The 10 Best Comedies of the 00s

In doing an article where I pick the ten best comedies of the last decade I know I am opening myself up for attack, insults or just plain stares of wonderment. But as I have always said I choose not to argue about comedies with fellow moviegoers because it is so subjective. If I find something funny and you don't, there isn't any argument I can give to make you see why I see it is funny. The same goes the other way.

Fans of my writing will not be surprised to learn that I am not an Adam Sandler fan. I am not a member of his fan club nor am I a member past due. I simply feel that Sandler's humor is sophomoric and beneath his obvious talents. He tends to make movies that are more conversation pieces for a group of guys who go out, get drunk and then start telling those silly stories where each listener is in stitches before the punchline. Sandler always plays characters less intelligent than he obviously is thus appearing to be performing the character instead of naturally being the character.

In this ten best list you will not see an Adam Sandler film. Try and hope as I might I don't expect to see one in the next decade or the decade after that. His movies make loads of money thus explaining why SAT scores deteriorate every year. Sandler's one successful comedy came from working with a hugely talented director (Judd Apatow) working from a script he had nothing to do with while playing a real character and not an idiot. The film was Funny People and Sandler was good in it but a strong director handled him. I want to see Sandler successful as he continues to mostly go it alone.

Speaking of Judd Apatow, he must be credited with helping to make the film comedy a true delight again. Whether he was directing (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People) or producing (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Superbad, Observe and Report, I Love You, Man), Apatow has become the decade's closest descendent to the great works of Elaine May, Woody Allen and Mel Brooks. Even when Apatow is not involved these comedies have included cast members he brought to light (Paul Rudd, Jason Segal, Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill among others) and the Apatow touch is ever present.

The only other director to consistently make good comedies in the decade was Christopher Guest, who continued to make his mockumentaries to great success.

Now it is time to list my ten favorite comedies of the last decade. If you disagree then expect I would probably disagree with you as well. And if you don't see a certain movie on the list it may have just missed the list but is one I am still fond of. I hope if you haven't seen some of these movies you will take a chance on them and may your enjoyment mirror mine.

10) KNOCKED UP - Judd Apatow's second feature film is the story of a woman (Katherine Heigl) who, after a night of drinking, becomes pregnant by an unemployed pothead (Seth Rogan) with no positive outlook on life save for his future website which marks the moment in each of film of every nude scene. Repulsed at first, the woman decides to try and make a go of it with the slob while getting support from her sister. This is an adult comedy that is equally silly, funny and even quite moving in its final act. It's not a perfect film, much like all of Apatow's films it runs too long and tries to cover too many sub plots and characters, but in the end is a very winning film.

9) THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN - And this happens to be Judd Apatow's directorial debut that made Steve Carell a star. In it Carell plays the title character that falls in love with Catherine Keener while his friends at work try to get his title changed from virgin. This is a vulgar, filthy and incredibly hysterical movie that even includes a riotous musical number of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In.

8) SHAUN OF THE DEAD - I was totally amazed that director Edgar Wright was able to pull off a truly funny movie mixed in with horror and violence. In fact, the more I have watched it the funnier it has become. Credit not only goes to Wright but to co-writers and co-stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. In the film Pegg plays Shaun, recently broke up from the love of his life that soon realizes that zombies are taking over and looks to become the unlikeliest of heroes. Pegg has a way of delivering off handed comments that come off as incredibly funny. I didn't think it could be done but what we have here is a truly violent and suspenseful horror movie mixed in with wicked black humor. Perhaps it is the subject matter because last year's Zombieland pulled off the same trick, though not quite as successfully as this film.

7) BEST IN SHOW - Christopher Guest's best mockumentary of the decade was the story of several people who all enter their dogs in the coveted best in show contest. We get hilarious performances from Guest, Catherine O'Hara, Michael McKean, Eugene Levy and many others but the real scene-stealer is Fred Willard as the announcer of the best in show for its television broadcast. Guest and company are in top form here as Guest has created his best film since This Is Spinal Tap.

6) BORAT - Sasha Baron Cohen became an international superstar with the decades most offensive and disgusting comedy that also happens to be extremely funny. Cohen's title character comes to New York for life in America and (supposedly) interacts with people unaware there is a cameraman taping everything whilst Cohen does his best to disrupt these people's lives or beliefs or whatever he can that will upset and/or offend them. This film is shameless in its obtrusive manner but never apologizes for offending its audience. This is not a film for children but open-minded adults should thoroughly enjoy it.

5) MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING - This was the little movie that could when it was first released. Nia Vardalos wrote and starred as a Greek woman trying to break free from her stringent parents when she falls in love with a WASP. This was a tender, touching and very funny little film that turned into a blockbuster hit because people of all nationalities could relate to its characters. Vardalos proved to be a likeable leading lady with a witty touch of her pen but she has failed to follow this film up with another hit. Still this film is hard to beat and is the perfect film for couples to watch and enjoy together.

4) LOVE, ACTUALLY - The directorial debut of British writer Richard (Four Weddings and a Funeral) Curtis is this terrific, multi-character comedy about the lives and loves of many people in London during the Christmas season. Curtis spends a good deal of time with each character so we get to know and like them all and the film evokes a great amount of humor with some tender moments and even a few moments of sadness. Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley and Rowan Atkinson head the terrific cast. Curtis's script seems deceptively simple but multiple viewings make one realize how well structured the whole thing really is. This is a film to curl up to and watch on a cold night the week of Christmas to get the best feel of it but the film is son wonderful it can be watched and enjoyed any time. This is the one film that grew on me more and more in the decade.

3)SIDEWAYS - Alexander Payne's funny but also serious look at friendship and love stars the terrific Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church as old college friends who spend a week together touring wine communities and playing golf as a last hurrah before Church gets married. Along the way the two meet two women and while Church uses his to have a quick fling, Giamatti truly falls in love with a waitress (Virginia Madsen) who seems interested in his tastes in wine. Director Payne and Jim Taylor's Oscar winning script is perceptive, silly, dramatic and downright funny and director Payne is capable enough not to overload the film with too much of one emotion and let it play out naturally. The performances are all terrific though Church and Madsen were the only Oscar nominees in the cast. Giamatti, however, while being robbed of a nomination was still brought to prominence and rightly so.

2) BAD SANTA - I am a sucker for black comedy because the really good ones are dark and creepy but also very funny. Bad Santa, for me, is one of the best black comedies I have seen in the last twenty-five years and that's not an easy thing to achieve, which is why there aren't many good black comedies out there. Think about how hard it is to take dark subject matter and make it funny. Director Terry Zwigoff pulls it off and then some in this story of two crooks who pose as a department store Santa and his elf to pull off a huge mall heist on Christmas Eve. The "bad Santa" is played to perfection by Billy Bob Thornton as a drunk who has no patience for kids, which makes him perfect as a department store Santa. Soon a heavyset kid who is bullied by everyone befriends him. Thornton takes pity when he sees the huge house he lives in that is supervised by a near catatonic grandmother (Cloris Leachman). Also on hand is Lauren Graham as a bartender with an odd Santa fetish who falls for Thornton, Bernie Mac as the mall security that soon is aware of the robbery plans and John Ritter (in his last role) as the meek mall manager. The film is not perfect. Thornton's excessive public urination goes a bit overboard and the idea he would last so long on the job particularly as drunk as he always is seems far-fetched but you just have to go with it, especially since some of Thornton's best lines occur to children when he is drunk. I think this a superb comedy and should be a staple for any movie lover to watch at Christmas time. It makes for a perfect counterpoint to films like It's A Wonderful Life, White Christmas, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Home Alone and Miracle on 34^th Street.

1) FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL - For me no movie made me laugh harder, louder or more often than Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a would be romantic comedy with a much harder edge to it. As the film opens television actress Sarah Marshall breaks up with her composer boyfriend (Jason Segal, who also wrote the script). He has been in a rut. He is writing a puppet show for kids that happens to be a musical about Dracula. He can't get over losing Sarah and is convinced to go to Hawaii to get away from it all. He checks into a resort only to run into Sarah with her new boyfriend, a pompous British rock star. The film then follows how they try to deal with one another in the presence of each other. Segal's character falls for the hotel desk clerk (Mila Kunis) while still trying to grapple with the breakup. The film works on so many levels that most comedies fail at. Here the characters are real and believable and funny. Even the smallest of characters is memorable and how often can you say that about any movie? For me the funniest and most memorable character is the rock star that is totally oblivious to class or honor. Each scene is rewarding and funny in its own way and is a true triumph for everyone involved, especially Segal who created the brilliant script and is terrific in the lead. Naming Forgetting Sarah Marshall as the funniest film of the decade was a no brainer for me.