The 21 Best Comedies So Far This Century

“Sideways” brought the world of wine into comedy with the story of two friends, Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church), who go on a last-hurrah wine country trip before Jack gets married. Jack ends up cheating on his fiancée with a woman they meet, Stephanie (Sandra Oh), while Miles gets to know Stephanie’s friend, Maya (Virginia Madsen). The film won an Oscar for Best Writing, along with a massive amount of additional awards and nominations.

In “Superbad”, three teenagers Seth (Jonah Hill), Evan (Michael Cera), and Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) engage in a series of misadventures in an attempt to secure alcohol for a big, upcoming high school party, hoping to improve their chances of having sex before leaving for college. Fogell, who rebrands himself as “McLovin” during a botched fake ID fiasco, falls under the care of two cops (Bill Hader and Seth Rogen). Nothing goes according to plan, and hilarity ensues.

Greta Gerwig’s solo directorial debut “Lady Bird” is an indie coming-of-age comedy, loosely inspired by Gerwig’s life growing up in Sacramento, California. The film explores the relationship between Christine, known as “Lady Bird” (Saoirse Ronan), and her mother Marion (Laurie Metcalf). The critically acclaimed film won a number of awards, including Golden Globe Awards for Best Picture, and Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy).

Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman wrote “Adaptation,” a comedy about Kaufman’s own experience attempting to adapt a book called “The Orchid Thief”. The film, directed by Spike Jonze, follows a depressed screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) who is attempting to adapt a novel by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) called “The Orchid Thief.” Kaufman is tormented by his fictional twin brother Donald (Nicolas Cage), and the lives of the characters interweave in a dark, hilarious manner.

“Best in Show” leans into the humor already present in a milieu that can’t take itself all too seriously: the world of show dogs. With an all-star, comedic cast, “Best in Show” explores the lives of Gerry and Cookie Fleck (Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara), Meg and Hamilton Swan (Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock), Sherri Ann (Jennifer Coolidge), Harlan Pepper (Christopher Guest) and others as they compete with their glamorous show dogs to win best in show. The film won an AFI Award, an American Comedy Award, a British Comedy Award, and a Canadian Comedy Award.