Top Ten Comedy Films for Baby Boomers 50 Years Old

There are just too too many funny films made to single out a few, but we have come up with our top ten list of laugh getting flicks for the over 50 set. Stay tuned.

10. Animal House (1978) Yea, you laughed, we saw you, yes we did. This silly sophomoric flick has many laughs in it, no matter what your favorite brand of humor. The late John Belushi was hilarious in this frat house goes to the extreme comedy. It seems as if we all knew at least one character we could relate to. A 1970's take on 1960's sorority and fraternity life was absurd and ridiculous but also very very funny. If you were ever on secret double probation you will laugh even harder. This show spawned a generation of films and tv shows in the same genre but none ever matched the success of this classic original.

9. Airplane. (1980). Well I never thought I would write an article mentioning Robert Hays, but then who would have thought that the creative genuises behind Airplane would come up with such a keeper After Airports 1. 2. and 3., Towering Inferno, and the Poseidon Adventure it was time for a crack pot view of dramatic disaster movies and this is it. I think the cameos and small roles are a hoot especially Barbara Billingsley (the mom from Leave It To Beaver) speaking jive. It is silly but it made us laugh.

8. M.A.S.H. (1970). Robert Altman films are usually full of silly bits and pieces that leave you wondering long after,but this masterpiece (and few comedies are rated so high) is brilliant with every scene and every character. The characters, after all, make the show and this show is sublime in its irreverent look at the Korean War. This flick is the father of the incredibly successful television series of the same name. Thought provoking, sensitive and silly all at the same time.

7. Tootsie (1982). You never see this movie rerun on television and I think that is because it is just too well made a film to stand up to edits and commercials. Dustin Hoffman is always fabulous in any role he plays but in this flick he is amazing and over the top as a struggling actor who snags a daytime soap role as a woman. Jessica Lange won an oscar as supporting actress,but it is Hoffman who steals his own movie. Great supporting work by Bill Murray, Teri Garr, and Dabney Coleman.

6. This is Spinal Tap (1984) This was not a film I thought I would like when it came out but it does get better and better year after year. A film about a documentary about the world's loudest rock group. The cast includes Rob
Reiner, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and Bruno Kirby. Some of these guys are still playing together in the original band and making outrageous movies still like A Mighty Wind and Best In Show.

5. Big (1988). Penny Marshall directed and Tom Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins starred in this screwball comedy for the 80's about a little boy who wishes he were grown up and then gets his wish. If you don't laugh at the party scene with Hanks in an outgrageously inappropriate tuxedo sampling caviar you won't laugh at much will you?

4. Moonstruck (1987). Funny even if you are not Italian, but very funny if you are. Cher as a young widow about to remarry and meeting her soon to be brother in law. Even if you are not a Cher fan, you will love her in this role. Rarely does Nic Cage do comedy well, but in Moonstruck he aquits himself rather nicely. A superb supporting cast includes Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia, and Danny Aiello. Best scenes are those with the "old man" (grandfather) and his dogs.

3. The War of the Roses (1989). Yikes, the Roses decide to divorce and all mayhem breaks loose. The perfect
film for Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner after they made two romantic comedies together and showed us what great on film chemistry they have. I know it is hard to laugh at someone else's misfortune but this time you just can't help yourself. The Roses go at each other with gusto and you get to see first hand how quickly and powerfully love can change to hate. Or is that just passion?

2. My Cousin Vinny (1992). Two college students on a cross country trip suffer from a case of mistaken identity and are incarcerated. One of the kids calls upon his cousin, a recent law school graduate for help. Vinny is none other than Joe Pesci who arrives in the southern courthouse with about as much knowledge about southern ways as he does the law. Accompanying Vinny is his fiance, Lisa. Long on stereotypes (both southern and NY Italian) but also long on laughs. Marisa Tomei won an academy award for her performance and her biological clock ticking scene is a film classic for all time.

1. National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) This film and all the others that followed in the Vacation franchise, captured the humor of a certain generation of people and those happen to be people over 50 (my generation). Chevy Chase is the ultimate Dad trying to make everything go well just when he is at the threshold of hell. His family does so love him, in spite of all the mayhem and mix ups. A wonderfuly spirited classic that can't be matched. Vacation films that followed were just as good.

I omitted all Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and Monty Python films, not because I thought they weren't funny but because they belong in their own class. Or several classes for that matter. Hilarious films all of them but a different genre from the rest.