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Top 10 Dark Comedies

By Ally Sinyard · October 12, 2011

I like a little bit of dark, offensive comedy such as South Park and Family Guy as much as the next person, but even more than that, I appreciate material that goes darker – especially films that don’t rely on the easy or obvious ways of shocking its audience when making their way to the nether regions of cinema. The dark comedies in the list below do more than make us laugh; they take big risks, using comedy to show us something that is beneath the surface, be it in the film world or life itself.

10. Inglourious Basterds (2009)

It takes balls to put comedy and Nazis anywhere near each other, but Christoph’s performance as SD Colonel Hans Landa was a major ingredient that brought Inglourious Basterds critical and commercial success.  Without Christoph pushing the boundaries of the diabolical Landa, a twisted combination of psychological sadism and genocidal objectives, Basterds wouldn’t have stained the social consciousness nearly with the same power. I think so highly of this film because it manages to deliver laughs without being offensive, especially considering the subject matter. The advantage of making a film that has different stories within allowed Tarantino to move in and out of various tones, going from slapstick humour to bloody violence without it seeming out of place. It was a tough choice between Inglourious Basterds and Pulp Fiction, and I probably did laugh out loud more in Pulp Fiction. However, I prefer the skill that was applied to deliver the dark comedy within the backdrop of a world so emotionally charged, such as Nazi occupation and genocide during World War II.

9. American Psycho (2000)

American Psychois one of those films where, if you catch yourself laughing, you question your sanity. I worried about myself when I realised I was laughing my head off at Christian Bale dancing to Huey Lewis and the News, giving a review of their entire discography whilst being on the verge of giving Jared Leto an axe to the face. However, part of the enjoyment of American Pyscho is that sometimes you DO just want to tell the world and all its social rules and requirements to f@#* off. Obviously, not to THAT extent, but no-one was exactly sad to see the smarmy Paul Allen meet his end. The “best satire” is always that which “forces us to look at ourselves and ask tough, disturbing questions.” (TNT RoughCut).

8. Fight Club (1999)

Fight Club is the film that made me want to be a screenwriter. I love the script, the way it twists and turns and how it combines utter darkness and despair with great comedy. The humour not only furthers this bleakness by taking a bitter look at the futility to trying to take on Capitalism but also gives us some much-needed relief from the hopelessness of the world we are seeing. Of course, Fight Club is also a film that very much wants to be cool as the representation of Generation X, and what is a cool film without some great one-liners and self-deprecation? Narrator: “I had become a slave to the IKEA nesting instinct.” Or as Tyler Durden puts it: “Self improvement is masturbation.” Hmm, saying no to material possessions and yes to physical gratification… maybe there’s a message in there worth a second thought.

7. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

A grandpa who has been kicked out of his nursing home for using heroin. A gay uncle who recently attempted suicide after his lover left him for his academic rival. A brother who has taken a vow of silence until he gets into the RAF. A father who refuses to accept that his “Refuse to Lose” self help system is a failure. A mother who is a stones throw away from filing divorce papers. All these characters clamber into an old Volkswagen T2 Microbus to support little seven-year-old Olive as she heads to the “Little Miss Sunshine” beauty pageant. Hilarity ensues. This film is a fantastic testament to the modern day dysfunctional family and America’s obsession with winning. It shows how, even in the darkest times, there are always people you can depend on. In this case, it illustrates the resilience of family, despite how messed up they all are.

6. American Beauty (1999)

American Beauty is a “dark comical masterpiece that single-handedly announced the collapse of the American family infrastructure” (TNT RoughCut). Like many of the films on this list, the humour gives a nice relief from the bleakness of the film world we are in. Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is essentially in the middle of a mid-life crisis: his wife hates him, his daughter hates him, and his job is killing him. He decides to break out of his humdrum suburban life and the consequences are both severe and, at times, pretty hilarious. The comedy in this film makes us sympathize and empathize with the characters, making them more human. I’m sure we can all relate to throwing a bit of asparagus around.

5. Heathers (1988)

It is certainly not one of the best films in the history of cinema, but it is definitely one of the darkest in its use of comedy. For those who are not familiar with this now-cult film, Heathers is like Mean Girls only infinitely darker. It stars Winona Ryder as a high school girl who is friends with the “Heathers,” the most popular girls in school who reign with terror and cruelty. This film is shockingly funny, particularly for the 80s! It uses suicide, homosexuality, bulimia… pretty much every high school and life issue to its advantage to make one of the darkest comedies around. Like American Psycho, you will occasionally be shocked at what you find funny, but Heathers demonstrates the dark side in all of us.

4. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

Kind Hearts and Coronetsis the oldest dark comedy on this list, made in 1949. Considering how extreme comedy is nowadays, I think it says a lot about Kind Hearts that it is able to surpass some of the most successful dark comedies today. A distant relative (Dennis Price) of the Duke D’Ascoyne decides to murder the entire D’Ascoyne family (all played by the legend that is Alec Guinness) in order to take the title as Duke. It’s a wonderful satire of the class system and definitely one of the finest films from the Ealing studios. For 1949, this film was incredibly courageous and, in the words of Paul M. Bradshaw from “Little White Lies:” Serial killing has never looked so much fun!

3. In Bruges (2008)

Readers of my previous lists are well aware of the love I have for this film. The script is just fantastic. Many critics have remarked on how oddly “touching” or “moving” it is in places, despite how dark the humour is. It is this fine balance of the two that makes this film stand out. It doesn’t just crack jokes about violence, prostitution, drugs, and err… midgets. It manages to also shock and move the audience when dealing with the baggage that these men carry around with them. It is one of the finest and funniest British comedies to have emerged in recent years.

2. Fargo (1996)

I’ll be honest: I’ve seen Fargo once and didn’t like it. I didn’t get the humour. Equally, I didn’t see The Big Lebowski or even Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenanbaum in the same way that the thousands of fans did. The humour clearly goes straight over my head. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the status Fargo has as one of the best dark comedies of all time. The comedy in this movie is not as “in your face” as it is in other dark comedies. It comes from the little things, the subtle nuances. The way that the dark plot of the film, involving kidnapping and murder, contrasts with the happy-go-lucky nature of the people of Fargo, particularly the wonderful Marge Olmstead Gunderson, played by Frances McDormand, is something that I think everyone can appreciate. Fargo is a very different kind of dark comedy, and its legions of fans and the universal critical acclaim it received tells me that this is obviously in a good way!

1. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb (1964)

Dr. Strangelovetops a lot of lists. It is one of the best political satires of all time, even one of the best films of all time! For me, it is definitely the best dark comedy. The combination of Peter Sellers’ comic performance and the darkness that is so characteristic of Kubrick’s films makes this film the epitome of “dark comedy.” It also contains one of my favourite lines in cinema: “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here. This is the war room!” One of the many, many things that makes this film so great is that it takes on the big boys: nuclear war, the US Government, and Soviet Union. There are too many great things about this film to mention, but its use of dark comedy and sheer bravery to tackle the big “elephant in the room” cold war issues definitely make it the best dark comedy of all time!