It also, lest we forget, defined an entire genre, accidentally inventing everything from The Office to The Blair Witch Project (not to mention lead axe-man Christopher Guest's entire subsequent career). these ones go to eleven') and some of the meatiest metal melodies this side of Bon Scott-era AC/DC, this is simply a perfect film: from the first chord of 'Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight' to the very final line ('I dunno, what are the hours?'), there's literally nothing about it that could be improved. Sporting arguably the most quotable script in movie history ('no. Yes, our experts have cast their votes and the winner by a clear margin is Rob Reiner's genre-setting mockumentary – or, if you will, rockumentary – about England's largest-livin', heaviest-riffin', filthiest-lyric-singin', biggest-hair-havin', fluffiest-jumper-ownin' heavy rock combo. You're asking, how much more funny could this be? And the answer is none. 🥰 The greatest romantic comedies of all time

But if they don’t… well, that sounds like a ‘you’ problem. We can’t be sure they’ll all make you laugh. And the films we came up with represent the 100 most hilarious – and most lasting – laughers ever made. Is this film still funny now, and will it still be years from now? In sorting the GOATs from the groaners, we enlisted the help of comedians like Diane Morgan and Russell Howard, actors such as John Boyega and Jodie Whittaker and a small army of Time Out writers. There’s a lot that goes into identifying truly great comedy, but the main one has to do with durability. That makes coming up with the best comedy films of all-time especially challenging. Humour is also deeply individualistic: one person’s ROTFLMAO is another’s shrug emoji. What’s funny in 1923 might not make a lick of sense to 2023 audiences. Even action flicks live longer in the cultural imagination – the thrill that comes from seeing stuff get blowed up real good is universal.

Drama, horror and romance movies all tap into innate human desires and anxieties that anyone from any generation can understand. Call it a hot take if you want, but there is no greater feat in cinema than creating a timeless comedy.

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