Film comedy changed a lot throughout the 2010s, but not for the better. In fact, the decade just might’ve killed the genre — at least on the big screen. After the R-rated comedy enjoyed a brief stint as a blockbuster genre throughout the Apatow era in the late 2000s and early 2010s, audiences lost interest in middle-of-the-road comedies like Central Intelligence and began seeking humor attached to big-budget spectacle movies like Guardians of the Galaxy.
More comedies have been tanking than succeeding at the box office, and A-list names like Will Ferrell and Melissa McCarthy can’t even draw crowds to theaters anymore. But, for all its lows, the decade still had some highs. Here are the five best and five worst comedy movies from the 2010s.
Best: Bridesmaids (2011)
While the spectacular improv skills of the cast (particularly Melissa McCarthy, who became an overnight star from this movie) shouldn’t be discredited, the M.V.P. of Bridesmaids is Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo’s Oscar-nominated script. Ad-libbing by the actors changed a lot of the script’s jokes on the way from the page to the screen, but two things that remained were the subversive twists and real emotional beats that Wiig and Mumolo brought to a familiar romcom structure.
Paul Feig’s focused direction keeps the improv from veering too far off-point, while remaining loose enough to give the actors the freedom to take each scene in wildly different directions.
Worst: Jack And Jill (2011)
With his recent Netflix stand-up special and his lead performance in Uncut Gems, Adam Sandler has recently reminded audiences that when he tries, he can deliver incredible work, with real depth in his acting. But in 2011's Jack and Jill, Sandler proved that when he doesn’t try, he is capable of quite the opposite.
Sandler plays dual roles as twins: a Sandler-ian mega-rich family man and his loud, socially inept sister. No one went into this movie with sky-high expectations, but the hope was that it might at least fall into the so-bad-it’s-good category. Unfortunately, it’s just bad. The Razzies had a field day.
Best: This Is The End (2013)
After writing Superbad and Pineapple Express, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg made their directorial debut with the apocalyptic comedy This is the End. As the end of the world rocks L.A., satirical portrayals of Rogen and his usual cohorts (including Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson) hunker down in James Franco’s ultra-modernist house and slowly grow to hate each other.
Lit like a gritty horror movie and written and performed as a pitch-black comedy, This is the End was one of the 2010s’ most enjoyable and idiosyncratic films.
Worst: Dumb And Dumber To (2014)
Two decades after the first Dumb and Dumber film made Jim Carrey one of the biggest movie stars in the world, the Farrelly brothers yanked him out of obscurity to beat shamefully outdated gags to death.
The script for Dumb and Dumber To appears to have been written in the mid-‘90s after the success of the original and left to gather dust until some producers were desperate enough to finance its production. Dumb and Dumber To is a movie that shouldn’t have been made.
Best: Booksmart (2019)
Bringing a modern sensibility to the fun but regressive ‘80s high school comedies of John Hughes, Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut Booksmart showed other 2010s comedies that struggled to adapt to the progressive climate how it’s done.
The movie is carried by the on-screen chemistry of its leads, Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein, who are genuinely believable as best friends.
Worst: Holmes & Watson (2018)
This movie got turned down by Netflix. The streaming service that proudly premiered The Ridiculous 6, Bright, and The Wrong Missy thought that this movie would give them a bad name. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly’s previous on-screen team-ups, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers, rank among the funniest comedies in recent memory, which made Holmes & Watson an even bigger shame.
Starring Ferrell as Sherlock Holmes and Reilly as Dr. Watson, Holmes & Watson beats terribly on-the-nose attempts at satire to death and parodies the style of the Robert Downey, Jr.-starring Holmes movies way, way too late (so late that a new on-screen incarnation of the character — Benedict Cumberbatch’s modern take — has become the most widely known). A comedic take on the Sherlock Holmes stories has so much potential, but this lazy, mindless movie squandered it.
Best: What We Do In The Shadows (2014)
The mockumentary genre has been done to death. It’s the comedy equivalent of horror’s “found footage” subgenre — it can be done sloppily in lazy hands, but it can also be done masterfully in skilled hands.
Crafted by the wildly talented Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, What We Do in the Shadows is a prime example of the latter. Its rapid-fire gag rate could rival The Naked Gun, while its take on vampire lore is genuinely cinematic.
Worst: Zoolander 2 (2016)
Arriving a decade-and-a-half after the first Zoolander movie, Zoolander 2 crashed and burned on its theatrical release. The movie is a prime example of how horribly a comedy sequel can turn out.
Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson’s performances as Zoolander and Hansel don’t have nearly as much energy as they did in the original film, and the script (that, for some reason, Stiller had been happy with for years) is filled with dated-on-arrival references to Justin Bieber and selfie sticks.
Best: The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Structured like a novel and shot like a series of moving photographs, The Grand Budapest Hotel has one of the most unique visual styles of any 2010s movie. It most prominently exemplifies the changes made to Wes Anderson’s directorial style after he first attempted animation.
Ralph Fiennes gives a career-best performance as M. Gustave, leading a stellar ensemble cast including Saoirse Ronan, Tilda Swinton, and Edward Norton.
Worst: Dirty Grandpa (2016)
In Dirty Grandpa, Zac Efron plays a lawyer (really) who drives his recently widowed grandfather, played by Robert De Niro (really), to Daytona Beach to sleep around with college-aged girls (really!). De Niro’s romantic interest is played by Aubrey Plaza — it’s difficult to watch.
Dirty Grandpa is the worst comedy of the decade (and maybe ever), because it’s not just painfully unfunny; it’s also morally bankrupt, relying on bigotry and misogyny for cheap, tired, uncomfortable gags.