The Ten Best Movies You Never Saw

In the spring a young man's fancy turns to love. But in the winter-it's movies, movies movies! If you're in the mood for something romantic, intellectual and high-brow-you're in the wrong place. But, if you like goofy parodies, spoofs, slapstick comedies featuring 80's icons or classic British comedy--the following list of the top ten little-known comedy movies will help you reach comedy-movie nirvana.

Scavenger Hunt

Any movie with The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Face (Dirk Benedict from the A-Team) and Scatman Cruthers is bound to be a cult hit. Scavenger Hunt is slapstick comedy at its best-an eclectic group of goofballs on a treasure hunt where the winner inherits millions.

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is best summed up by the commentary on the DVD: "We set out to make a spoof of a B-movie and when we were done we realized-we'd just made a B-movie." Besides, any movie with the word "Rowr" in it has to be awesome. Think: the Outer Limits meets Napoleon Dynamite and you'll have an idea what this movie is all about. I'd sum up the plot but it's really not important-it's the intentionally poor lines, over-the-top acting and horrid special effects that make this movie great.

Three Amigos

Chevy Chase, Martin Short and Steve Martin star in this classic tale of gun-slinging south of the border. Things get really good when El Guapo (which, in a perfect twist of irony, means "handsome" in Spanish) gets involved. Singing bushes, invisible horsemen and classic comedy from three very funny guys-Three Amigos is definitely worth watching.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a movie best watched late at night when one is either very tired or very drunk. I have never seen this movie with all of my cognitive abilities functioning at full capacity but what I remember of it was very funny.

Strange Brew

A Canadian version of Hamlet where every plot twist involves beer. A maniacal brewmeister decides to take over the world and Bob and Doug McKenzie (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas) are the only two who can stop him. Hey, hoser-Strange Brew is classic comedy, eh?

Canadian Bacon

I believe Canadian Bacon is the only movie written and directed by Michael Moore where the evil villain is not played by George W. Bush. John Candy, Rhea Perlman (from Cheers) and Alan Alda (from MASH) star in this funny satire of-no surprise here-American warmongering.

The Gods Must be Crazy

You've got to stick through the first fifteen minutes. The first time I saw The Gods Must Be Crazy I was certain someone had accidentally stuck a National Geographic DVD into the wrong case. While it starts slowly, it crescendos into a hilarious fish-out-of-water tale about a Kalahari bushmen who wants nothing more than to get rid of a coke bottle.

Spaceballs

Star Wars as done by Mel Brooks. Casting Rick Moranis as Lord Dark Helmet was the single most important piece of artistic work we've received from the 80's. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration but, watching Rick Moranis wander around with a giant helmet that weighs more than he does is comedic perfection. Spaceballs is a classic Mel Brooks spoof.

Duck Soup

Every movie ever made by the Marx Brothers should be on this list. If you like slapstick humor, or mimes, or classic one-liners, you'll love Duck Soup. It's virtually impossible to summarize any of the zany antics in this movie. You'll most likely need to watch this several times to really appreciate all of the great comedy and one-liners.

Noises Off

This movie is adapted from the play by Michael Frayn and features a long list of well-known stars such as: Michael Caine, Carol Burnette, John Ritter and Nicollette Sheridan. Noises Off is a hilarious movie about a play-about a play. We get to follow the antics of the entire troupe from city to city-each showing getting more and more hilarious.

Oscar

As far as I know, this is Sylvester Stallone's only intentional foray into comedy (I think Rhinestone was supposed to be a comedy but it wasn't funny so that doesn't count). Oscar was the lucky recipient of several Razzie nominations but in truth-it's a pretty funny movie. If you can overlook Sly's character-actor reputation you'll probably enjoy it.