2021 has been a great year for movies across the board. Although audiences around the world have been slowly making their way back to theaters, the pandemic has made at-home premieres a centralpart of the film industry’s future– when it comes to comedies, a high-fidelity screen doesn’t matter as much as who you share the movie with.
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Well-known directors likeThe Suicide Squad’s James Gunn orThe French Dispatch’s Wes Anderson returned to the big screen with highly anticipated features in 2021. Smaller-scale films likePsycho GoremanandWerewolves Withinwere hilarious hits that didn’t get the attention they deserved, but are sure to become cult classics with time.
Werewolves Within
Werewolves Withinis a movie that arrived in theatersfive years after the VR video gameit was based on, also calledWerewolves Within. The story follows a group of people trapped in a snowstorm who have to figure out who amongst them is a werewolf.
It’s a pretty loose adaptation of the game that keeps the core whodunit gameplay intact when translated to the screen. It’s a hilarious, stylish film that blurs the lines between mystery, horror, and comedy seamlessly.
The French Dispatch
The French Dispatchis the latest film from pastel-comedy mastermind Wes Anderson, known for films likeThe Grand Budapest Hotel,Isle of Dogs, andThe Royal Tenenbaums.The French Dispatchisa tale told in several partsall revolving around a magazine, the writers, and the subjects.
It’s a movie made for writers and journalists (and not just because of the incredibly dense amount of dialogue) that everyone can find something in. Wes Anderson’s comedy style is unlike any other – but don’t go intoThe French Dispatchexpecting non-stop laughs and jokes.
Shiva Baby
Shiva Babyis a bit of a sleeper hit that found a dedicated following on itsinitial release on HBO Max.Shiva Babytells a raucous story of a young woman who runs into her baby daddy at a Jewish funeral.
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It’s a coming-of-age film at heart that shows Danielle, played by Rachel Sennott, trying to balance her multiple personas in one of the most hectic (and inapt) scenarios imaginable. It’s hilarious the whole way through, even if it does take moments to breathe and re-establish a more serious tone.
Bo Burnham’s Inside
Bo Burnham is an internet legend whose standup career has been the envy of thousands of comedy YouTubers worldwide. WithInside, Bo Burnham takes a step back from the parody and ridiculousness to self-reflect during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It might seem like a heavy subject, and in many ways it is, but in Bo Burnham’s unique way these year-long feelings of gloom and doom are given levity. It’s a relatively “serious” comedy with a message that many viewers resonated with.
The Suicide Squad
The Suicide Squadcomes on the heels of 2016’s box-office and critical flopSuicide Squad. James Gunn hopped in the director’s seat to give his owninterpretation of the comic bookantihero troupe, and by all accounts, this second go-around is a vast improvement.
The Suicide Squadfeatures a star-studded cast of characters who are all instantly memorable in their roles. The action sequences are brutal and punchy, but it’s the interactions of the characters that make it one of the funniest films of 2021.
Free Guy
Free Guyis a movie thatshould have never happened, but somehow Ryan Reynolds worked his magic and a film about NPCs and the fourth wall came to be. InFree Guy, Reynolds plays a bank teller, appropriately named Guy, who realizes that he lives as a side character in an open-world video game.
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It’s a film that somewhat requires viewers to understand the concept of NPCs in virtual spaces and how they “experience” a fully-scripted world. If you don’t play video games,Free Guymight not be for you. But if you like games likeGrand Theft Auto, it’s well worth seeing.
Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar
The comedyBarb & Star Go To Vista Del Maris one of the many 2021 films that was originally slated for a 2020 release before the COVID-19 pandemic reached new peaks and pushed the industry back by months.
Starring (and produced by) a variety of SNL alums,Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Maris a comedy that is much funnier than it might at first seem. It’s an over-the-top portrayal of two women leaving home for the first time that features characters who are as memorable as the trip itself.
Psycho Goreman
Psycho Goremanis a low-budget horror-comedy that features a monstrous creature from another world, children who don’t quite understand what Goreman is, and incredible use of practical effects, puppeteering, and costume design.
While it’s categorized by many as a B movie, the film has countless hilarious moments and a flair completely its own that makes it rival the highest-budget comedies of the past decade. If someone likes a bit of hellish aesthetics with their comedy,Psycho Goremanwill more than satisfy them.
