Some comedies don’t hold up to anything more than a single viewing, because the story is uninteresting, the characters are one-dimensional, and the punchlines are predictable. But there are some entries in the genre that really stand out. The jokes age like a fine wine, the ironclad plotting withstands countless revisits, and the idiosyncratic character moments never get old.
Comedies that are jam-packed with jokes, Easter eggs, and subtle foreshadowing can be enjoyed over and over again. From Superbad to Back to the Future, there are a bunch of great examples.
Superbad (2007)
A perfect example of the Apatow tradition of telling ultimately sweet stories in a raunchy hard-R context, Greg Mottola’s teen comedy gem Superbad is jam-packed with laughs, thanks to its perfectly matched leads, Jonah Hill and Michael Cera.
The script was fine-tuned over the course of a decade since Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg began writing it as 13-year-old high schoolers and didn’t find a Hollywood studio to produce it until their mid-20s, so every page is full of time-tested material.
Groundhog Day (1993)
Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day stars Bill Murray as a news reporter who falls for his producer while he’s stuck in a time loop. And a movie about living the same day over and over again feels more relevant than ever in the COVID age.
Since it covers a timeframe of 10,000 years and deals with some lofty existential subjects, Groundhog Day benefits from a few viewings. Plus, Bill Murray's performance as the quintessential curmudgeon with a heart of gold never gets old.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
With a pair of mob hitmen who bicker like Jerry and George in Seinfeld and a boxer who ends up trapped in the basement sex dungeon of a sadistic pawn shop owner, Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction is a very different kind of crime movie, and, arguably, one of the greatest dark comedies ever made.
Almost every scene in Pulp Fiction is iconic, but its nonlinear structure, constant cultural references, and abundance of Easter eggs need a few viewings to fully comprehend.
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Rob Reiner’s iconic mock-rockumentary, This is Spinal Tap, was edited down to a watertight 82-minute runtime from hours of material ad-libbed by the cast.
Everybody remembers classic moments like “Hello, Cleveland!” and “These go up to 11,” but no one catches every joke in This is Spinal Tap on their first viewing. The authentic documentary style means that a lot of great bits get lost in the milieu the first time.
Shaun Of The Dead (2004)
Edgar Wright’s zom-com, Shaun of the Dead, hilariously lampoons the zombie genre while offering up a great zombie movie in its own right. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost star as a pair of flatmates who sleep through the undead uprising after a night at the pub and wake up hungover in a post-apocalyptic world.
Like the rest of Wright’s Cornetto movies, Shaun of the Dead makes terrific use of foreshadowing. In an early scene in the movie, Frost outlines the entire plot – but viewers only spot it if they’ve seen the movie before. Shaun and its spiritual sequels are filled with these little nods to long-time fans.
Airplane! (1980)
Telling an absurd version of the plot of the made-for-TV disaster movie, Zero Hour!, Airplane! sees a former fighter pilot being called upon to land a plane when the cabin crew all get sick with food poisoning.
The iconic spoof is filled to the brim with jokes of every kind: visual gags, wordplay, slapstick, movie references, and little details in the background. It’s impossible to catch them all in a single viewing.
Toy Story (1995)
Pixar made the first feature-length computer-animated movie ever with Toy Story, which is a record that shouldn’t be taken lightly. The only reason computer-animated features are now a blockbuster genre is that Pixar perfected it with this first one.
The groundbreaking animation of Toy Story was committed to bringing an airtight, meticulously crafted script to life, and the animators included dozens of little details that will be missed upon first watch, like seeing the carpet from The Shining in Sid’s house.
Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975)
After revolutionizing sketch comedy with their series Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the Pythons made their first original feature-length movie with 1975’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
The comedy of this movie operates on a few different levels. On the surface, it’s a series of sharply written Python sketches loosely based around the Arthurian legend, but it also takes aim at the artifice of cinema itself with jokey opening credits, constant fourth-wall-breaking, and a hysterically anticlimactic ending. It's these many layers that make it great for watching over and over again, as even long-time fans of the crew will notice something new and hilarious every time.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Coen brothers’ stoner noir The Big Lebowski, a classically hard-boiled tale of mistaken identity told through the eyes of a dope-smoking slacker, is one of the cornerstones of cult cinema. In fact, it’s rewatchable enough to have inspired a whole religion.
The plot isn’t very important, so the movie doesn’t get too bogged down in it. Instead of following plot point to plot point, audiences can sit back with a White Russian and enjoy the Dude’s seemingly aimless, pot-addled odyssey through Los Angeles, crossing paths with the city’s wackiest, most colorful characters along the way. And no matter how many times one watches, it never gets old.
Back To The Future (1985)
Robert Zemeckis’ timeless time-travel comedy, Back to the Future still holds up, as it sees Marty McFly accidentally traveling back to 1955 in his friend Doc Brown’s new time machine and unwittingly preventing his parents from meeting. He has to team up with a younger Doc to get “back to the future” while trying to ensure that his parents get together so he’ll continue to exist.
Zemeckis’ script, co-written with Bob Gale, is filled with subtle foreshadowing that audiences will miss the first time. In this way, it’s important to pay attention to the early 1985 scenes because they’re filled with setups that pay off later in the 1955 scenes.