The phrase “silly American comedy” has long been a catchphrase. Often, films of this genre are completely ridiculous, 100% absurd and terribly predictable. However, this does not prevent them from being really funny. Yes, and confusing stupid comedies with bad ones, even if it’s not so simple, is definitely not worth it.
“Fun with Dick and Jane” (Fun with Dick and Jane, 2005, 12+)
- Kinopoisk: 7.0.
- IMDb: 6.1.
Los Angeles, 2000. The main character is Dick Harper. He works for a large company, Globodyne. After a sudden promotion to vice president, he is invited to the TV show Money Life. There, Dick is bombarded with questions about the company’s shady dealings. After an unsuccessful broadcast, Globodyne shares collapse, employees are dismissed, and the company is declared bankrupt. Dick’s unsuspecting wife Jane quits so she can spend more time with her son. After unsuccessful attempts to get a job, Dick decides to commit a crime.
Due to absolute indecision, the robbery of the protagonist succeeds only after a series of unsuccessful attempts. He not only becomes a professional robber, but also incites his wife to do so. This couple commits crimes extravagantly: in funny costumes, using any means at hand. Accidentally learning that the bankruptcy of Globodine was rigged, the couple decide on a gamble. The couple manages to outwit Dick’s former boss and rob him to the bone. Like any comedy with Jim Carrey, the film is full of hypertrophied scenes and absolutely stupid situations.
“All or Nothing” (The Longest Yard, 2005, 16+)
- Kinopoisk: 7.4.
- IMDb: 6.4.
The plot develops around Paul Crewe – a former football player, and now a prisoner. The director of the colony, Rudolf Hazen, is interested in his talent. He asks to train a team of guards. Paul suggests creating a second team of prisoners for practice matches. Stupidity? Unbelievable! Shustrila helps the hero in gathering volunteers. The team begins training, but the guards try their best to stop them. It gets to the point where they plant explosives on Paul.
However, instead of the main character, Shustril dies. Despite all the intrigues of the guards, a team of prisoners enters the field. In the first quarter of the match, the guards lead. The judge is on their side. Later the score becomes equal. Hazen threatens to pin the Hustler’s murder on Paul if he doesn’t concede three balls. He agrees on the condition that none of his team is injured and leaves the field. Jailers do not comply with this requirement. Paul returns and, together with the team, smashes the guards to smithereens. The comedy is peculiar, but funny, the plot is full of traditional clichés.
“I Love You, Man” (I Love You, Man, 2009, 16+)
- Kinopoisk: 7.0.
- IMDb: 7.0.
The main character is real estate agent Peter. He is going to marry Zoe, but he has no one to play the role of best man. For advice, Peter turns to his brother Robbie, who arranges a series of “dates” for him. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, he meets Barry, but their friendship ends quickly enough – it breaks off after a beer competition. Later life brings Peter and Sydney together. The groom’s new friend doesn’t like Zoe. They all end up at a concert together, where the bride’s antipathy only intensifies.
Sydney puzzles Peter with the question why is he marrying Zoey? The groom tells the bride about this issue, which greatly offends her. Sidney organizes an advertising campaign for Peter’s business on billboards, but chooses the most ridiculous photos, which angers the main character. He fights with his new friend and makes up with Zoe. Just before the wedding, he remembers a friend. Sydney breaks into the event on his moped right before the ceremony starts. This is where the story ends, based on the stupidity of the characters, awkward moments and “unconventional” jokes.
“The Hangover” (The Hangover, 2009, 16+)
- Kinopoisk: 7.9.
- IMDb: 7.7.
A story about four guys, one of whom is getting married. They go to Vegas where they have a bachelor party. Morning, friends wake up in the room. A tiger is sitting in the bathroom, Stu the dentist is missing a front tooth, a baby is crying in the closet, and a chicken is running around the room – naturally, no one remembers anything. The worst thing is that the groom is gone. The guys have a day to find him. When they leave the hotel, they see a mattress on a spire, and instead of their car they find a police car.
Phil finds a hospital tag on his arm. Friends go there. The doctor says that they have a drug in their tests, which he explains their memory loss. In the process, it turns out that Stu married a stripper and he has her child. The tiger was stolen from Mike Tyson and the car was seized. The cops agree to return the car in exchange for a favor. The guys agree, but then regret – they are shown the effect of stun guns. In the end, they find the unfortunate groom on the roof of the hotel, and, as it turned out, the bride’s brother slipped the drug on everyone at the beginning of the evening. The stupidity of comedy borders on stupidity and is based on the absolute absurdity of most situations.
Scary Movie (2000, 16+)
- Kinopoisk: 7.0.
- IMDb: 6.2.
The story begins with a telephone conversation between a girl named Dew and a mysterious stranger. He turns out to be a maniac who threatens to kill her. Scared to death, she beats schoolchildren dressed in Halloween costumes. Then he runs away from the maniac, but gets hit by a car. The next day, Dew’s friend Cindy discusses the incident with friends. She recalls that exactly a year ago they knocked down a man and threw his corpse into the lake. She sees a connection in these tragedies.
Soon the company begins to pursue a strange man in a mask. He plants threatening notes and incriminating photos on them. One of them is killed. Maniac appears at Cindy’s house. She calls the police. By an absurd coincidence, her boyfriend Bobby is also there. The cops take him. After the guys organize a party. There is a real fight going on. Cindy is miraculously saved. Sitting in the police station, she realizes who the maniac is. But he manages to escape. The movie ends with a screaming Cindy getting hit by a car. The movie is a parody of the film “Scream”, and the degree of absurdity is twisted to the limit here.
“Meet the Parents” (Meet the Parents, 2000, 12+)
- Kinopoisk: 7.5.
- IMDb: 7.0.
The protagonist of the film is nurse Greg. He has been dating Pam for 10 months and wants to propose to her. The couple are invited to her sister’s wedding. There Greg expects to meet her parents. From the start, things don’t go according to plan. The broken urn with the ashes of the grandmother, the injured face of the bride, the set fire to the ceremony site, the flood in the house, the loss and subsequent substitution of the family’s beloved cat – all this is not a complete list of situations provoked by the protagonist.
The whole family of the girl is categorically against Greg. Moreover, Pam’s father turns out to be a former CIA agent. He punches the guy through the databases, but finds nothing – because of this, he arranges an interrogation on a polygraph. But that’s not all: Greg manages to ruin the gift of the bride’s father, thinking that he is negotiating on the phone about something illegal. The head of the family is furious. Greg is kicked out of the house. He’s heading home. As a result, everything systematically returns to normal and one detail is revealed: the name Greg is an abbreviation … You still need to look for a more awkward comedy.
Uninvited Guests (Wedding Crashers, 2005, 16+)
- Kinopoisk: 7.2.
- IMDb: 7.0.
The heroes of this comedy are John Beckwith and Jeremy Gray. They go to weddings of complete strangers, they always have a great rest there and meet girls every time. The guys lie so delicately that relatives do not even suspect that they are uninvited guests. John and Jeremy participate in all competitions, light up the crowd, spin with the brides and even pose for group pictures. It’s hard not to notice these guys. After one of these events, a real love cycle begins.
The bride’s younger brother has a crush on Jeremy. John fights off the excessive attention of the mother of the bride, and then falls in love with the girl Claire. But she has a fiancé. He hires a private detective and brings the guys to clean water. John is beaten. Jeremy has been secretly dating his bridesmaid Gloria all this time. In the end, they get married. At their wedding, John gives a touching speech and formally declares his love for Claire. After a while, the whole company passes by someone’s wedding. Jeremy offers to come. Now there are four intruders … In short, a classic: a stupid comedy with spicy jokes, constant confusion and a strange ending.
“Me, Myself & Irene” (Me, Myself & Irene, 2000, 16+)
- Kinopoisk: 7.2.
- IMDb: 6.6.
Police officer Charlie is at the center of the story. His wife cheated on him: she gave birth to three mulattos and left him for the sake of a midget. Yep, a promising start. Nevertheless, Charlie raised his sons and continued to work in the police. He was always too soft, so absolutely everyone pushed him around. At one “beautiful” moment, the psyche of the protagonist cracked – he was diagnosed with a split personality. The second turned out to be the complete opposite of the first – Charlie’s alter ego called himself Hank.
The main character did not want to quit his job. The authorities entrusted him with a simple task: Charlie was supposed to deliver the violator Irene to the city of Massena. On the way, it turned out that the girl was connected with a criminal authority. Fearing that she would say too much, he sent a killer after them. The couple successfully hid from him, but the killer still overtook them. However, at the last moment he was neutralized by a dart fired by Charlie’s recent new acquaintance. Yes, Jim Carrey is a brilliant actor, so his skill allows you to make the hero himself, as well as the whole picture, as grotesque as possible.
“Where’s my car, dude?” (Dude, Where’s My Car?, 2000, 12+)
- Kinopoisk: 6.2.
- IMDb: 5.5.
The beginning of the film is somewhat reminiscent of the previously mentioned “Bachelor Party in Vegas”. Two friends, not without bad habits, wake up at home with a terrible hangover – according to the law of the genre, they remember absolutely nothing about last night. Pudding containers are scattered throughout the house in huge numbers. The guys go out into the yard, where the very phrase sounds: “Where’s my car, dude?” Then the utter surreal begins.
In the course of the story, a series of events takes place, during which the guys are going to be killed several times, and their girls, in the end, are taken hostage. Interestingly, the story features ufologist bodybuilders, a secretive ostrich farmer, “Soul contactees”, and also a “Continuum Transfunctioner” that can explode at any moment. But throughout the film, the guys were just trying to find and return their car … This picture is the quintessence of absurdity.
“White Chicks” (White Chicks, 2004, 12+)
- Kinopoisk: 6.4.
- IMDb: 5.7.
The story of two FBI officers who screwed up badly. However, they had a chance to improve their position in a secret organization. The other day, the Wilson sisters, heirs to a gigantic hotel business empire, are arriving in New York. Agents must prevent their kidnapping. Guys don’t think of anything better than putting on makeup to impersonate Tiffany and Brittany.
There is one “small” snag: the agents are dark-skinned and brutal, and the sisters are fair-skinned blondes who lead an absolutely secular lifestyle. After the reincarnation, the guys are left with a couple of mere trifles: to convince all the friends, guards and relatives of the girls that they are the Wilson sisters. The whole humor of the comedy is built on the contrast of images, the desperate attempts of the main characters and the stupid situations that they find themselves in because of their ridiculous reincarnation.
Source: Trash Box
Johanna Foster is an expert opinion writer with over 7 years of experience. She has a reputation for delivering insightful and thought-provoking articles on a variety of subjects. Her work can be found on some of the top online news websites, and she is currently lending her voice to the world stock market.
