Photo: 20th Century Fox (Getty).
Like my Most Important ‘80s Comedies think piece, this list has been a labor of love. Comedy is my genre, and though the ‘90s weren’t as important as the ‘80s — culturally speaking — these films still represent some of the best straight comedies ever. Keep in mind, these examples are all about the funny, as opposed to rom-coms, dramedies, or other such hybrids that will eschew a laugh or two in lieu of story. Further to laughability, these far-from-definitive selections are also based upon unequal parts of quotability, bankability, and boundary-breakability. As if those rules weren’t subjective enough, any movie I’ve seen more than 50 times is also on the list, which is at least eight of them. Now, let’s get to the laughs.
The 14 Most Important ‘90s Comedies:
If this list has taught us nothing else, it’s that the comedy film genre is in desperate need of a resurgence.
While we’re on the subject of ’90s culture: Tipped Shades Were The True Stars Of ’80s and ’90s Movies
Most Important ‘90s Comedies
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There’s Something About Mary (1998)
Between Dumb & Dumber, Kingpin, and There's Something About Mary, the Farrelly brothers could do no wrong in the ‘90s. But with so many other worthy contenders on this list, I had to make some tough choices. Axing Dumb and Dumber was the hardest of them all. But since there’s room for Jim Carrey elsewhere on this list, and the laugh and quotability factor are all pretty much equal, I have to go with a combination of box office -- TSAM was the 28th highest-grossing film of the ‘90s -- and the fact that the Farrelly brothers got that many people to look at a nut sack. That’s a great joke in its own right.
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox
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Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
Sure, “Alrighty, then” became the most annoying phrase of the decade eventually, but that only shows how important Ace Ventura: Pet Detective really was. I’d probably rather re-watch The Cable Guy at this point, but it’s far too dark to be considered a straight comedy. While Liar Liar and The Mask are obviously hilarious, they can’t be as important as Ace Ventura, the film that made Jim Carrey one of the biggest stars of the day, and ultimately afforded him the great honor of dating 1994’s Playmate of the Year Jenny McCarthy.
Photo credit: Warner Brothers
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South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
The TV show’s creators thought the movie would finally piss enough people off to be their swan song, but the movie exploded. The show’s popularity only grew bigger, longer, and more uncut. Here we are, 17 years later, and they’re still finding new people to offend. If we can just get a full-length feature of “Terrance & Phillip: Asses of Fire" already.
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures
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Tommy Boy (1995)
It would be hard not to put Chris Farley on this list, because he was synonymous with comedies of the ‘90s. Tommy Boy is by far his best film, hands down, to the point that everything else was kind of a disappointing afterwards. His overdose two years later was pretty darn disappointing, too, making Tommy Boy that much more important as a reminder of what could have been.
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures
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Billy Madison (1995)
Could the ‘90s have actually happened without Adam Sandler? He was good back then, too, unlike most of the drivel he’s put out since. Honestly, starting with Billy Madison -- which, comically, he never topped -- Sandler’s star vehicles crushed the ‘90s: Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy, Big Daddy. And then as soon as the millennium drops, we get Little Nicky and it’s all downhill from there (excluding That’s My Boy, of course).
Photo credit: Universal Pictures
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Dazed and Confused (1993)
Cinegeeks will say 1991’s Slacker -- with its philosophical bent and lack of a proper protagonist -- was more important, but part of being important is being widely loved. Dazed and Confused was a huge hit, as opposed to an indie darling, embraced by pretty much anyone who went to high school. This was mostly because director Richard Linklater’s comedic realism is so real, we could laugh at our own high school mates through his hairy bunch of thirsty, stoned, tight-jeaned, muscle car revving, ass paddling Texans.
Photo credit: Gramercy Pictures
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Clueless (1995)
What? A female-led comedy that’s totally bankable, quotable, and hilarious? If only Hollywood’s misogyny machine would have noticed. As if!
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures
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Home Alone (1990)
This list is more about laughs than it is about dollars, and though most of John Hughes’ best work was undoubtedly in the ‘80s, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Home Alone is the highest-grossing ‘90s comedy. Sure, that success came at the cost of Macaulay Culkin’s sanity, but it’s a small price to pay for all the people who continue to make money off it every Christmas.
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox
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Groundhog Day (1993)
Chances are good that if you were important in the ‘80s, comically speaking, you'll became noticeably less funny in the ‘90s -- here’s looking at you Chevy, Eddie, and Cusack. But not Bill Murray. Or Harold Ramis, for that matter. Though, he would never be quite so funny again as a writer/director. However, this is Murray’s tour de force, as no character better exemplifies Bill’s sad clown genius then Phil, Phil Connors.
Photo credit: Photos 12 / Alamy
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Waiting for Guffman (1996)
It’s hard to say this film is more important than 2000’s Best In Show or 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap, but since I stupidly left Spinal Tap off the ‘80s list, I needed to make amends to Christopher Guest. Guffman paved the way for Guest and his quirky troupe to make a slew of great mockumentaries, in their own inimitable and hilarious style.
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics
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Office Space (1999)
Mike Judge has been one of the most cutting voices in comedy for decades now, and that started before Beavis and Butt-Head with his 1991 animated short sketches Milton, featuring an early version of staple-hording, Initech-burning Milton Waddams. Eight years later, Judge created Office Space based upon those cartoons, which has in turn helped me create my stance on office jobs. Therefore, it's one of the big reasons I’m sitting here in my underwear writing this list. So yeah, important doesn’t begin to describe it.
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox
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Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Mike Myers is a must for this list, obviously. But as far as which of his ‘90s movies is funniest -- Wayne’s World, So I Married an Ax Murderer, or Austin Powers:International Man of Mystery -- that’s like choosing my second favorite Denver Bronco: impossible. Besides being more commercially successful than his other two gems, Austin Powers is surely Mike’s finest hour because of one man, and one man only: Dr. Evil. However, you have to dole out some bonus credit for casting Will Ferrell as Mustafa, his first big movie role. Will will surely dominate my recently announced and hotly anticipated "Most Important Movies of the ‘00s" list.
Photo credit: New Line Cinema
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Friday (1995)
Laughs? Check. Quotable? Daily. Culturally important? Pretty sure this movie is why a generation of white kids continue to puff big and talk like gang members.
Photo credit: New Line Cinema
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PCU (1994)
No other film on this list defined the times like PCU; it’s right there in the title. And we’ve been battling to be funny in a politically correct atmosphere ever since. This movie shows you how to fight that good fight.
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox
