Year in review: The best comedy movies of 2021

We start at the end of the year, and with a Christmas film to boot, on account of the fact this list is in alphabetical order. You might think this is an animated movie based on the name, but the 8-bit in question is a Nintendo Entertainment System. This is a period piece set in 1988 about a boy who wants to get an NES before everybody else. That’s sure to conjure up some nostalgia.

Eric Andre is not for everybody, and this movie will not be for everybody. It’s built around Andre and his cohorts doing elaborate pranks and public stunts for the unsuspecting masses. It’s also vulgar and crass as all get out. However, we can also honestly say there isn’t any movie quite like “Bad Trip,” and if you like Andre, you’ll probably love this.

For our money, this was the funniest movie of 2021. In terms of just pure jokes, this absurd comedy from Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo takes the cake. That duo wrote “Bridesmaids,” but this time they get to star together as well and they both smoothly fall into their bizarre character. Jamie Dornan is also great.

After all these years, there was still meat left on the “Coming to America” bone. Eddie Murphy’s sequel to his classic ‘80s comedy brings back Prince Akeem and the rest of the gang. It doesn’t pack the punch of the original, but it is by no means a lackluster, unearned return.

Adam McKay used to make absurd comedies like “Anchorman.” Now, he likes to have a political punch to pair with the jokes. There’s commentary and pointedness to his latest film, about two astronomers played by Leonard DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence who stumble upon a potential world-ending catastrophe. It’s like the satirical version of your classic space disaster movie, meaning the pomp and circumstance is replaced with dread and existential ennui.

Ryan Reynolds has honed his persona to a fine point. You are in, or you aren’t. “Free Guy” is a fairly clever concept drenched in Reynolds’ comedic sensibilities. He plays one of those characters in a violent video game who are just sort of there. Then, he gains the ability to break free of those constraints. What now?

On the critical darling comedy front, we have Wes Anderson’s latest missive. It’s maybe the most “Wes Anderson” movie ever. We know that means you are either super excited (and honestly have already probably seen it) or you are steering clear. This is a gorgeous film to look at with a killer cast and some really good laughs along the way.

This is a smaller film, one that was more of a film festival mainstay in 2021. However, it has quite the cast. Zoe Lister-Jones stars and directs, but along for the ride are some huge comedy names (Fred Armisen, Nick Kroll) and just big names in general like Helen Hunt.

Action comedies still count as comedies. The action side of “Jungle Cruise” probably hits a little harder, but there’s plenty of comedy in it as well. It’s a little over the top and sometimes silly, but “Jungle Cruise” is a fun film. Wisely, they cast two people who are legit action stars as the leads: Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.

There’s plenty of melancholy in Paul Thomas Anderson’s coming-of-age comedy. That is not only because the lead is Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. PSH and PTA were great collaborators, and now Anderson has turned his skills to paving the way for Cooper to follow in his father’s footsteps.

The Mitchells may not always get along, but at least they can work together in a pinch. Like, say, if a phone’s operating system got sentient, went rogue, and tried to eliminate humanity. Weirdly, this is a family-friendly sci-fi comedy. The comedy is quite madcap, but it’s a fun, rollicking animated film with some great voiceover work.

We like the fact that “Queenpins” is a crime comedy on a small scale. It kind of reminds us of “The Informant!” in that sense. Two friends, one played by Kristen Bell, start a scheme that uses coupons to bilk corporations out of millions of dollars. That gives it a bit of freshness.

Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson are back in another action-comedy. This time, Gal Gadot is along for the ride. It’s kind of like a Venn diagram of a comedy. Reynolds and Johnson can do comedy. Gadot and Johnson can do action. Reynolds and Gadot…probably overlap somewhere.

The plot of “Ron’s Gone Wrong” is not all that different from “The Mitchells vs. the Machines.” How very strange that in 2021 people are making comedies about the perils of malfunctioning technology. Where could they ever be getting that idea? If you can only watch one of these two films, watch “The Mitchells.” If you have the time, though, you can check out both.

This movie gives you exactly what you want from a “SpongeBob” film. We don’t have to tell you how “SpongeBob” works, right? You watch this movie knowing what you’re going to get, and if you have been happy with that in the past, you’ll probably be happy with it now.

“Deadpool” opened the door for raunchy, violent, hard-R superhero movies done on a big studio budget. James Gunn’s movie ripped that door off the hinges. “The Suicıde Squad” is a bananas orgy of blood, vulgarity, and general madness. It pulls no punches in any way, shape, or form. And yet, it works. At the very least, it’s way better than the preceding “Suicıde Squad” movie.

The first “To All the Boys” movie was a surprise hit for Netflix. It turned Lana Condor and Noah Centineo into stars. In 2021, we got the third, and final, film in the series. Romantic comedies are a dying breed, but Netflix at least gives us “To All the Boys: Always and Forever,” a fitting sendoff for the series.

There’s nothing transcendent about “Vacation Friends.” This is just one of those solid comedies they used to make several of every year. Its plot is simple, you can glean it from the title, and it’s mostly just about jokes and hangout vibes. “Vacation Friends” has John Cena and Lil Rel Howery going for it as well.

This was not a big year for horror comedies. The only one on our list is “Werewolves Within.” On the other hand, we got a good horror-comedy in “Werewolves Within!” Let’s not knock that. It’s based on a video game series we were admittedly not familiar with, but we still enjoyed it.

A movie based on a viral Twitter thread? Sounds iffy, especially after other failed Twitter projects (we’re looking at you, “Sh*t My Dad Says”). Fortunately, “Zola” lived up to the potential in that infamous Twitter moment. It’s not a laugh-a-minute comedy, but it thrives on chaos and has enough comedy in it to make the most out of all those tweets.