
If there was ever a time when we needed comedy films to relieve us from stress, it is now.
With lockdowns imposed across much of the U.S. beginning in March to curb the spread of COVID-19, many Americans have been in isolation for some time, away from loved ones, without a job, and suffering financial hardship. The country has persevered, and most of the nation’s economy is gradually reopening. Here’s when every state plans to reopen after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
As the country continues to reopen, people are still encouraged to stay home and practice social distancing when they are out. To help ease the tension, 24/7 Tempo has compiled a list of the best comedy movies available to stream right now based on user and critic ratings on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and Rotten Tomatoes.
These comedies can be streamed on such services such as Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Vudu, Apple iTunes, and Google Play Movies. Among the movies on our list are classics such as “ Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964),” concert films from comedians such as Richard Pryor, and delights from Bollywood like “Monsoon Wedding.” For other kinds of escapist fare that are more action-packed, these are the best action movies to stream this week.
To determine the best comedies that are now available for streaming, 24/7 Tempo identified all of the movies classified as “comedy” by the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) that are available for streaming — based on data from website JustWatch. We then created an index based on each film’s Rotten Tomatoes average critic rating, Rotten Tomatoes average audience rating, and IMDb average user rating. Movies were required to have at least 4,000 user votes on IMDb and have been originally released no earlier than 1950 to encourage cultural relevance.
We averaged the user ratings from Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb and weighted by the number of votes for each. The combined user rating was then averaged with the Rotten Tomatoes critic rating. Editorial discretion was then applied to include or omit titles that we felt did not match the classification of a romantic comedy movie or that deserved inclusion based on other metrics such as cult status or reputation.
Sponsored: Find a Qualified Financial Advisor
Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to 3 fiduciary financial advisors in your area in 5 minutes. Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests. If you’re ready to be matched with local advisors that can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.