Do you need a good laugh? Find the best comedies on Netflix here
It’s 2021, so we think it’s safe to say you might need a good laugh. As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, the U.S. is a cavalcade of mass shootings, police murders, and general dystopia as the world struggles to adapt to a society rapidly changing at a rate it can barely keep up with. Yuck.
It’s almost impossible to ignore the tragedies facing the world today, as it seems every time we open our phones there’s some new trauma to be had. As such, there’s never been a better time to bust open a great comedy.
Comedy movies are hard to pull off, as the funny section of nearly every streaming platform is a mess of underwhelming stories providing no reaction beyond a smirk. However, we’ve gathered some of the best comedies on Netflix that’ll at least give you some chuckles, if not some knee-slapping laughs. Hopefully, if even for a moment, they’ll make you forget about what new horror awaits on your feed.
Bad Trip
Eric Andre’s Bad Trip is both the latest & greatest comedy on Netflix. The film got pushed back amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but finally officially dropped in late March 2021.
The film takes real-life pranks and weaves them into a loose script ala Borat, and is seemingly heavily influenced by the quintessential buddy road trip movie Dumb and Dumber.
The pranks in Bad Trip are hilarious, and there’s no doubt if the film was released on a large scale in theaters, movie houses would have erupted with screams, groans, and cackling hyena laughs.
The magic in Bad Trip comes when the film takes formulaic comedy movie sequences, like when two main characters are making up after an argument, and puts them amid real life crowds on the bus, in the mall, or in various bars & restaurants in possibly the last prank movie of its kind pre-COVID-19. Not only is Bad Trip unique & hilarious, but also it’s one of the best comedies on Netflix.
Crazy Stupid Love
Crazy Stupid Love may not be the funniest comedy of its time, but the movie is one of the sturdiest & best comedies on Netflix. Is it just us, or is a sincere comedy just harder to buy in the streaming age when content is pumped out at breakneck speed throughout the year?
Crazy Stupid Love is funny, using the talents of one of America’s greatest comedic actors of the past two decades with Steve Carrell. However, the real value of Crazy Stupid Love lies in its sincerity; the film somehow makes even the grumpiest viewer’s heartstrings get a tug. Furthermore, Crazy Stupid Love is light as a feather, and doesn’t take long to have a new fan start press play again for a re-watch.
Superbad
Superbad is both one of the funniest films and one of the best comedies on Netflix. Superbad dropped in 2007 and introduced audiences to the improv-heavy brand of Apatow Rogan humor which would dominate the comedy film market for the following several years in Hollywood.
However, where so many of its successors failed, Superbad pulls off one of the greatest mainstream comedy movies of the 2000s, one which hasn’t had much competition since.
The brand of humor Superbad produced has turned sour and has been beaten into the ground ten times over since its release, but one rewatch of Superbad will remind you why its style has been replicated by nearly every major comedy film release of the late 2000s & early 2010s.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
It’s been a long time since National Lampoon was the resounding authority of humor. However, the Griswold family is perhaps National Lampoon’s greatest accomplishment, and the films they star in continue to last the test of time.
There’s a perpetual debate about which Griswold picture dons out the biggest belly laughs, and Christmas Vacation is always one of the top contenders. Perhaps Christmas Vacation is so ripe for laughs because holiday gatherings always provide their own humor, or perhaps it’s solely because of Randy Quaid.
Either way, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is one of the best comedies on Netflix, and can provide relief from the stress of the world, even in springtime.
