The good folks at the Beeb have put together a ranking of the 100 greatest film comedies of all time. Compiled from top ten lists submitted by 253 film critics around the world, it is, I think, a pretty solid effort. But I'm biased, since they were kind enough to ask me to pitch in. Everyone on Twitter is very upset, naturally.
Here was my submission:
Unsurprisingly, the placement of Snatch is rustling a lot of jimmies, but I stand by it. The submission guideline included the following instructions: "The one thing I’d say about the spirit of this poll is that it’s motivated by a belief that the comedies you consider your personal favorites are those you actually think are the greatest; your love of a particular comedy should be the primary thing motivating its inclusion on your top 10." And Snatch makes me laugh more than any Mel Brooks movie. Sorry, guys.
This is part of the reason why I don't mind the inclusion of Pulp Fiction on the list. Is it a "comedy," per se? Well, no. But what is it, exactly? It's not an action film. It's not a heist flick or a caper picture. It's not a drama, really. It's not a thriller. One of the reasons Pulp Fiction endures, I think, is because it so strenuously defies definition. But one thing it is is funny—not necessarily guffaw funny, but certainly gasp-funny, omg-funny, I-can't-believe-what-I-just-saw funny. I didn't include it on my list, but it isn't out of place.
I didn't include a lot of things I wanted to, sadly. This is the difficulty with compiling a list of this nature: I could've put together a top ten list comprised entirely of Coen Brothers movies or a top ten list comprised entirely of Monty Python/Python Alum movies or a top ten list comprised entirely of National Lampoon Alum movies. For variety's sake, I tried (and mostly succeeded, Gilliam's half-credit on Holy Grail notwithstanding) to limit myself to one film from a given director and one film from an evolutionary path of comedy. I mean, again, the National Lampoon guys include John Landis, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, and John Hughes: you could make a totally reasonable list just from movies including these guys.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy arguing about what was included and left out—but, more importantly, I hope you find something new and interesting to check out. I myself plan on (finally) catching Withnail and I.