Bizarre Greek Oscar-nominee, profane British satire and documentary on tabloid story among best recent comedies on Netflix
There has been a lack of quality mainstream comedy films in the last few years, but there’s still good comedy to be had.
You might just have to head over to Netflix to find it.
Here are some under-the-radar films available for streaming on Netflix right now that provide big laughs:
‘In the Loop’ (2009, Armando Iannucci)
Easily one of the sharpest comedies in years, “In the Loop” is a profane, cynical political satire that does not give one much hope in the leaders of the world. The film is based on the British television series “The Thick of It” (available on Hulu), also created by Armando Iannucci, who went on to make the similar HBO series “Veep.” The feature film follows the backroom meetings and squabbles between the British and the Americans as they try to avoid war. The late James Gandolfini (“The Sopranos”) gets to show his comic side, which he so rarely got to use in a supporting role, as an American general. Peter Capaldi, the new Doctor Who, plays Malcolm Tucker, a vicious character who spouts some of the film’s most creatively vile and profane dialogue, most of which cannot be reprinted here. For those who like mean, barbed comedy, this is a riot. It was rightfully nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
‘Dogtooth’ (2009, Giorgos Lanthimos)
It is shocking that this dark, Greek comedy was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, because the films nominated in that category are usually deeply serious films about the Holocaust (“In Darkness”), illness (“Amour”) or other dark themes. David Lynch called the film “a fantastic comedy,” which offers an idea of what kind of film viewers can expect. A father and mother have three children that they have never let leave the house. They have a tall wall surrounding their entire house, and they have been told lies about the outside world their whole lives. No logical explanation is given to the children or the audience as to why they do this. They have even lied about the true meaning of words; they call the chair in the living room, for example, the sea. There are many times in the film when viewers don’t know if laughter is an appropriate response. The children, who are becoming young adults, have a warped knowledge of human sexuality, which takes them to perverse and awkward places. It is a disturbing and extremely weird comedy that borders on horror. The ending is especially hilarious and chilling.
‘Tabloid’ (2010, Errol Morris)
Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris has tackled serious issues like the Vietnam War and Abu Ghraib in his documentaries, but he has also shown the world an array of oddball people who provide captivating and hilarious interviews. This documentary tells the wild story of Joyce McKinney, a former small town beauty queen who fell madly (and madly is the right word) in love with a Mormon man in the 1970s. After they dated awhile, she was brainwashed by the Mormon church and believed that he had been kidnapped and taken to England. She kidnapped him herself, chained him up in a cottage and reportedly raped him over the course of three days. The story became a tabloid sensation, and the facts just got stranger as the story unfolded. Only six or seven people are interviewed in the 87-minute film, and they talk directly into the camera in Morris’s typical style. He does not narrate or directly comment on what his subjects say. He simply lets each of them tell their version of the story. McKinney is a fascinating person, and her explanation of the events is unbelievable, screamingly funny and surprisingly poignant and sad. “Tabloid” is one of the funniest and most confounding films — documentary or narrative — in years. Keep watching through the end credits.