Tiffanys, even though I've seen that movie 50,305 times--hey, it's raining, and "Moon River" is playing, and Audrey Hepburn can't find the cat!--so I always laugh at the "Stonehenge" scene in this movie)

In the same "mockumentary" vein, Waiting for Guffman and Best In Show ("We both love soup...")

Office Space (hasn't everyone had a boss like that? "Ummm--yeaaahh..." And Jennifer Aniston flipping off the entire TGIFridays)

The Christmas Story (IMO, the primo Christmas movie. My family and I watch it every year, and can quote the whole movie. I even bought my dad a miniature version of the lamp last year. It's REALLY ugly)

O brother, where art thou? (--"I am the only daddy you got! I'm the damn paterfamilas" --"But you ain't bona fide!" I've often wished I could just say to that to a bad date and have that be the end of it.)

Zoolander (at least the first half hour or so, and then the "walk off". The spectacle of Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson as male models is priceless, until the movie devolves into that assasination plot that is too silly even for me)

And I have an enormous love for '30s screwball comedies. I've often wished life could be like that all the time, fabulous clothes, great repartee, "hilarious consequences," and Cary Grant. Some favorites--Bringing Up Baby, The Awful Truth ("I wouldn't go on living with you if you were dipped in platinum!"), My Man Godfrey, Ninotchka

And my very favorite funny movie EVER is Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It's the epitome of the "silly but smart" idea (warning--these quotes are from memory, geek that I am, and may not be totally accurate):

King Arthur--"The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shining samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king.
Dennis the peasant--"Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony...you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you"

Or the classic French soldiers! "You don't frighten us, English pig dogs! Go and boil your bottoms, you sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur king, you and all your silly English k-nig-hts. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.
Sir Galahad--"Is there someone else up there we can talk to?"
Frenchman--"No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time."

I could go on all day, but I won't. Aren't you glad? :) What are some of your own favorite funny movies? I need to add to my list...