The 30 funniest comedies on Hulu, because we all need a laugh

Jason Adams August 20, 2024 Movies Leave a comment 22 Views

In search of a good laugh? Hulu’s movie library is here to help.

From cult classics to recent gems, Hulu boasts a large collection of comedies. The prospect of wading through all of them can be daunting, especially since some movies may require an add-on subscription to watch. There’s no streaming woe worse than finding the perfect movie to watch only to realize you don’t have the right plan to watch it.

No need to panic, though: We’ve gone through Hulu’s catalog and narrowed it down to the cream of the comedy crop, all of which can be watched without any extra subscriptions. Any of these movies will have you chuckling in no time.

Here, in no particular order, are the 30 best comedies on Hulu.

1. Poor Things

Emma Stone won her second Oscar for her portrayal of Bella.
Credit: Searchlight Pictures / Everett / Shutterstock

The team-up of Emma Stone with director Yorgos Lanthimos has been a winning one for everybody. For audiences, who’ve been treated to a string of audaciously weird comic masterpieces, and to the creatives themselves — cut to Emma Stone clutching her second Best Actress statue, for 2023’s Poor Things. Stone plays Bella, a Frankensteined young woman whose growth from baby-brained to enthusiastic sex worker is charted by Lanthimos in his typically hilariously bizarre fashion. Furiously jumping from one man (Ramy Youssef) to another (Mark Ruffalo) while her mad-doctor creator (Willem Dafoe) notes down her progress, Poor Things is a tale of self-actualization told in fast-forward fits and starts, as inclined to fart jokes as it is speechifying on the proletariat. Perfect nonsense! — Jason Adams, Contributing Writer

How to watch: Poor Things is now streaming on Hulu.

2. Slums of Beverly Hills

Toss yourself into the way-back machine not once but twice — first to 1998, the year that writer-director Tamara Jenkins’ debut feature, the Sundance hit Slums of Beverly Hills, was released, and then even further back to 1976, the year that Slums of Beverly Hills is set.

Somewhat autobiographical for the director of The Savages and Private Life, the film tells a coming-of-age story about 14-year-old Vivian (played by an 18-year-old Natasha Lyonne) and her wacky family existing on the far, far fringes of the glamorous 90210 scene. With an outrageously packed supporting cast including Marisa Tomei, David Krumholtz, Alan Arkin, Jessica Walter, Kevin Corrigan, Carl Reiner, Mena Suvari, and Rita f’ing Moreno, Slums of Beverly Hills is a pitch-perfect indie-cinema slice of its time — both of its times. — J.A.How to watch: Slums of Beverly Hills is now streaming on Hulu.

3. Fantastic Mr. Fox

George Clooney is Mr. Fox.
Credit: FoxSearch / Everett / Shutterstock

Nearly all of Wes Anderson’s films are now streaming on Hulu, and as a hardcore Wes Anderson devotee since day one who slaps away all incessant accusations of twee, I’d recommend every single one of them. But for my dollar, the most laugh-out-loud funny is this stop-motion animated Roald Dahl adaptation from 2009, which features the voices of Anderson’s usual troupe of actors —Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody — alongside newcomer nobodies like George Clooney and Meryl Streep.

The latter pair play Mr. and Mrs. Fox, retiring thieves who’ve found themselves a nice tree to settle down in when they’re suddenly thrust into a confrontation with three local farmer-psychopaths called Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. The film is surprisingly violent — watching adorable little stop-motion puppets die is something else! — and riotously funny, an autumnal-colored burst of anarchy that only a maniac like Wes Anderson could deliver. It’s cussing perfection! — J.A.

How to watch: Fantastic Mr. Fox is now streaming on Hulu.

4. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo are Barb and Star.
Credit: Lionsgate

It takes maybe five minutes for Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar to elicit its first “WTF?” and to the comedy’s immense credit, it only gets weirder from there.

There are life-saving culottes, and elaborate lies about turtles, and a mythological sea sprite named Trish, and a villain commanding an army of mosquitos, and a musical number that has Jamie Dornan climbing up a palm tree like a cat up a palm tree who’s decided to go up a palm tree, and… Look, you’ve just got to watch it to get it. And at the center of all of it is the sincerely sweet, reliably rock-solid bond between Barb (Annie Mumolo) and Star (Kristen Wiig). Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar ended up being to us what Vista Del Mar was to Barb and Star: the breezy little break from reality we needed to get our shine back. — Angie Han, Deputy Entertainment Editor

How to watch: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is now streaming on Hulu with the live TV add-on.

5. Paddington

It took almost six decades for Michael Bond’s beloved children’s book character of Paddington the Bear to make the leap from the page to the big-screen (although there were some small screen serial adventures along the way), but the wait turned out to be more than worth it. Paul King’s film 2014 film, which has real actors like Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, and Nicole Kidman acting with a CG-animated bear (voiced by Ben Whishaw, after a brief Colin Firth kerfuffle) was considered an immediate classic. (Its sequel is even better.)

In it, Paddington makes his way from the forests of Peru to the lovely little London-town homestead of the Brown family, getting into chaotic adventures everywhere he goes. Kidman roars around having a blast as an over-the-top evil taxidermist who wants to stuff and mount our favorite marmalade-slurping cutie pie in a yellow rain slicker. We don’t get to say this often enough and genuinely mean it, but this one’s true fun for both kids and adults. — J.A.

How to watch: Paddington is now streaming on Hulu.

6. O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Leave it to the Coen Brothers to turn Homer’s ancient classic and high-school-staple The Odyssey into a sepia-toned Depression-era crime-caper about three outlandish prison escapees on the run from the fuzz while on the hunt for buried treasure. And all set to an Oscar-winning score of Southern folk songs from legendary musician T Bone Burnett at that? How did we ever have it so good?

Starring John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, and George Clooney as the brothers Pete, Delmar, and Ulysses Everett McGill, we follow the three on their, dare I say, odyssey, across the scorched-earth South after they break off from their chain gang in search of loot. And if you think you know where the Coens are gonna take you from there, well, I’d hazard a guess that you’ve never seen a Coens movie before. There’s song, there’s dance, there’s Soggy Bottom Boys and sirens and Klan rallies gone deliciously awry. Homer only wishes he’d thought half this shit up! —J.A.

How to watch: O Brother, Where Art Thou? is now streaming on Hulu.

7. Palm Springs

Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti are just chilling in an infinite time loop.
Credit: Chris Willard / Jessica Perez

When Palm Springs arrived in July of 2020, most movie releases were postponed inevitably because of the pandemic — yet here was a movie, a new movie, a festival darling, about people going quietly insane with monotony and losing grip on time itself.

Max Barbakow’s film showcases a cheerfully nihilistic Andy Samberg, along with Cristin Milioti in her best work to date as his increasingly frenzied companion, in “one of those infinite time loop situations you might have heard of.” Their chemistry makes Andy Siara’s script soar, leaving ample room for J.K. Simmons’s sinister interludes and just the right amount of time travel interrogation. It’s a sharp, original comedy worth revisiting again, and again, and again.* — Proma Khosla, Entertainment Reporter

How to watch: Palm Springs is now streaming on Hulu.

8. Working Girl

My apologies to all of you who will have Carly Simon’s Oscar-winning theme song “Let the River Run” stuck in your head for the next week now that I have brought it up. But as soon as I picture the opening credits to Mike Nichols’ comedy classic Working Girl, with the camera zooming toward that NYC-circa-1988 skyline alongside the Staten Island Ferry that carries Tess (Melanie Griffith) to her shitty secretarial job in the financial district of Manhattan, I can’t help but hear that song like lightning.

And then picture Joan Cusack’s flamboyant eye makeup as Tess’ best friend. And Sigourney Weaver furiously stomping around in a gray power suit and crutches. And Harrison Ford changing his shirt in the office while all the women swoon. This iconic tale of Tess clawing her way up the corporate ladder one gigantic lie after another is one of the greatest of ’80s comedies, with everybody so on their game that every second of it is permanently burned into my brain. So come, the new Jerusalem, and let that damn river run already! — J.A.

How to watch: Working Girl is now streaming on Hulu.

9. The Heat

I’d probably give the edge to Spy among Melissa McCarthy–led vehicles (and where the heck is that sequel, anyway?) but you can’t go wrong with Paul Feig’s The Heat, which was sandwiched between Spy and McCarthy’s star-making supporting turn in Bridesmaids among the pair’s comic collaborations. Playing the potty-mouthed bad cop Mullins, who offsets (and sets off) Sandra Bullock’s straight-laced good cop Ashburn, The Heat is odd-couple buddy-movie heaven. The plot is some ’80s-flavored hokum about drug kingpins and double-crosses that exists merely to get its leading twosome into a series of escalating and hilarious jams, and as such, The Heat brings it. The heat, I mean. — J.A.

How to watch: The Heat is now streaming on Hulu.

10. Plan B

Kuhoo Verma and Victoria Moroles go on a road trip.
Credit: Brett Roedel / Hulu

When Sunny (Kuhoo Verma) has sex at a house party, she needs the morning after pill but can’t get it thanks to South Dakota’s regressive pharmacy policy. She and best friend Lupe (Victoria Moroles) embark on a wild road trip that includes illegal drugs, a catfish close call, an insane gas station encounter, and a dick piercing. Verma and Moroles hold the film together superbly, their chemistry elevating every scene of Prathi Srinivasan and Joshua Levy’s riotous script. It’s a killer directorial debut for Natalie Morales, who recognizes the star power in front of the camera and the weight of stories about strong female friendship and women of color living authentically. — P.K.

How to watch: Plan B is now streaming on Hulu.

11. 13 Going on 30

I dare anyone to watch this beloved 2004 comedy from director Gary Winick and walk out of it without a gigantic stupid grin plastered across your face — such is the power of Jennifer Garner at the height of her charm and Mark Ruffalo at his most adorkable. 13 Going on 30 tells the story of Jenna, an unpopular 13-year-old (played at 13 by Christa B. Allen) who makes a wish to be “thirty, flirty, and thriving” that magically comes true, transporting her 17 years into the future and into her 30-year-old self (now played by Garner).

Unfortunately her mind stays 13, so the disconnect between Young Jenna in the body of Older Jenna leads to much comedy, all of which Garner dives into with great relish. Discovering that she’s become a mean girl fashion editor in New York City, Jenna quickly realizes she has to make some decisions about her priorities going forward. What faster way to learn the error of your ways than discovering the adult version of the boy next door who had a crush on you and you didn’t pay attention to has turned out to be Mark Ruffalo? We should all have such lessons to learn. — J.A.

How to watch: 13 Going on 30 is now streaming on Hulu.

12. Buffaloed

It’s a shame that Set it Up co-stars Glen Powell and Zoey Deutch haven’t starred in another rom-com since that 2018 film, because they had mad chemistry with one another. But while Powell was off popping his big guns in Top Gun Maverick, Deutsch went and made the wildly overlooked 2019 comedy Buffaloed with director Tanya Wexler, and I know which I’d rather re-watch. Deutsch plays a hustler named Peg in ye olde Buffalo, New York (hence the title), who, after a stint in prison, turns her hustling skills into the legit hustle of debt collection.

You can safely call this “a madcap romp” but it flies along furiously funny thanks to Deutsch’s megawatt charm, plus the sparkling chemistry she shares with Judy Greer, who plays her frazzled mom. And that’s not a bit part either! Judy Greer gets to play a proper, fully-rounded character! Those golden moments must be seized upon. — J.A.

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How to watch: Buffaloed is now streaming on Hulu.

13. Support the Girls

Shayna McHayle and Haley Lu Richardson play waitresses at a Hooters-esque restaurant.
Credit: Magnolia Pictures / Everett / Shutterstock

Before Regina Hall stars opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Paul Thomas Anderson’s next movie and everybody finally surrenders to what a genius she is, y’all need to go back and watch her exquisite turn as Lisa, the exasperated manager of a Hooters-like restaurant in 2018’s Support the Girls from director Andrew Bujalski. A perfect movie that flew far too under the radar for my liking, it follows a day in the life of Lisa and her waitresses — with Haley Lu Richardson and Shayna McHayle as stand-outs, stealing the movie every second they’re on-screen – as they deal with an endless parade of men who refuse to take them seriously. And even under that burden, Support the Girls remains hopeful and sweet and funny at every turn. Did I mention it’s perfect? It’s perfect. — J.A.

How to watch: Support the Girls is now streaming on Hulu.

14. Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion

We’ve all been there. You’re just innocently living your life, thinking things are OK, when suddenly a high school reunion invitation shows up in the mail and sends you into a tailspin. How much time has passed? What have you accomplished? And who the hell wants to go to town with some guy who drives a rowboat?

Such is the existential crisis that drives the engine of the 1997 cult comedy classic Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, starring Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow as the titular BFFs whose 10-year reunion forces them to ask all sort of questions about their lives that they’re unprepared for. And so they do what any sane person would do — they put on business suits and pretend they invented Post-it Notes.

With a supporting cast that includes Janeane Garofolo, Alan Cumming, and Justin Theroux, this movie took some time to become widely beloved, but it’s been home to me since Romy told that dude her shoe was filling up with blood. — J.A.

How to watch: Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion is now streaming on Hulu.

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15. Triangle of Sadness

Woody Harrelson plays a rascally captain in “Triangle of Sadness.”
Credit: Fredrick Wenzel / Plattform Produktion

Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund has made a name for himself with a string of arty dark comedies about the sickened human condition, and I recommend each and every single one of them. Indeed, his Oscar-nominated 2017 film The Square is also streaming on Hulu right now, so do yourself a double feature! But his most recent, 2022’s grand (and also Oscar-nominated) Triangle of Sadness, is easily his most epic — an upstairs-downstairs satire that puts a pile of obscene capitalists on board a luxury yacht, makes them all barf for 10 straight minutes, and then goes full Lord of the Flies on their asses for its final act. Brutally, hilariously blunt in its messaging, Triangle of Sadness gave red meat to hungry actors like Woody Harrelson, Harris Dickinson, and Dolly de Leon, and together we all feast. — J.A.

How to watch: Triangle of Sadness is now streaming on Hulu.

SEE ALSO:

‘Triangle of Sadness’ review: The “eat the rich” comedy goes gross-out, and it’s great

16. Big

It’s tempting to think of Penny Marshall’s 1988 comedy Big as a “body-swapping” movie, but as with 13 Going on 30, that’s not exactly the case, since the only person these main characters are “swapping” with is themselves. Just older. Still, it exercises the same kind of skills for the actors involved. Instead of, say, Jamie Lee Curtis pretending to be Linsday Lohan, we get Tom Hanks pretending he’s a 12-year-old version of himself trapped in an adult body. Let the acting, and the comedy, commence!

After making a wish on a Zoltar fortune-telling machine at the carnival that he won’t have to be a picked-on little dweeb anymore, 12-year-old Josh (David Moscow ) wakes up looking like 32-year-old Tom Hanks. This obviously causes issues, like his Mom (Mercedes Ruehl) freaking out about there suddenly being a middle-aged pervert in her child’s bedroom, so Josh is forced to go on the run. Thankfully, this is a sweet fable, so before long Josh has become a celebrated executive at a toy company who’s banging Elizabeth Perkins… just try not to get too hung up on the criminal logistics of that last part. The ’80s were a different time, man. — J.A.

How to watch: Big is now streaming on Hulu.

17. My Cousin Vinny

For a long time it seemed like My Cousin Vinny was just known as the movie that inexplicably won Marisa Tomei an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Thankfully I think (or hope) that we’ve all come around on that in the two decades since, and we now see that win as one of the Academy’s most inspired choices. They should award more brilliant comic turns like hers! Tomei plays Lisa, the brash Brooklyn girlfriend to Vinny (Joe Pesci), a personal injury lawyer who’s called down to Alabama to defend his nephew who’s been falsely arrested for murder. It’s a broad-as-a-barnside comedy about the culture clash between the loud New Yorkers and the genteel hicks, and it’s a riot. — J.A.

How to watch: My Cousin Vinny is now streaming on Hulu.

18. Fire Island

Bowen Yang and Joel Kim Booster star in “Fire Island.”
Credit: Hulu

If people had been telling queer stories for as long as there have been queer people, we surely would’ve gotten a loose adaptation of a Jane Austen story applied to gay men before 2022, given what an easy translation that makes. But we can’t be angry that when it finally did arrive it arrived in the tremendously capable hands of director Andrew Ahn (Driveways) and writer and star Joel Kim Booster, and they knocked it outta the park.

Inspired by Pride and Prejudice, Booster stars as Noah, who heads to the titular gay mecca every summer with his four best friends (played by Bowen Yang, Matt Rogers, Tomás Matos, and Torian Miller) to stay at a lovely island cottage owned by their lesbian pal (Margaret Cho). Immediately drama rains upon them – the cottage is being sold! There are rich racist gays who sneer at them! And most importantly of all – will everybody get properly laid? It’s all sweet and sexy and beautifully filmed – Ahn, a gifted and precise filmmaker, gives the story and its sense of place plenty of room to breathe, making the emotional arcs land better than they usually do in your average basic rom-com. — J.A.

How to watch: Fire Island is now streaming on Hulu.

SEE ALSO:

12 of the best romantic comedies streaming on Hulu

19. That Thing You Do!

Tom Hanks has only directed two feature films, and this is by far “the good one” (with my apologies to Larry Crowne). The made-up story of the meteoric rise of a one-hit-wonder rock band in the 1960s, That Thing You Do! is charm incarnate. (Not to mention another movie where the movie’s theme song will get lodged in your head for weeks.) Tom Everett Scott, Johnathon Schaech, Steve Zahn, and Ethan Embry make up The Wonders, with Liv Tyler as a Yoko who comes between the boys in the band, and Hanks playing their manager (shades of Elvises to come). And then there’s that theme song — a perfect pop confection (written by Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger); you absolutely 1000 percent understand 1) why it takes off the way it does, and 2) how it quickly turns into a curse from which there is no escape. — J.A.

How to watch: That Thing You Do! is now streaming on Hulu.

20. Theater Camp

Going into Theater Camp, there were three big selling points for me. First, it was co-written and co-stars Molly Gordon, who very nearly stole the stellar comedy Shiva Baby from Rachel Sennott, and if you’ve ever seen Rachel Sennott in anything you know what a feat that is. Second, the film also stars the fantastic Ayo Edebiri of The Bear, as well as Bottoms, which… also co-starred Rachel Sennott? Weird. And third, Theater Camp has Amy Sedaris in it, and Amy Sedaris will seat me for anything. (I don’t believe her and Rachel Sennott have ever faced off, but I will be there for that, believe me.)

Also starring Noah Galvin, Jimmy Tatro, Patti Harrison, and Ben Platt, Theater Camp is basically a slightly more sincere version of Wet Hot American Summer, since if there’s one thing theater kids love, it’s unbridled sincerity. Made with that target audience in mind, this thing hits its mark over and over again. Molly Gordon hive rise! — J.A.

How to watch: Theater Camp is now streaming on Hulu.

21. Napoleon Dynamite

Jon Heder and Efren Ramirez play Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro.
Credit: Access / MTV / Napoleon Ltd / Kobal / Shutterstock

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year if you can believe it is director Jared Hess’ now classic high-school comedy Napoleon Dynamite, which premiered at Sundance in January of 2004 and six months later raked in 45 million bucks at the box office. That’s a lot of dynamite for an indie that cost nothing to make and starred absolutely nobody!

Starring Jon Heder (who’s gone on to be somebody thanks to this movie) as the film’s titular dweeb, Napoleon Dynamite tells the tale of Napoleon’s burgeoning friendship with Pedro – “Vote For Pedro” T-shirts are now iconic pop-culture detritus – and his race for the school presidency. Oh and a legendary dance routine to Jamiroquai. Jamiroquai! Remember Jamiroquai? It’s all very of its moment, but as a time capsule of that moment, there might be nothing better. — J.A.

How to watch: Napoleon Dynamite is now streaming on Hulu.

22. Idiocracy

Writer-director Mike Judge has gifted the world with both Beavis and Butthead, not to mention the many dim-witted denizens of Arlen, Texas, in his series King of the Hill. Point being, the man knows when he speaks of American Stupid. But he really tapped into something prophetic with Idiocracy, his 2006 cult comedy that foresaw a future for the United States where we’d elect a reality-star dipshit to be president and evolve into drooling monosyllabic morons who don’t know not to spray Gatorade on crops if we want to continue eating. Idiocracy stars Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph as two regular Joes in 2006 who get cryogenically frozen only to wake up 500 years in the future and find their basic intelligence suddenly makes them the smartest people on earth. Alternately feared and loathed, they must try to pull humanity back from the brink of its own self-immolation. Honestly — relatable. — J.A.

How to watch: Idiocracy is now streaming on Hulu.

23. Dinner in America

How this punk rock romance went so underseen when it got released in 2022, I’ll never fathom. I can only chalk it up to the inexplicable two years that passed between its Sundance premiere and it hitting theaters, because it’s so much fun and full of energy and beautifully performed by its leads (Kyle Gallner and Emily Skeggs) that it deserved far more attention. But now we can all give it that attention together by watching it here on Hulu.

Skeggs plays a very odd college dropout who’s obsessed with a local punk rock band; Gallner is the lead singer of said band, but given he wears a mask on-stage nobody knows that fact except him. The two meet cute (i.e. he’s on the run from the police while selling drugs) and yadda yadda romance. The yadda yadda is the good part. And the good part is how Skeggs and Gallner have oodles of chemistry and are an absolute pleasure to watch fall for one another. A true underappreciated gem just sitting here waiting for you to appreciate it. — J.A.

How to watch: Dinner in America is now streaming on Hulu.

24. Quiz Lady

“Quiz Lady” stars Awkwafina and Sandra Oh.
Credit: Hulu

Awkwafina and Sandra Oh play estranged sisters Anne and Jenny, who find themselves being chased by gangsters after their gambling-addict mother runs off and leaves them in the lurch with her debts. The gangsters even kidnap Anne’s cute little dog! And so Jenny, the wild sister, hatches a scheme that Anne could easily earn back the money on a TV quiz show. Because obviously. And somehow that becomes the plan. So the two hit the road — cue over-the-top hijinks.

And this 2023 film from director Jessica Yu is what a modern “high-concept” movie looks like, in case you didn’t get that from the part where the gangsters steal Anne’s dog. It’s loud and it’s goofy and a good old-fashioned broadest of broads comedy. Oh in particular is having a blast letting loose in ways she hasn’t gotten to do in awhile (by which I mean she has purple hair). Also onboard are Jason Schwartzman and Will Ferrell. Oh, and the legendary Paul Reubens in his final performance! — J.A.

How to watch: Quiz Lady is now streaming on Hulu.

25. Enchanted

Do we have Enchanted to blame for the never-ending live-action Disney adaptation craze? Sure, it might not have been a literal remake of any previous Disney Princess stories (although it was obviously riffing on most of them). And when it hit screens in 2007, it might not have made as much money as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland movie did a couple years later, but then Alice in Wonderland made an inexplicable billion dollars.

What Enchanted did prove was that there was more than enough charm to be milked from watching real, live human beings act like fairy-tale fools. The only difference is that Enchanted and its game cast — Amy Adams, James Marsden, Susan Sarandon, Patrick Dempsey – was in on the joke. The story of Princess-to-be Giselle (Adams) being cursed by the wicked witch (Sarandon) to live in the real world of Manhattan, where she finds herself torn between her Prince (Marsden) and a divorce lawyer (Dempsey) is sly as heck in its princess story subversions, while also feeding our needs for all the tropes anyway. — J.A.

How to watch: Enchanted is now streaming on Hulu.

26. Official Competition

In 2022, Penelope Cruz gave two of her best performances to date. One was Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers, for which she got an Oscar nomination. Official Competition is the other one. And if we’re being honest, the latter is my preferred pick, since I think she gives her balls-to-the-wall funniest turn ever here. The film sees her playing the inestimably pretentious film director Lola Cuevas, who is suddenly handed a bottomless reservoir of cash by the dying billionaire Humberto Suárez (José Luis Gómez). He has decided on a sudden whim that he wants an epic film to be his final contribution to the world, even though he knows absolutely nothing about the movies. He simply asks his assistants to name the best director, and voila – Lola’s a go.

What proceeds is a vicious satire of artistic pretension, as Lola hires two actors for her lead characters (Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martínez), whose approaches to acting couldn’t be more different — one is a very serious theater snob, while the other is a fame-hungry Hollywood starfucker. Fireworks are loosed, and millions of dollars are flushed down the toilet with surprising ease. Will it make for good cinema? It certainly makes for a hilarious movie about the making of movies. — J.A.

How to watch: Official Competition is now streaming on Hulu.

27. Little Monsters

Lupita Nyong’o deserves accolades as a Scream Queen.
Credit: Hulu / Neon / Moviestore / Shutterstock

Between the Quiet Place prequel, her Oscar-worthy turn in Us in 2019, and her hilarious romp in the zombie-comedy Little Monsters that same year, we should be properly crowning Lupita Nyong’o a Scream Queen already. Little Monsters sees her playing Miss Audrey, an elementary school teacher who faces down a zombie outbreak while on a school field trip with her class. And since the movie also involves a romance with one of the kid’s uncles (Alexander England), you can add it to the elite group of zom-rom-coms alongside Shaun of the Dead and Warm Bodies. Wherever you’d classify it, it’s a charming, goofy, bloody good time, and yes, it stars one of our great current Scream Queens, dammit. — J.A.

How to watch: Little Monsters is now streaming on Hulu.

28. Father of the Bride

We find ourselves having a lil bit of a Steve-aissance these days, thanks to the grand success of Steve Martin’s Hulu series, Only Murders in the Building, as well as Apple’s recent documentary on the comedy legend. So why not remind yourself why you love him a little more and go watch one of his comedy films, too? No big surprise that Hulu has a couple on tap, but I’m going to direct you to his sweet-as-pie 1991 remake of the 1950 Spencer Tracy classic Father of the Bride, which is about a sneaker salesman named George who is having a complete mental breakdown as his daughter (Kimberly Williams) gets married. But the funny version of that! Diane Keaton co-stars as George’s momentarily suffering wife, Nina, while Martin’s real-life life-partner Martin Short turns in one of his broadest caricatures (and that’s saying something) as the wedding planner Franck Eggelhoffer. (P.S., the sequel is also streaming on Hulu.) — J.A.

How to watch: Father of the Bride is now streaming on Hulu.

29. The Cable Guy

If The Cable Guy was remade today, I suppose it would be about the person who installs your wi-fi, since everybody’s “cut the cord.” The entire concept of this movie is very ’90s, kind of like an episode of Seinfeld run amok. But nobody ran amok in the ’90s like Jim Carrey, and this — the second feature from director Ben Stiller after Reality Bites — let Carrey lean into the darkness inherent in his deranged persona more than any of his previous roles up to that point.

As with a plumber or a drug dealer, there’s an inherent discomfort in letting these strangers into our homes and being forced to make small talk with them. Stiller’s film maximizes that with Carrey’s off-the-rails performance as “Chip,” who never met a boundary he wouldn’t crash right through. Normal guy Steven (Matthew Broderick) doesn’t realize what a pact with the devil he’s making when he accepts Chip’s offer of an off-the-books upgrade, and before you can say “Comedy Central” five times fast, Steven’s entire life has been upended. Demented cult fun that was ahead of its time for how pitch-black it went while also being very much of its time. — J.A.

How to watch: The Cable Guy is now streaming on Hulu.

30. (500) Days of Summer

Zooey Deschanel is Summer.
Credit: Watermark / Kobal / Shutterstock

I feel as if there has been a backlash to (500) Days of Summer, a huge hit when it came out in 2009 that began to feel dated in its twee-ness almost immediately. But I’m going to present a backlash to the backlash, because this movie just makes me smile. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel play Tom and Summer, whose relationship is dissected in nonlinear fashion with its start and finish all mixed up, smacking their happiest moments up against their worst. It’s basically that legendary sex scene in Don’t Look Now that cuts back and forth between the sex and the getting dressed after the sex, turned into a full feature-length movie. And it works for me! Levitt and Deschanel have lovely chemistry, and Mark Webb knows how to spin romance. Just ask Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in the two Spider-man movies he made right after this. — J.A.

How to watch: (500) Days of Summer is now streaming on Hulu.

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UPDATE: Aug. 19, 2024, 4:00 p.m. EDT This article was originally published in 2020 and has been updated to reflect the latest streaming options.

(*) indicates the blurb comes from a previous Mashable list.