Movie tips : comedies
Sometimes you just want to relax on the couch with a funny movie. That's why we've gathered some of our favorite comedies here at Filmoteket. In this list, you won't find slapstick, but we can promise you some really great movies with a twinkle in their eye—guaranteed to make you smile. Enjoy the movie!
Billi was born in China, but lives in New York. Now she is going to a family wedding in Changchun. The wedding is staged and just an excuse for the whole family to gather to see grandmother, Nai-Nai, one last time. She doesn't have much time left to live, but she won't find that out, because the family has decided to keep it a secret.
The attempt to give her a happy time spared from worries conflicts with Billi's Western values. Billi tries to navigate a minefield of expectations and social codes in China, while learning a lot about herself and rediscovering the country she was born in. With a well-placed lie at the center, it becomes a humorous and touching encounter between family and cultures.
- IMDb-rating: 7.6
Director Bong Joon-Ho's (Parasite, Mother) debut film is a Korean black comedy from 2000. It centers around Yun-ju, a part-time lecturer at a college who struggles with his mundane existence. He is greatly annoyed by a dog in nearby that barks constantly. This, on top of his other grievances makes him decide to take drastic measures to put an end to the noise. And apparently, he is not the only dissatisfied person in the neighborhood.
- IMDb-rating: 6.9
The musician Jon joins a band led by the mysterious Frank and his terrifying partner Clara, something he comes to regret later. Frank wears a papier-mâché head, which he never removes throughout the film. The movie poses the question: where is the line between insanity and creativity? Whether or not the question is answered is unclear, but the acting is great. Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson, and Maggie Gyllenhaal star in this 2014 comedy.
In a small shantytown outside Rome lives the one-eyed Giacinto with his extended family, who make a living through bag-snatching and prostitution. Giacinto himself spends most of his time on the bottle and refuses to share the wad of cash he hoards like a broody hen. The money he ripped off from the insurance company after pouring lime in his eye. The best one can say about him is that at least he is consistent. He treats everyone equally badly. But when the tyrant lays a busty mistress in his wife's bed, the family's patience snaps. A huge pot of pasta is set on the stove, seasoned with pepper, basil – and rat poison. A couple, three kilos. But no one has any idea what a tenacious devil Giacinto really is.
Ettore Scola is known for his political engagement. In Ugly, Dirty and Bad, he criticizes the glorifying way of portraying slum dwellers: “In bourgeois culture, the poor have always been depicted as good and positive people and have thus become a sacred cow for both the religious and the Marxists. That is not the case,” Scola believes: “The outcasts who live on the margins of society under the worst possible conditions naturally become worse than everyone else”.
- IMDb-rating: 7.8
The year is 1976, and the Sex Pistols are about to leave their indelible bootprint on the music industry's underbelly. Inspired by the unruly energy that came with punk, record labels emerged that sought to preserve the rebellion rather than commercialize it. A wild adventure of music, sex, drugs, eccentric characters, and the birth of one of the world's most famous clubs.
24 Hour Party People is a comedy about perhaps the most important era of music, and the story of Manchester from the seventies up to the early nineties. In the original footage, you'll meet Iggy Pop, the Sex Pistols, Siouxsie And The Banshees, and Happy Mondays, to name just a few.
- IMDb-rating: 7.3
Full of surprises and unexpected events, this is a film to fall in love with. Fifteen-year-old Oliver Tate has two big goals in life: to save his parents' marriage through a carefully thought-out plan, and to lose his virginity before his next birthday.
He suspects that his mother is having an affair with the New Age charlatan Graham (Paddy Considine) and therefore tries to control his parents' sex life, and invents love letters from his mother that he sends to his father. His own "love interest," Jordana, is refreshingly complicated; a self-taught pyromaniac who insists on reading through Oliver's diary entries—especially the parts that are about her.
IMDb-rating: 7.3
Best friends Toni and Paul bet that they can give up all their possessions – even their clothes – for 100 days, receiving one item back each day. During this bet, the two realize that the only thing they cannot be without is their friendship. A story about consumer society and the pursuit of the truly important things in life.
- IMDb-rating: 6.4
In the mid-1980s, Köping was chosen as Sweden's most boring town. While the small village is stunned, the drunken jack-of-all-trades Hasse P decides to prove the Stockholm snobs wrong. His idea is as far-fetched as it may be brilliant. He plans to bake the world's longest cake, which will put Köping in the Guinness Book of Records.
- IMDb-rating: 7.2
The German career woman Ines works in Bucharest. She receives unannounced visits from her old father Winfried, who wants to get back into her life. To achieve his goal, he mingles with Ines's upscale business contacts under the pseudonym Toni Erdmann, wearing a wig, glasses, and false teeth.
- IMDb-rating: 7.4
We cannot fail to mention Parasite, which won 4 Oscars in 2020, including Best Picture of the Year.
In the film, we meet a family of four living in a run-down basement apartment in the city. The view is a small gap at street level overlooking an alley where drunken men habitually relieve themselves. With varying success, they steal internet from the floor above, and to put food on the table, they pack pizza boxes for a nearby restaurant chain. Despite their closeness and love for each other, there is not much of a life. After a visit from a friend of the family's son, a golden opportunity suddenly presents itself, a way out of their misery. The family grabs the chance with both hands.
- IMDb-rating: 8.6
In a remote valley in Iceland live the brothers Gummi and Kiddi. They are both sheep farmers and very proud of their fine animals, which the family has bred over generations. They haven't spoken to each other for 40 years and communicate through the farm dog, who runs between them with brief messages. One day, Gummi discovers that one of Kiddi's sheep is sick and the entire flock is in danger. Now the brothers must put aside old grudges to save what they hold most dear.
Rams is a bittersweet film full of warmth and melancholy, humor and seriousness, and with great love for all the loners in the countryside.
The film was Iceland's Oscar entry and has already won a number of awards, including Best Film in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.
- IMDb-rating: 7.3
There is also an Australian version of Rams, based on the original. It was published in 2020, starring Sam Neill.
Published: 13/01/2026 Last updated: 13/01/2026
