Comedy film

The first comedy film was L'Arroseur Arrosé (1895), directed and produced by Louis Lumière. The most noted comedy actors of the era were Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton.

A comedy of manners satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters. Also, satirical comedy-drama & the plot is often concerned with an illicit love affair or some other scandal. However, the plot is generally less important for its comedic effect than its witty dialogue. This form of comedy has a long ancestry, dating back at least as far as Much Ado about Nothing created by William Shakespeare.

Slapstick films involve exaggerated, boisterous action to create impossible and humorous situations. Because it relies predominately on visual depictions of events, it does not require sound. Accordingly, the subgenre was ideal for silent movies and was prevalent during that era. Popular silent stars of the slapstick genre include Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Roscoe Arbuckle, and Harold Lloyd. Some of these stars, as well as acts such as Laurel and Hardy and the Three Stooges, also found success incorporating slapstick comedy into sound films.

In a fish out of water comedy, the main character finds themself in an unusual environment, which drives most of the humour. Situations can be neo noir crime comedy, satirical comedy-drama & black comedy as sometimes as fantasy comedy which is behind swapping gender roles, as in Tootsie (1982); an age changing role, as in Big (1988); a freedom-loving individual fitting into a structured environment, as in Police Academy (1984); a rural backwoodsman in the big city, as in Crocodile Dundee, and so forth. The Coen Brothers are known for using this technique in all of their films, though not always to comic effect. Some films including people fitting the "fish-out-of-water" bill include The Big Lebowski (1998) and A Serious Man (2009).

A parody or spoof film satirizes other film genres or classic films. Such films mockumentary, employ sarcasm, stereotyping, mockery of scenes from other films, and the obviousness of meaning in a character's actions. Examples of this form include Mud and Sand (1922), Blazing Saddles (1974), Airplane! (1980), Young Frankenstein (1974), and Scary Movie (2000).

The anarchic comedy film, as its name suggests, is a random or stream-of-consciousness type of humour which often lampoons a form of authority.[2] The genre dates from the silent era, and the most famous examples of this type of film would be those produced by Monty Python.[3] Others include Duck Soup (1933) and National Lampoon's Animal House (1978).

The black comedy film deals with normally taboo subjects, including death, murder, crime, suicide, and war, in a satirical manner. Examples include Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Monsieur Verdoux (1947), Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Ladykillers (1955), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), The Loved One (1965), MASH (1970), The King of Comedy (1983), Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983), Brazil (1985), After Hours (1985), The War of the Roses (1989), Heathers (1989), Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), Keeping Mum (2005), Burn After Reading (2008), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri (2017) and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019).

Gross out films are a relatively recent development and rely heavily on vulgar, sexual or "toilet" humour. Examples include Porky's (1982), Dumb and Dumber (1994), There's Something About Mary (1998), and American Pie (1999).

It was not uncommon for the early romantic comedy film to also be a screwball comedy. This genre was particularly popular during the 1930s and 1940s. There is no consensus definition of this film style, and it is often loosely applied to slapstick or romantic comedy films. Typically it can include a romantic element, an interplay between people of different economic strata, quick and witty repartee, some form of role reversal, and a happy ending. Some examples of the screwball comedy are: It Happened One Night (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940), His Girl Friday (1940), and more recently, What's Up, Doc? (1972).

Films in this sub-genre blend comic antics and action where the stars combine one-liners with a thrilling plot and daring stunts. The genre became a specific draw in North America in the eighties when comedians such as Eddie Murphy started taking more action-oriented roles such as in 48 Hrs. and Beverly Hills Cop. These types of films are often buddy films, with mismatched partners such as in Midnight Run, Rush Hour, 21 Jump Street, Bad Boys, Starsky and Hutch, and Hot Fuzz. Slapstick martial arts films became a mainstay of Hong Kong action cinema through the work of Jackie Chan among others. It may also focus on superheroes such as The Incredibles, Hancock, Kick-Ass, and Mystery Men. It may focus on kung fu such as Kung Fu Panda.

Films in this subgenre blend the action, suspense and exotic locales and the heroic journey of the adventure genre with light-hearted comedic elements.[4]

Comedy horror is a type of film in which the usual dark themes and "scare tactics" attributed to horror films are treated with a humorous approach. These films either use goofy horror cliches, such as in Scream, Young Frankenstein, Little Shop of Horrors, Haunted Mansion, and Scary Movie where campy styles are favoured. Some are much more subtle and don't parody horror, such as An American Werewolf in London. Another style of comedy horror can also rely on over-the-top violence and gore such as in The Evil Dead (1981), Re-Animator (1985), Braindead (1992), and Club Dread (2004) – such films are sometimes known as splatstick, a portmanteau of the words splatter and slapstick. It would be reasonable to put Ghostbusters in this category.

Comedy thriller is a genre that combines elements of comedy and thrillers, a combination of humor and suspense. Films such as Silver Streak, Charade, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, In Bruges, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Man, The Big Fix, and The Lady Vanishes.

Fantasy comedy films use magic, supernatural or mythological figures for comic purposes. Most fantasy comedy includes an element of parody, or satire, turning fantasy conventions on their head, such as the hero becoming a cowardly fool or the princess being a klutz. Examples of these films include The Chipmunk Adventure, Big, Being John Malkovich, Ernest Saves Christmas, Ernest Scared Stupid, Night at the Museum, Groundhog Day, Click, and Shrek.

Science fiction comedy films, like most hybrid genre of comedy, exaggerate the elements of traditional science fiction films to comic effect. Examples include Back to the Future, Spaceballs, Ghostbusters, Evolution, Innerspace, Galaxy Quest, Mars Attacks!, Men in Black, and The World's End.

Military comedy films involve comic situations in a military setting. When a film is primarily about the experience of civilians called into military service and feeling out of place, it overlaps with the fish-out-of-water subgenre. Examples include Good Morning, Vietnam, M*A*S*H, the Francis the Talking Mule series, and others.

Examples of the romantic comedy subgenre include It (1927), City Lights (1931), It Happened One Night (1934), My Favorite Wife (1940), Some Like It Hot (1959), Charade (1963), Annie Hall (1977), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), Pretty Woman (1990), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), and There's Something About Mary (1998).