The following list of 25 movie and TV comedies listed below are, in our opinion, the most hilarious and heart-warming movies and television programming offered on Netflix streaming right now.
– Movie Comedies –
1. The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Funnyman Matthew McConaughey is playing a fashion photographer in this comedy. As you can imagine by the title, Connor Mead has access to a string of women, complete with nightly sexual dalliances and short-term relationships that rarely end on the best terms. The movie finds Connor at his dead uncle and mentor’s estate for the marriage of his younger brother. After a bunch of trash talking about monogamy, Connor is soon visited by the spirit of his dead uncle, who aims to reform him of his playboy ways by having 3 ghosts visit him throughout the night. The ghosts of: Past, Present, and Future, who will all take him to see his past, present and future conquests as they are in their life outside their relationships with Connor. This movie is great and could be easily called “Scrooge 2.0” or something similar!
2. The Proposal
Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) is a successful self-made editor for a popular publishing company. She’s tough and distant from everyone in her life due to the fact that she lost her parents at a young age. She’s also a Canadian working in the U.S., and soon finds out that her work visa has expired and is threatened with deportation. Without any other recourse, Tate decides to blackmail her assistant editor Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) into marrying her in order to maintain her job at the publishing firm. He agrees to marry her in exchange for a promotion to editor and the ability to publish a book of his own. They travel to Sitka, Alaska (Paxton’s birthplace) to meet his parents and celebrate his grandparents 90th anniversary. Tons of fun ensues as the family wants Bullock to marry their son in their family barn, and Mr. Gilbertson from U.S. Immigration secretly lands in the 49th state to snoop around and prove the marriage to be a farce!
3. Little Fockers
This sequel to the legendary “Meet the Parents” brings Bell Stiller, Teri Polo, Robert Deniro, Blythe Danner, and Owen Wilson back together to revisit their characters several years after the original movie was made. Greg and Pam have kids now and there’s plenty of comedy in store for everyone. Greg Focker (Stiller) is asked to become a spokesperson for a male enhancement product, which Jack (Deniro) later takes and quickly has some trouble that requires medical intervention. Greg wants to have a birthday party for his twins, but the contractor working on his house decides to dig a giant hole in his backyard, making that impossible. Good old Kevin (Wilson) decides once again to show chivalry to his ex-girlfriend and her husband and offers to hold the party at his house. Jack tortures Greg throughout the film with plans to make Greg the “Godfocker” of the family, along with using his CIA contacts to uncover his son-in-law’s suspected infidelity with Andi Garcia (Jessica Alba). Great sequel – better than the first film!
4. Horrible Bosses
This film brings together an all star cast of comedy veterans including Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Kevin Spacey, Mila Kunis, Jason Sudakeis and Colin Ferrell. It centers around 3 childhood friends who all have “Horrible Bosses”. Nick, played by Bateman has been working his butt off for 16 years to get a supervisor’s position, only to be refused on the day its supposed to happen for being 2 minutes late, by boss Mr. Harken (Spacey). Dale (Day) is forever fighting off the advances of his dentist boss Julia (Aniston) who not only insists that he must have sex with her to keep his job, she constantly toys with him by inappropriately touching her unconscious male patients. Kurt works for a chemical company and is well-liked by everyone, especially the company founder, but is despised and constantly ridiculed by the owner’s son Bobby, who everyone hates. After telling Kurt that he wants him to run the company after his death, the founder promptly dies, leaving Kurt the only one to know his wishes. All the friends come together and share their problems, then conspire to each destroy one other’s bosses and fun and hilarity ensues for the next 70 minutes!
5. Date Night
Phil and Claire Foster (played by comedy duo Steve Carell and Tiny Fey) are married with children. They live a pretty normal upper middle class suburban life, complete with family dinners and the occasional “Date Night,” but find their relationship to be passionless and don’t feel very sexual toward each other. After one night of failed love making, they decide something has to change and the next date night ends up being the wildest of their life. Phil “steals” a table at their favorite restaurant claiming to be the “Tripplehorns” who haven’t yet shown up to claim their reservation. Soon, some unsavory gentleman want to “talk” to them and the chase is on!
6. The Bounty Hunter
In this film stud Gerard Butler plays a bounty hunter who’s charged with finding his bail jumping ex, Nicole, played by the lovely Jennifer Aniston; a reporter who was charged with assault after bumping into a police horse while rushing to a press conference in her car. Butler catches up with his wife and captures her, and loses her, and recaptures her again. Love is not lost between the two, and soon they find they’re not running from each other but from bookies who’re after Milo (Butler) for outstanding debts, and a crooked cop after Nicole (Aniston) because she knows too much about a case that could ruin his career.
7. The Hangover
The story of three men, Phil Wenneck (Bradley Cooper), Stu Price (Ed Helms), and Alan Garner (Zach Galifianakis) who’re transporting their friend, Doug Billings (Justin Bartha) to a vegas bachelor party in honor of his upcoming wedding. Upon checking into their room at Ceasar’s Palace, they venture out onto the strip for some fun and “a few drinks,” only to wake the next morning with no memory of what happened the night before. The room’s in disarray, one man’s missing a tooth, there’s a chicken clucking in the living room, a baby in the closet, and a (real) tiger in their bathroom (which they later learn belongs to Mike Tyson, who is none too happy about losing it). Soon they find out they were drugged, chased by gangsters, mistakenly blamed for stealing $80,000 and are forced to turn to gambling to escape certain death.
8. He’s Just Not That Into You
Five women and four men set out to understand the opposite sex in this dramedy. There are so many top-notch actors it’s no surprise this one had a multi-million dollar budget. Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) imagines every man she meets is Mr. Right. Alex (Justin Long), a nice yet misanthropic saloon keeper tries to set her straight, but is secretly pining for her. Janine (Jennifer Connelly) and Ben (Bradley Cooper) seem happily married until Ben chats with a girl named Anna in a checkout line. Anna (Scarlett Johansson) is indifferent to the romantic gestures offered by Connor (Kevin Connolly). Neil (Ben Affleck) and Beth (Jennifer Aniston) have been together seven years. Beth dumps him when she realizes he really and truly isn’t going to marry her. And Mary (Drew Barrymore) sells advertising while searching on line for a man. This movie is far from cheesy, well acted, and full of comic relief at just the right cues.
9. Yes Man
Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) is a bank loan officer who isn’t happy with his life, after the recent divorce of he and his wife Stephanie. He’s also guilty of ignoring his best friends Pete (Bradley Cooper) and Rooney (Danny Masterson). After missing Pete’s engagement party, the friend decides to give him a dose of tough love and lets him know that the way he’s leading his life will only lead to loneliness and despair. Carl decides to go to a life-changing seminar he’s heard about at work, which teaches people about the power of simply always saying “Yes” whenever you’re asked to do something, instead of “No”. The type of comedy that only Carrey can deliver soon follows, as he’s saying yes to everything – some leading to good results and some bad! Zooey Deschanel plays Carl’s love interest, punk-rocker Alison.
10. Bucket List
Corporate billionaire Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) and hard-working mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) come together as two surprising bi-racial buddies who have a terminal illness – lung cancer. After being admitted to the hospital and being put into the same room together, they discover that despite their differences, they both share the same fate – death. They quickly realize that their time is limited and that there’s much both have left to accomplish. The typical bucket-list scenario ensues where they both attempt to experience as much of life has to offer in the short time they have left in this world. Each have a list of “must-do’s” that don’t necessarily mesh with the other’s values and it doesn’t take a genius to imagine the hilarity that will turn up in such a predicament!
11. 27 Dresses
Perfect-wedding-dreamer Jane (Katherine Heigl), is a perpetual bridesmaid, seemingly forever doomed to be nothing more than the maid of honor at an endless stream of weddings. Along the way, she meets Kevin (James Marsden) who’s main job is to cover weddings just like those Jane has to attend on a regular near-monthly basis. Jane is in love with her boss George, who has zero interest in her, despite her unique sense of romance. Eventually he falls for a manipulative money-grubbing phony who’s only interested in meeting a rich man to take care of her while she continues her man-eating ways. Despite the pain this causes Jane, Kevin continues to try to woo her and talk sense into her; teaching her that there’s more to love than simply lusting after men in power. You’ll have to watch it to see how the characters end up!
12. Knocked Up
Another wonderful comedy/dramedy starring Katherine Heigl, who plays the hapless Alison Scott in this film. Alison gets a once-in-a-lifetime promotion to become a big-wig editor at E! Television. She and her sister head out on the town to celebrate and soon (after a drink or two) Alison meets a pitiable stoner named Ben Stone (Seth Rogen). After a few more toddies, the two hook up and consummate their fly-by-night tryst and wake up in utter disgust the next morning beside each other. Soon, Alison discovers that the one-night-stand would change both their lives forever, in the form of a baby born out of wedlock. This is a funny film, with tons of warmth, as Ben Stone has to prove himself to the sexy out-of-his-league Alison, who doesn’t believe the pot-smoking father of her soon-to-be infant has the brass tacks to help her raise their child!
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13. The 40 Year Old Virgin
Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) has managed to go forty years without enjoying the pleasures of female companionship. After he lets this fact slip at an innocent poker game with his buddies, he sets himself on a course that can only result in having sex for the first time. His buds (played by Paul Rudd, Romany Malco and Seth Rogan) decide that they’ll spare no expense to see that their good buddy get laid before he celebrates his 41st. Along the journey, Stitzer finds a slew of women that he would never consider bedding, let alone marrying, and one special girl (played by Elizabeth Banks) who steals his heart but takes exception to the player tactics his friends have instructed him to employ. Lots of dramatic exploits, offset by tons of comic relief in this film!
14. Step Brothers
Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play 40-something step brothers Brennan Huff and Dale Doback, whose parents Nancy and Robert (played by Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins) get married. The two are quickly forced to face the reality of their success-less life when Brennan’s prosperous younger brother Derek (Adam Scott) comes to visit the family, soon after the brothers have finally bonded. The two step brothers go through several hilarious funny scenarios including unsuccessful job interviews and Dale unknowingly wooing Derek’s wife with his courageous, if not naive outlook on life. This film is full of warmth and comedy, in equal amounts!
– Television Comedies –
15. How I Met Your Mother
This long-running CBS drama didn’t get a whopping 9 season run because it didn’t resonate with viewers. The cast is now legendary with Dougie Howser “Neil Patrick Harris” playing Barney Stinson; Jason Seigel as Marshall Eriksen; “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Alison Hannigan as Lily Aldrin; then-newcomer Coby Smulders as Robin Scherbatsky; and other unknown (at the beginning of the series) Josh Radnor as the real focal character of the comedy, Ted Mosby. This comedy needs no synopsis. Ted starts every episode in a room with his future kids who are listening to his stories that relate to how he met their mother years before while hanging out with his best friends. Each episode provides another piece of the puzzle that ends up with viewers learning the true identity of Ted’s true love in season 9.
16. 30 Rock
30 Rock centers around the production crew of a late night sketch comedy crew who do their work at NBC’s “30 Rockefeller Blvd” location on a show called “The Girlie Show” starring Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan). Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) is the Executive Producer in charge of all the day-to-day happenings required to make the show a hit, but she has to answer to Jack Donaghy (Alek Baldwin) before proceeding with anything. Liz Lemon is faced with one crisis or another in every episode, which revolves around her need to boost ratings for TGS (or else), least of which requires keeping odd-ball Tracy Jordan nearby and out of trouble!
17. Parks and Recreations
Set inside the daily goings-on of the fictional Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department in Indiana, this comedy offers up a slew of experienced comedic actors, including Amy Poehler, Rob Lowe, Rashida Jones, Adam Scott, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza and the very difficult and intense park director played by Nick Offerman. If you like the documentary-style camera play used in the US and UK versions of “The Office”, you’ll feel right at home watching this comedy, which uses the same single-camera, cinema verite format. Conflict is always brewing in Pawnee and several real-life current events are incorporated into each episode. There were 125 episodes aired before the show was cancelled, 6 seasons are currently available on Netflix, with a 7th soon to be released (the final episode aired Feb 25, 2015).
18. Arrested Development
By now most of you have likely heard of the Bluth family and their recent revival by Netflix. The show originally aired on Fox for 3 seasons back in the mid 2000’s before being inexplicably cancelled despite critical acclaim and acceptable ratings. Fox handed over the rights for the show to Netflix, so the streaming giant could film and release their very first round of original programming in 2013 with a 4th installment of this fan favorite. The Bluth’s aren’t your typical family, often going out of their way to thwart one another’s success and happiness at all costs. Micheal Cera got his start on this show as Micheal Bluth’s (Jason Bateman) son, George Micheal Bluth. Micheal is the rock of the family and the only one who appears to have a conscience aside from his son, often being called upon to deal with the disputes which occur inside the Bluth family, who’re all rich and lead a life of extravagance and excess.
19. The Office (US & UK versions)
The Office ran for 9 super-funny seasons in the U.S. and 2 in the U.K. (despite its critical success which led to the conception of the U.S. version). Funnyman Ricky Gervais created both cinema verite, single-camera “mockumentary” comedy shows. Set in the main Scranton headquarters of paper company Dunder Mifflin in the U.S., and the Slough, England offices of Wernham-Hogg (also a paper company) for the U.K. version. Both comedies are hilarious, centering around the mundane day to day that goes into running a paper office supply company. Each episode centers around the cast dealing with the various dilemmas that are always happening whether it be negotiating big contracts, competition moving into their territory, inter-office romance, their personal lives, or the pranks and practical jokes they play on one another. The comedy is delivered exactly like a documentary, where the characters interact with each other, then break off at certain intervals to provide commentary about what they’re thinking to a private camera. If you plan to watch all 11 combined seasons, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do!
20. Wilfred (US)
This is another show based on a U.K. original, but currently only the U.S. version appears on Netflix. This show is about a lawyer named Ryan (Elijah Wood) who seems quite unexceptional until the appearance of Wilfred (Jason Gann), a “dog” who walks and talks like a man yet acts like a dog! Sniffing people’s butts, begging for treats, licking himself, etc. Wilfred is also jealous like a dog: Technically his owner is Ryan’s next door neighbor Jenna (Fiona Gubelmann) whom Ryan has a serious crush on. However, Wilfred demands constant attention from Ryan and puts him into one funny, yet serious predicament in every show, including stealing a neighbor’s medical marijuana plants then crapping in the guy’s boots – an act that Ryan is blamed and severely beaten for! “Serious” issues are also dealt with on the show, such as Wilfred being molested by a doggy daycare manager. This show is dark, funny and if you watch all two seasons you may just get to learn the origins behind Ryan and Wilfred’s relationship!
21. Scrubs
Scrubs instantly became a wildly popular hit on NBC (and later ABC) and ran for 9 complete seasons. The show starts out with a group of medical interns at the Sacred Heart medical teaching school. The series centers around up-and-coming physicians Dr. John Dorian (Zach Braff), Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke), and Chris Turk (Donald Faison). Each is constantly finding themselves in one funny situation or another, trying desperately at first to usurp one another and prove themselves as the best residents to the staff doctors, one of which is played by legend John C. McGinley. Love triangles, practical joking from the “Janitor” (Neil Flynn, whose character name is never once divulged during the series), and a medical staff learning about the ups and downs of life together. IMDB gives this show a solid 8.5 for all but the final season, where the series switched networks and changed the entire cast.
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22. New Girl
This show centers on the highly quirky Jess (Zooey Deschanel) who is a middle school teacher in Los Angeles. She lives with her hilarious roommates-turned-friends Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield), Winston (Lamorne Norris), and later Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.) Her friend Cece (Hannah Simone) is also part of the group and constantly being pursued by love-strickened cheater Schmidt; who grew up in a firmly Jewish household. Viewers get to follow this rag-tag squad while they deal with romance, break ups, social issues, career ups and downs, and much more. New Girl really sets itself apart from other dramadies with a crisp movie-like atmosphere to the finished production and very real and fallible characters who wear their hearts on their sleeves in every episode. Netflix has the first 3 seasons of this hit show and will begin airing the current season (4) in September 2015.
23. Saved by the Bell
This original version of Saved by the Bell ran for 4 years from 1989 – 1993. Fans watched Zach Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselar), Kelly Kapowski (Tiffany-Amber Thiessen), Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkley), AC Slater (Mario Lopez), Screech Powers (Dustin Diamond), and Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies) grow and flourish during high school at Bayside High, carefully watched over by Principal Belding (Dennis Haskins). This series led to two sequel series “Saved by the Bell: The College Years” and the forgettable “Saved by the Bell: The New Class”, along with several television specials (one of which saw Zach and Kelly getting married). They recently did a hilarious reunion episode that was featured on Jimmy Kimmel too (see on YouTube). These kids drive poor Principal Belding nuts with all their hijinks and Zach’s constant money-making and girl-getting schemes which always require help from the gang!
24. Coach
Coach ran for 9 full seasons back in the 90’s and it’s still really popular with thousands of the season boxed sets being sold every year. The series follows Hayden Fox (Craig T. Nelson), a football coach at the University of Minnesota. His coworkers Luther (Jerry Van Dyke) and Dauber (Bill Fagerbakke) are constantly getting in his way and getting themselves into trouble. Hayden’s daughter Kelly (Clare Carey) also works at the university. He’s frequently visited by one-again, off-again girlfriend Christine (Shelley Fabares) who works as a television reporter who’s often forced to release stories about Hayden’s failures and the controversies he encounters as a coach. There’s lots of laughs to be had in this laugh-track comedy and it’s safe for the whole family to watch.
25. Everybody Love Raymond
This show has so much critical acclaim behind it, you would almost have had to of been living under a rock for the last 15 years not to have heard of it! Ray Barone (Ray Romano) has an interesting and quirky family which includes his wife Deb (Patricia Heaton), brother Robert (Brad Garrett), mother Marie (Doris Roberts) and father Frank (Peter Boyle). His children are often featured on the show, but few of the storylines include them in any major way. Ray’s mother is overbearing, inserting herself into every aspect of Ray, Robert and Deb’s life. This creates plenty of funny comedy, while dad Frank sits back and watches all the fun while making the audience laugh with his quick-witted observations and one-liners. Deb is always crashing Ray’s good times and isn’t afraid to confront Marie about her interference in their lives. Robert is jealous of Ray’s success as a sportswriter, and for having his own family and a wife that takes care of him hand and foot. There’s over 210 funny episodes of this show available on Netflix right now.
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