Comedies That Fly Under The Radar
by chud-13 | created - 19 Feb 2011 | updated - 04 Feb 2012 | Public30 comedies that fly under the radar and seem forgotten, but still very funny
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1. Used Cars (1980)
R | 113 min | Comedy
When the owner of a struggling used car lot is killed, it's up to the lot's hot-shot salesman to save the property from falling into the hands of the owner's ruthless brother and used-car rival.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Kurt Russell, Jack Warden, Gerrit Graham, Frank McRae
Votes: 16,756
2. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Music
Singer Dewey Cox overcomes adversity to become a musical legend.
Director: Jake Kasdan | Stars: John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, David Krumholtz, Nat Faxon
Votes: 77,223 | Gross: $18.32M
3. The Mouse That Roared (1959)
Approved | 83 min | Comedy
An impoverished backward nation declares a war on the United States of America, hoping to lose, but things don't go according to plan.
Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: Peter Sellers, Jean Seberg, William Hartnell, David Kossoff
Votes: 9,453
4. Top Secret! (1984)
PG | 90 min | Comedy, Crime, Music
An American rock and roll singer is invited to a cultural festival in East Germany in order to distract from a plot to destroy NATO submarines, but he accidentally becomes involved in a resistance plot to rescue an imprisoned scientist.
Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker | Stars: Val Kilmer, Omar Sharif, Jeremy Kemp, Warren Clarke
Votes: 73,017 | Gross: $20.50M
5. I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988)
R | 88 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
In this parody of blaxploitation movies, a black hero wannabe reunites former black heroes from the 70s to help him get revenge on Mr. Big.
Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans | Stars: Keenen Ivory Wayans, Bernie Casey, Antonio Fargas, Steve James
Votes: 14,973 | Gross: $13.03M
6. Love and Death (1975)
PG | 85 min | Comedy, War
In czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate Napoleon.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Georges Adet, Frank Adu
Votes: 40,827
7. Murder by Death (1976)
PG | 95 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Five famous literary detective characters and their sidekicks are invited to a bizarre mansion to solve an even stranger mystery.
Director: Robert Moore | Stars: Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Eileen Brennan
Votes: 41,659
8. The In-Laws (1979)
PG | 103 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
On the eve of their children's marriage, NYC in-laws Sheldon Kornpett and Vince Ricardo embark on a series of misadventures involving the CIA, the Treasury Department and Central American dictators.
Director: Arthur Hiller | Stars: Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, Richard Libertini, Nancy Dussault
Votes: 10,092 | Gross: $38.20M
9. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy
In the 1970s, an anchorman's stint as San Diego's top-rated newsreader is challenged when an ambitious newswoman becomes his co-anchor.
Director: Adam McKay | Stars: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd
Votes: 378,465 | Gross: $85.29M
10. Bananas (1971)
PG-13 | 82 min | Comedy
When a bumbling New Yorker is dumped by his activist girlfriend, he travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest rebellion.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, Carlos Montalbán, Nati Abascal
Votes: 37,783 | Gross: $11.80M
11. The Twelve Chairs (1970)
GP | 94 min | Comedy, Drama
In 1920s Soviet Russia, a fallen aristocrat, a priest and a con artist search for a treasure of jewels hidden inside one of twelve dining chairs, lost during the revolution.
Director: Mel Brooks | Stars: Mel Brooks, Ron Moody, Frank Langella, Dom DeLuise
Votes: 7,111 | Gross: $1.81M
12. Better Off Dead (1985)
PG | 97 min | Comedy, Romance
After his girlfriend ditches him for a boorish ski jock, Lane decides that suicide is the only answer. However, his increasingly inept attempts bring him only more agony and embarrassment. Filled with the wildest teen nightmares.
Director: Savage Steve Holland | Stars: John Cusack, David Ogden Stiers, Kim Darby, Demian Slade
Votes: 49,358 | Gross: $10.30M
13. My Favorite Year (1982)
PG | 92 min | Comedy, Drama
An aging, dissolute matinee idol is slated to appear on a live TV variety show in 1954, and a young comedy writer is tasked with the thankless job of keeping him ready and sober for the broadcast.
Director: Richard Benjamin | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna
Votes: 10,486 | Gross: $20.12M
14. UHF (1989)
PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
An unemployed visionary becomes the manager of a local television station. The station becomes a success, with all sorts of hilarious sight gags and wacky humor.
Director: Jay Levey | Stars: 'Weird Al' Yankovic, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Richards
Votes: 31,516 | Gross: $6.16M
15. A Mighty Wind (2003)
PG-13 | 91 min | Comedy, Music
Mockumentary captures the reunion of 1960s folk trio the Folksmen as they prepare for a show at The Town Hall to memorialize a recently deceased concert promoter.
Director: Christopher Guest | Stars: Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer
Votes: 29,533 | Gross: $17.51M
16. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972)
R | 88 min | Comedy
Seven stories are trying to answer the question: what is sex? Or maybe they are not trying.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Gene Wilder, Louise Lasser, John Carradine
Votes: 41,769
17. No Time for Sergeants (1958)
Approved | 119 min | Comedy, War
Will Stockdale is a country bumpkin drafted into the Air Force and too dumb to realize he's driving everyone around him crazy, no one more than Sergeant King.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Andy Griffith, Myron McCormick, Nick Adams, Murray Hamilton
Votes: 4,440
18. Pootie Tang (2001)
PG-13 | 81 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
"The Man" is baffled by a chill hero's invincible weapon: gibberish.
Director: Louis C.K. | Stars: Chris Rock, Lance Crouther, J.B. Smoove, Jennifer Coolidge
Votes: 15,118 | Gross: $3.29M
19. Idiocracy (2006)
R | 84 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Corporal Joe Bauers, a decidedly average American, is selected for a top-secret hibernation program but is forgotten and left to awaken to a future so incredibly moronic that he's easily the most intelligent person alive.
Director: Mike Judge | Stars: Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Terry Crews
Votes: 182,173 | Gross: $0.44M
20. 1941 (1979)
PG | 118 min | Action, Comedy, War
Hysterical Californians prepare for a Japanese invasion in the days after Pearl Harbor.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Treat Williams, Nancy Allen
Votes: 36,254 | Gross: $31.76M
21. Galaxy Quest (1999)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
The alumni cast of a space opera television series have to play their roles as the real thing when an alien race needs their help. However, they also have to defend both Earth and the alien race from a reptilian warlord.
Director: Dean Parisot | Stars: Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub
Votes: 178,095 | Gross: $71.58M
22. Defending Your Life (1991)
PG | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
In an afterlife way-station resembling a major city, the lives of the recently deceased are examined in a court-like setting.
Director: Albert Brooks | Stars: Albert Brooks, Meryl Streep, Rip Torn, Lee Grant
Votes: 21,274 | Gross: $16.37M
23. Back to the Beach (1987)
PG | 92 min | Comedy, Musical
Frankie and Annette, having grown up and put aside their beach-partying lifestyle, visit their daughter in Southern California and discover there's still some wild times left in them.
Director: Lyndall Hobbs | Stars: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Lori Loughlin, Tommy Hinkley
Votes: 3,394 | Gross: $13.11M
24. Head Office (1985)
PG-13 | 90 min | Comedy
Lazy, womanizing Jack gets employed at the NYC HQ of the multinational conglomerate, INC. Crazy chaos, promotions, firings, suicides etc. seem to be the way of the day.
Director: Ken Finkleman | Stars: Judge Reinhold, Eddie Albert, Lori-Nan Engler, Merritt Butrick
Votes: 1,753 | Gross: $3.39M
25. Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)
M | 90 min | Comedy, History
Two mismatched sets of identical twins, one aristocrat, one peasant, mistakenly exchange identities on the eve of the French Revolution.
Director: Bud Yorkin | Stars: Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland, Hugh Griffith, Jack MacGowran
Votes: 3,120
26. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
R | 107 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Martin Blank is a professional assassin. He is sent on a mission to a small Detroit suburb, Grosse Pointe, and, by coincidence, his ten-year high school reunion party is taking place there at the same time.
Director: George Armitage | Stars: John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Dan Aykroyd, Joan Cusack
Votes: 99,605 | Gross: $28.01M
27. The Freshman (1990)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Crime
An N.Y.C. film school student accepts a job with a local mobster who resembles a famous cinema godfather and who takes the young man under his wing, after demanding total loyalty.
Director: Andrew Bergman | Stars: Marlon Brando, Matthew Broderick, Bruno Kirby, Penelope Ann Miller
Votes: 22,030 | Gross: $21.46M
28. Hamlet 2 (2008)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Music
In this irreverent comedy, a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama-teacher rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Director: Andrew Fleming | Stars: Steve Coogan, Elisabeth Shue, Catherine Keener, J.J. Soria
Votes: 17,358 | Gross: $4.88M
29. Zelig (1983)
PG | 79 min | Comedy
"Documentary" about a man who can look and act like whoever he's around, and meets various famous people.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Patrick Horgan, John Buckwalter
Votes: 44,165 | Gross: $11.80M
30. Soapdish (1991)
PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy, Romance
An ambitious television soap actress connives with her producer to scuttle the career of the show's long-time star, but nothing works as they plan.
Director: Michael Hoffman | Stars: Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Cathy Moriarty, Teri Hatcher
Votes: 17,642 | Gross: $36.49M
31. The Great Race (1965)
Passed | 160 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
In the early 20th century, two rivals, the heroic Leslie and the despicable Professor Fate, engage in an epic automobile race from New York to Paris.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk
Votes: 19,823 | Gross: $25.33M
32. Radio Days (1987)
PG | 88 min | Comedy
A nostalgic look at radio's golden age focusing on one ordinary family and the various performers in the medium.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, Mike Starr, Paul Herman
Votes: 36,307 | Gross: $14.79M
33. Summer School (1987)
PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy, Romance
Freddy the gym teacher has to teach remedial English in summer (high) school, if he wants tenure. As he can only teach gym and his students want fun, emphasis is on "field trips" - until he's fired unless all his students pass the test.
Director: Carl Reiner | Stars: Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley, Robin Thomas, Patrick Labyorteaux
Votes: 22,123 | Gross: $35.66M
34. Men at Work (1990)
PG-13 | 98 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Two garbage men uncover a conspiracy involving illegal toxic waste dumping and decide to bring the whole operation down.
Director: Emilio Estevez | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Leslie Hope, Keith David
Votes: 26,744 | Gross: $16.25M
35. Orgazmo (1997)
NC-17 | 94 min | Comedy
Naive young Mormon Joe Young is recruited to act in porn movies.
Director: Trey Parker | Stars: Trey Parker, Dian Bachar, Robyn Lynne Raab, Michael Dean Jacobs
Votes: 38,040 | Gross: $0.58M
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