“Notionally, one of the most loved of genres, comedy persistently finds that it is somehow ineligible for greatness,” said film critic Peter Bradshaw.

Comedies rarely get Oscars. Charlie Chaplin, the great comic, was one of cinema’s first international superstars. Keaton, the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy produced sublime gems of film-making, arguably cherished more now than at the time. Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot is one of the most loved films of all time, with a miraculously light touch and a glorious romantic chemistry between Curtis, Lemmon and Monroe. In Hollywood, the screwball tradition came to be supplanted in public taste by Woody Allen, whose DNA can be traced through the cerebral creations of Charlie Kaufman.

These are the 25 best comedy films of all time according to the critics of the Guardian and Observer.

1.

Annie Hall

(1977)

Director: Woody Allen
Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts

Amazon
$6.83

2.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

(2006)

Director: Larry Charles
Stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian, Luenell

Amazon
–

3.

Some Like It Hot

(1959)

Director: Billy Wilder
Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon

Amazon
–

4.

Team America: World Police

(2004)

Director: Trey Parker
Stars: Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Elle Russ

Amazon
–

5.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

(1964)

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden

Amazon
–

5.

The Ladykillers

(1955)

Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Stars: Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker

Amazon
$16.66

7.

Duck Soup

(1933)

Director: Leo McCarey
Stars: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx

Amazon
–

7.

Rushmore

(1998)

Director: Wes Anderson
Stars: Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams

Amazon
$4.00

9.

Kind Hearts and Coronets

(1949)

Director: Robert Hamer
Stars: Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, Valerie Hobson

Amazon
–

10.

Life of Brian

(1979)

Director: Terry Jones
Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin

Amazon
–

11.

Airplane!

(1980)

Director: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Stars: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen

Amazon
–

12.

Election

(1999)

Director: Alexander Payne
Stars: Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein

Amazon
–

12.

His Girl Friday

(1940)

Director: Howard Hawks
Stars: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy

Amazon
–

12.

The Big Lebowski

(1998)

Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Stars: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore

Amazon
–

[amazon template=custom_thumbnail&asin=B000Y5JFN4&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Reiner This Is Spinal Tap]

15.[amazon text=This Is Spinal Tap&template=custom_title&asin=B000Y5JFN4&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Reiner This Is Spinal Tap] (1984)

Director: [amazon text=Rob Reiner&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Rob Reiner] Stars: [amazon text=Rob Reiner&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Rob Reiner], [amazon text=Michael McKean&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Michael McKean], [amazon text=Christopher Guest&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Christopher Guest]

[amazon text=Amazon&template=custom_text_price&asin=B000Y5JFN4&multi_cc=1&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Reiner This Is Spinal Tap]

16.

Bringing Up Baby

(1938)

Director: Howard Hawks
Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles

Amazon
–

17.

There’s Something about Mary

(1998)

Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Stars: Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon

Amazon
–

[amazon template=custom_thumbnail&asin=B005D0RDVG&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Dazed and Confused Richard Linklater]

18.[amazon text=Dazed and Confused&template=custom_title&asin=B005D0RDVG&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Dazed and Confused Richard Linklater] (1993)

Director: [amazon text=Richard Linklater&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Richard Linklater] Stars: [amazon text=Jason London&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Jason London], [amazon text=Wiley Wiggins&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Wiley Wiggins], [amazon text=Matthew McConaughey&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Matthew McConaughey]

[amazon text=Amazon&template=custom_text_price&asin=B005D0RDVG&multi_cc=1&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Dazed and Confused Richard Linklater]

18.

MASH

(1970)

Director: Robert Altman
Stars: Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt

Amazon
–

20.

Groundhog Day

(1993)

Director: Harold Ramis
Stars: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott

Amazon
–

[amazon template=custom_thumbnail&asin=B00AEFXO1I&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Clueless Amy Heckerling]

21.[amazon text=Clueless&template=custom_title&asin=B00AEFXO1I&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Clueless Amy Heckerling] (1995)

Director: [amazon text=Amy Heckerling&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Amy Heckerling] Stars: [amazon text=Alicia Silverstone&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Alicia Silverstone], [amazon text=Stacey Dash&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Stacey Dash], [amazon text=Brittany Murphy&template=custom_search&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Brittany Murphy]

[amazon text=Amazon&template=custom_text_price&asin=B00AEFXO1I&multi_cc=1&search_text=%TITLE%&title=Clueless Amy Heckerling]

22.

The Great Dictator

(1940)

Director: Charlie Chaplin
Stars: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie

Amazon
$29.28

23.

Clerks

(1994)

Director: Kevin Smith
Stars: Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti

Amazon
–

24.

The Jerk

(1979)

Director: Carl Reiner
Stars: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams

Amazon
–

25.

Shaun of the Dead

(2004)

Director: Edgar Wright
Stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield

Amazon
–