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Top 10 Sci-Fi / Fantasy Comedies

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Comedy is tough to do right under normal circumstances. Add the technical distractions of science fiction and fantasy -- all those green screens and dragons -- and you're in serious risk of derailing the simplest jokes. Below are ten genre films that succeed both as comedies and as sci-fi.


1. Back to the Future (1985)

  • Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd.
  • Best Line: "You built a time machine ... out of a DeLorean?"
  • The story: Marty accidentally travels back to 1955 in a time-machine invented by his friend, Doc Brown. Meeting his parents skews time so that he might never be born – Marty and 1955 Doc must find a way to get Marty back home.
  • Why it makes the list: Fox and Lloyd work perfectly together, making comedy look easy. Meanwhile the rest of the cast is uniformly spot-on. The entire storyline is constructed with clockwork precision – almost every moment is either a set-up for later or a pay-off from earlier in the film.
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2. The Incredibles (2004)

  • Stars: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Jason Lee.
  • Best Line: "No capes."
  • The story: After America turns on its superheroes, Bob (Mr. Incredible), Helen (ElastiGirl), and their super-powered kids are forced to live quiet lives as ordinary suburbanites. When Bob's secret offer to go back into action turns out to be a trap, the whole family must work together to save him.
  • Why it makes the list: One of the few films to truly make its superheroes accessible. Bob's frustration with society's ungratefulness, and Helen's yearning for an ordinary life, are anchors for the irony, spoofs, and one-liners that pepper the film.
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3. Young Frankenstein (1974)

  • Stars: Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle.
  • Best Line: "Could be worse." "How?" "Could be raining."
  • The story: Victor von Frankenstein's grandson, the famous neurosurgeon Frederick Frankenstein, has long been derisive of his grandfather's work. But when he finds Victor's diary and his old assistant Igor, Frederick is tempted to repeat his experiments.
  • Why it makes the list: The original Frankenstein was pretty funny – James Whale, the director, went for camp to keep himself interested. Mel Brooks took the best elements of that whimsy, threw in other classic films, and conjured 106 minutes of pure, silly comedy.
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4. Brazil (1985)

  • Stars: Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro.
  • Best Line: "This is Information Retrieval – not Information Dispersal."
  • The story: When mild-mannered Harry Buttle is nabbed in place of rebel Harry Tuttle, Sam Lowry is drawn into correcting the mistake – only to be branded a terrorist himself.
  • Why it makes the list: Pryce's dreamy Everyman solidly grounds the film while bizarre characters buzz wildly around him. The film is saturated with great sight gags, but they're all in service of the plot. The opening scene, in which Buttle is slated for arrest after a fly interferes with a typewriter, is a dystopian gem all on its own.
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5. Harvey (1950)

  • Stars: Jimmy Stewart.
  • Best Line: "I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it."
  • The story: Elwood P. Dowd is the very definition of ordinary, excerpt that this mild-mannered fellow happens to be friends with a six-foot rabbit that only he can see.
  • Why it makes the list: A classic evocation of postwar whimsy, Harvey was adapted from the stage and carries over its main strength – the dependable Elwood, who's deemed to be crazy when, in fact, he's saner than anyone. That Stewart is a pleasure to watch goes without saying, but there are other fun performances as well.
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6. Groundhog Day (1993)

  • Stars: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell.
  • Best Line: "This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather."
  • The story: Petulant weatherman Phil Connors find himself living the same day over and over again. Frustration mounts as Phil tries to figure out how to break the cycle.
  • Why it makes the list:Groundhog Day relies both on Murray's perfectly balanced performance and a carefully structured story. Phil's obnoxious behavior at the beginning gives him a long journey, and what's best about Groundhog Day is that taking that journey with him is a lot of fun.
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7. Shrek (2001)

  • Stars: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz.
  • Best Line: "Eat me!"
  • The story: When Prince Farquaad starts rounding up the mythical beings in his kingdom, many take refuge in an isolated swamp of an antisocial ogre, Shrek. In order to get rid of the visitors, Shrek grudgingly volunteers to undertake a quest to rescue a damsel locked away in a far castle.
  • Why it makes the list: A fractured fairy tale saturated with sight-gags, pop culture references, and twisted takes on well-known fables. It creates a zany and bizarre world in which the snarling, unwashed ogre is the one you root for from the very beginning.
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8. Spirited Away (2001)

  • Best Line: "Once you do something, you never forget. Even if you can't remember."
  • The story: Chihiro and her family find an abandoned village full of food and with spirits. A boy helps her get a job so she can stay long enough to free her parents, who are turned into pigs; but the price is her own identity.
  • Why it makes the list:Spirited Away is not so much a straight comedy as a beautiful and strange story, with pointed humor part of the fabric. Miyazaki's masterpieces are all startling marriages of stirring animation, sound, and whimsy. Watching Spirited Away, you're a child again, capable of insight and delight.
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9. The Princess Bride (1987)

  • Stars: Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn.
  • Best Line: "Inconceivable!"
  • The story: A grandchild's bedtime story about the beautiful Buttercup, the dastardly Humperdinck who kidnaps her to marry her, and the earnest Westley, who teams up with the revenge-minded Inigo Montoya to rescue his damsel.
  • Why it makes the list: Chock-full of razor-sharp dialog and perfectly executed gags, The Princess Bride is the spoof movie, playing off kids' fantasies of adventure and swashbuckling and discovering more bizarre characters and strange happenings in the first half-hour than most films can find in their full running time.
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10. Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)

  • Stars: Michael Sacks, Ron Leibman, Valerie Perrine.
  • Best Line: "All he does in his sleep is quit and surrender and apologize. I could carve a better man out of a banana."
  • The story: Billy Pilgrim, surviving the World War II firebombing of Dresden, becomes "unstuck in time" – living lives simultaneously in the past, present, and future.
  • Why it makes the list: A faithful, if imperfect, adaptation of Vonnegut's darkly funny novel about the connectedness of past and future, Slaughterhouse-Five assumes that some form of black humor is elemental to the human condition and can be found in both the dire and the mundane.
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