The 38 funniest movie performances of the 21st century

The moment Reese Witherspoon became both a movie star and rom-com icon can arguably be traced back to Legally Blonde’s “Bend & Snap” sequence. As Elle Woods—Harvard Law’s most likable, pink-clad aspiring lawyer—Witherspoon turned a short but memorable comedic set piece into the film’s most quotable scene. The whole movie is a perfect showcase for her effortless charisma and instant likability, as both it—and her extremely witty performance—only have gotten better (and funnier) with age.

Owen Wilson’s rise from “the comic relief in Armageddon” to bonafide comedic leading man can be pinpointed to his role as Hansel (“He’s so HOT right now”) in Zoolander. Wilson’s dry cadence, coupled with his effortless physical comedy chops, helped turn this noble box office misfire into one of the best and most beloved comedies of the early aughts. If there’s anything funnier than his very quotable line reading of “Who are you trying to get crazy with, ese? Don’t you know I’m loco?” we don’t wanna know about it.

After his scene-stealing supporting turn in High Fidelity, Hollywood was eager to get into the Jack Black business by finding a leading man vehicle that would capitalize on his versatile talent. School Of Rock would emerge as the perfect match, with the role of Dewey Finn seemingly tailor-made for him. As the desperate bar band guitarist-turned-substitute music teacher, Black keeps Dewey turned up to 11 without going over the top—or at least so over the top that the audience finds the character’s enthusiasm for rock and roll grating. It’s a career-defining role for Black, and Exhibit A through Z for his brand of comedic genius.

Billy Bob Thornton’s full-throated commitment to Bad Santa’s raunchy, R-rated humor is why the movie is a must-rewatch every holiday season. As Willie Soke, a crass (at best) mall Santa/con man with a breathtaking alcohol problem, Thornton scowls and leers his way through one laugh-out-loud scene after another. But that’s the easy part. What’s hard is finding Willie’s gooey redemptive center in a way that feels both earned and sincere, but Thornton pulls it off in what has become his best comedic performance.

After struggling through the wilderness of the late ’90s and early 2000s with meh studio comedies like Holy Man and (*shudder*) Showtime, Eddie Murphy rebounded with the role of Donkey in the box office successes Shrek and Shrek 2. The latter would become one of Murphy’s best and most iconic comedic roles, thanks to the rapid-fire non-sequiturs (“Shrek and I drank this potion and well, now we’re sexy!”) that fans came to expect from this unlikely (and very chatty) sidekick to Mike Myers’ big green Scottish-accented ogre. Donkey ranks right up there with Murphy’s memorable voice acting work in 1998's Mulan, with both earning their rightful place among animation’s greatest performances.

Hot off the success of 2003’s holiday hit Elf, Will Ferrell would become even hotter with his career-best performance in Anchorman. As Ron Burgundy, Ferrell—working with director and co-writer Adam McKay—taps into whatever cinematic alchemy is required to make a comedy classic about a blowhard local news anchor who calls San Diego home, loves Scotch, and knows how to keep his head on a swivel during a gladiatorial brawl with rival newsmen. Burgundy is imbued with a ’70s Burt Reynolds sensibility and a ’stache and swagger that rivals that of Burt himself. Like he did with Buddy the Elf before, Ferrell invests Ron with the right amount of dim wit and charm to ensure that the character connects with audiences long after the credits roll.

The vice grip Napoleon Dynamite had on audiences and Spencer’s Gifts shoppers in the summer of 2004 left a memorable imprint on pop culture. Thanks in large part to then-unknown Jon Heder’s take on the socially awkward, liger-worshipping titular character, Napoleon Dynamite gave the high school comedy genre a welcome dose of quirky, coming-of-age wit and intentionally cringe laughs. Heder was at the hilarious center of it all in what would become both a career-defining and, unfortunately, career-stalling role. But no one can fault the actor for not committing fully to one of the early aughts’ most quotable characters.

“No one makes me bleed my own blood.”

That’s just one of several quotable lines from Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story that only Ben Stiller could deliver with the right mix of love-to-hate doucheocity that has fans still quoting it almost 20 years later. As White Goodman, the dim-witted, super fitness-obsessed head of Globo Gym, Stiller all but steals the show from Vince Vaughn with his dynamic take on an arrogant jerk with zero self-awareness and an over-abundance of ego (and inflatable crotch cups). In Stiller’s hands, Goodman comes off as what you’d get if a Bowflex infomercial had a baby with the Axe Body Spray font; one of the few comedy movie villains whose pop-culture impact matches that of the movie that features him.

The Office and The 40-Year-Old Virgin propelled Steve Carell from always-reliable supporting actor to bankable leading man. Virgin, from director and co-writer Judd Apatow, seems tailored for Carell’s “aw, shucks” charm and earnest brand of comedy. As Andy, a virgin trapped in an “okay” life working at a Circuit City-esque store with a home full of unopened action figures, Carell gives a nuanced inner life to a very likable character who could easily have been a one-note cypher for the movie’s hilarious set pieces. Andy is never unsympathetic, especially when he dips a toe into the R-rated waters of Apatow’s unique perspective on dating and finding love. Andy’s pursuit gives Carell nothing short of comedy gold, especially in the iconic waxing scene.

Sacha Baron Cohen used his HBO comedy Da Ali G Show as a launch pad for Borat’s very un-PC (and never not timely) “fish out of water” shtick, which proved to be both dynamic and hilarious enough to sustain one of 2006’s biggest hits. Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was an under-the-radar, almost viral, comedy blockbuster; the marketing capitalized on Cohen and his signature character’s low profile by making it seem like Borat was a real documentary as opposed to a mockumentary that satirizes various aspects of America’s culture—from the Bible Belt to Borat’s obsession with Pamela Anderson. Through all of Borat’s various LOL-worthy stops, especially the infamous nude wrestling scene, Cohen plays it straight and delivers a towering comedy achievement.

Before stealing scenes from Judd Apatow regular Seth Rogen in Knocked Up, Ken Jeong was a doctor looking for a second act as a potential comedic actor. 2007’s Knocked Up provided his aspirations with a memorable launch pad, with Jeong playing a very blunt, and very inconvenienced, gynecologist who elevates the movie’s crude gags with each of his brief but impactful scenes. The blunt and prickly doctor grounds the third act’s baby delivery hijinks while showcasing the sense of humor that would serve Jeong well later in his career with a starring role on NBC’s cult sitcom fave, Community.

Step Brothers proves that there’s nothing John C. Reilly can’t do. Provided with plenty of quotable dialogue (“I laughed so hard, I fell off my dinosaur”) and enough on-screen chemistry with co-star Will Ferrell to power a starship, Reilly portrays Dale Doback—the emotionally stunted step-sibling to Ferrell’s Brannon Huff—with a fierce, over-the-top commitment that would become a signature character for the Boogie Nights star. It would also mark a milestone in Reilly’s career, as his portrayal of Dale would become not just one of his most popular roles, but also a load-bearing column of late-2000s comedy.

Holy sh**, can Tom Cruise dance or what?! No one could believe the Mission: Impossible star had this kind of funny in him, but Paramount must have known he was Tropic Thunder’s secret weapon—especially since the studio kept him largely absent from the marketing for this R-rated satire of Hollywood action movies. But when Cruise cut loose as the brash producer Les Grossman, a balding monument to C-suite rage, Diet Coke, and knuckle hair, it was the performance that launched a thousand memes and at least that many Halloween costume ideas. (It’s too bad Quibi went bust; sources say that Jeffrey Katzenberg’s folly was thisclose to making the long-anticipated Grossman spin-off movie happen with Cruise reprising the role.)

You couldn’t go anywhere for at least 10 years without hearing your friends or some stranger say “McLovin.” Or torture you with their impersonation of Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s iconic character from 2007’s Superbad. The awkward virgin teen with an infamous fake ID became a legit pop-culture phenomenon, one that defined Mintz-Plasse’s career just as it started and proved to cast a shadow the young actor couldn’t escape. But, as defining roles go, there are worse ones an actor can be associated with than everyone’s favorite Hawaiian organ donor.

Colin Farrell earned his first Oscar nomination for 2022’s The Banshees of Inisherin, but he should have been nominated—and he should have won—for his tour de force performance in In Bruges. Both movies were written by playwright-turned-filmmaker Martin McDonagh, and in both films, Farrell excels with his razor-sharp wit and uncanny ability to make any quip or barb hit with natural ease. As one half of a low-level hitman crew forced to hide out in Bruges when a job goes sideways, Farrell’s chemistry and banter with co-lead Brendan Gleeson reaches Lemmon-Matthau levels of Odd Couple-like hilarity.

As the lone geek among a pack of Vegas-bound alpha males, Zach Galifianakis carves a notable niche for himself in The Hangover with his off-kilter dry wit. He’s at the heart of the 2009 hit’s best sight gags and most memorable jokes in the role of Alan, a low-rent, T-shirt-clad chaos agent who turns one night of ill-advised spiked drinks into, well ... you’ve seen the movie. Alan may be the funniest fifth wheel to ever appear in a modern comedy, thanks to Galifianakis’ refreshing fish-out-of-water take on the character.

Malcolm Tucker, the U.K. prime minister’s foul-mouthed director of communications, is one of the best things to ever happen to comedy. If you’ve seen the black comedy satire In The Loop, from the creator of Veep, then you know how good Peter Capaldi is in the role. You also know that no write-up could do justice to how funny he is in this movie, so we’ll let some of Malcolm’s choice lines sing his praises for us. Lines like: “Have you ever seen a film where the hero is a builder? No, no, because they never fucking turn up in the nick of time. Bat-builder? Spider-builder? Huh? That’s why you never see a superhero with a hod!”, “‘Climbing the mountain of conflict’? You sounded like a Nazi Julie Andrews!” and, a personal favorite, just the way he says the words “fucking Toblerone.”

Emma Stone had us from the moment she scream-sings “A Pocket Full of Sunshine” in one of Easy A’s earliest and best scenes. In this modern-day retelling of The Scarlet Letter, Stone plays Olive, a high schooler forced to endure a teenage comedy version of Hester Prynne’s shaming when she lets her male classmates lie about hooking up with her. There’s a reason this near-perfect comedy has amassed such a passionate fanbase, and it all stems from Stone’s lively and endearing performance.

I mean, it’s Bridesmaids. If you don’t know how exceptional, once-in-a-lifetime talented Melissa McCarthy is in this modern classic, then you’re some kind of wrong person.

Horrible Bosses let Jennifer Aniston flex the comedic muscles her Friends fanbase maybe didn’t know she had, as a very horny, un-PC dentist with a massive crush on her dental assistant, played by Charlie Day. Her brief but memorable turn in this R-rated hit from co-writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Game Night, Dungeons & Dragons) is arguably her best comedic performance; she’s so good in this movie, you spend most of the run time wishing more of it was devoted to her.

“F**k you, science!” And with those three words, the once and future Magic Mike became an unlikely comedic star. It’s kinda unfair that Channing Tatum is blessed with exceptional looks and enviable comedic timing, but leave it to 21 Jump Street directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse) to find the perfect showcase for both. As officer Jenko, who goes undercover at a high school with Jonah Hill’s Schmidt to stop drug dealers, Tatum dials up the charm to at least a fabillion in this buddy comedy that never runs out of nutty scenes or rowdy comedy for C-Tates to sink his perfect smile into.

Rebel Wilson followed her brief turn as a ditzy and obnoxious roommate in Bridesmaids with a star-making role in the Pitch Perfect ensemble. In this college-set song-and-dance comedy about competing a capella groups, Rebel Wilson plays a more likable and raucous version of her Bridesmaids character—and gets most of the movie’s best jokes. While Pitch Perfect’s script feels at times too formulaic, Wilson’s snappy performance is anything but.

If you like Danny McBride’s brash comedic style, the one that made him and HBO’s Eastbound And Down popular, then you’ll love it in This Is The End. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s supernatural comedy about six Hollywood actors forced to survive the apocalypse together features McBride as an exaggerated and extra-grating version of himself, who can’t help but find new ways to be useless and annoying as demons prey upon Los Angeles. Watching McBride riff with comedy greats Rogen and Craig Robinson results in varying degrees of belly laughs, especially when McBride unloads with a funny tirade tied to a porn magazine.

Add “impeccable physical comedy instincts” to Leonardo DiCaprio’s considerable acting skill set, as demonstrated in Martin Scorsese’s riveting and raunchy The Wolf Of Wall Street. As the Quaalude-addicted and morally bankrupt self-made millionaire Jordan Belfort, DiCaprio gives each scene of this 3-hour cautionary tale about the “Greed is Good” era the exact amount of whatever it needs—especially in Wall Street’s funniest scene, where an inebriated Jordan struggles to move his mostly non-responsive body down the stairs of a country club and into his Lambo. The journey from doorstep to gull-wing door is fraught with drool and hilarity, with the Oscar-winner proving more than game for what has become an all-timer moment and performance in his enviable filmography.

“Darkness. No parents. Continued darkness ... the opposite of light.”

There’s life before, and life after, hearing Will Arnett as Batman sing “Darkness” in 2014’s blockbuster comedy hit, The Lego Movie. Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s inventive adaptation of the popular building blocks toy avoids the pitfalls of being another unnecessary IP cash-grab by using its deep bench of shared universe characters to tell a heartfelt and hilarious story that puts Arnett’s Dark Knight through a lens that fans had never seen before. It’s one of the best (and most earnest) depictions of Bruce Wayne’s alter ego on the big screen, and it only gets funnier (and, somehow, more poignant) with the underrated 2017 spinoff, The Lego Batman Movie.

Before he put Thor and Hulk in an alien gladiatorial arena and won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for JoJo Rabbit, Waititi’s unique wit won over fans in What We Do In The Shadows, the hilarious faux documentary about a group of housemates who happen to be really, really old vampires.

Who knew Shaw from the Fast & Furious franchise could be so damn funny? Jason Statham surprised many audiences in the summer of 2015 with his scene-stealing turn in Paul Feig’s Spy, an action comedy send-up of the Bond films that also succeeds at being a pretty decent action movie. As Melissa McCarthy’s Moneypenny-esque character is forced to go into Field Ops, she encounters Statham’s cocky-but-dumb “super spy,” Rick Ford. He’s the type of secret agent who thinks the CIA really has a Face/Off machine. He also believes he reattached his severed arm with his non-severed one. It’s ridiculous in the best and funniest of ways, and Statham’s straight-faced delivery makes it work.

Julian Dennison couldn’t have asked for a more audience-friendly breakthrough role than the one writer-director Taika Waititi gave him in Hunt For The Wilderpeople. Based on the book Wild Pork And Watercress by Barry Crump, Waititi’s adaptation pairs newcomer Dennison with screen veteran Sam Neill in a road trip comedy that turns into a manhunt across New Zealand for Neill’s cranky father figure and Dennison’s offbeat ward of the foster care system. It’s a two-hander that puts Dennison’s character through a delicate mix of heavy drama and lightweight comedy, punctuated with a few genuinely sad moments. But Dennison proves very adept at meeting the movie where it is, and in the process, emerging as one of Hollywood’s most charming young comedians.

Depending on who you talk to, Reynolds either perfected or overcooked his seemingly one-note brand of R-rated sarcasm in Deadpool. But what audiences can agree on is that no one else but him could have played the Merc With A Mouth. As Wade Wilson, Reynolds became a bonafide A-lister after years in hit-or-miss comedies (and one Blade: Trinity) that didn’t seem to know what to do with his mix of leading-man good looks and ’90s Jim Carrey-adjacent snark. All he needed was a red mask, two katanas, and an R-rated Marvel comic book movie to maximize his potential and turn him into the rare movie star who can believably kick ass and make audiences laugh and, sometimes, tug on a few heartstrings.

Ryan Gosling’s performance in The Nice Guys is arguably better than the movie itself. It’s definitely a large factor as to why Film Twitter can’t get enough of writer-director Shane Black’s underrated ’70s detective caper/action-comedy from the summer of 2016. As down-on-his-luck private eye Holland March, Gosling shows off a then-untapped comedic skillset as a bumbling goofball teamed up with Russell Crowe’s blunt instrument anti-hero investigating the death of an adult film star. As March, Gosling either barely stumbles out of harm’s way or wishes he could get out of it with his dignity intact. From cutting up his hand while trying to break a door’s glass window to getting caught literally with his pants down on a public toilet (while holding a gun), March seems pathologically incapable of doing anything without a catch or bad luck. Which is good for fans of laughter, as Gosling’s performance provides an endless supply of it.

Girls Trip is a refreshing reinterpretation of the road trip comedy, and one of the 21st century’s wildest movies. There’s plenty of star power fueling director Malcolm D. Lee’s highly rewatchable hit and Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Queen Latifah, and Tiffany Haddish’s screen chemistry is infectious. But Haddish and her masterful delivery of countless one-liners steals the movie. Her zippy charisma and fearless physical comedy (re: that urine-filled zipline scene) made her a star before the end of the film’s opening weekend, and Girls Trip a modern comedy classic.

As the star and co-writer of The Big Sick, Kumail Nanjiani firmly established himself as one of Hollywood’s most versatile comedians. After becoming a breakout star and fan-favorite on HBO’s tech industry comedy Silicon Valley, Nanjiani and his wife and co-screenwriter, Emily V. Gordon, wrote this dramedy based on their real-life relationship and the cultural differences and the illness that impacted it. As a fictionalized version of himself, Kumail delivers an appealing, heartfelt performance that ranks up there with the great comedic leads from Big Sick producer Judd Apatow’s other relationship comedies.

Constance Wu has the difficult task of grounding Crazy Rich Asians’ rom-com tropes within a heartfelt romance built on timely themes of identity and family. But, as she did on ABC’s Fresh Off The Boat, she makes it seem effortless. As Rachel, a Chinese-American professor who discovers that her boyfriend’s parents are among Singapore’s wealthiest people, Wu approaches the zanier romantic comedy elements of her plight with a lived-in verisimilitude that delivers plenty of laughs in a very poignant way.

In the Museum of All-Timer Line Readings, Rachel McAdams’ utterance of “Oh no, he died” deserves its own wing. The 2018 title Game Night was a down-the-middle box office play that deserved better business, but this well-plotted caper comedy has since found its deserved audience thanks in large part to McAdams’ performance. As Annie, the avid fan of board and party games and wife of Jason Bateman’s Max, The Notebook star proves she’s just as adept at hijinks (maybe even more so) as she is at tearjerking drama. Which explains why her performance here often had us crying with laughter.

It’s really hard to pinpoint a standout scene in Booksmart for Beanie Feldstein, because she’s excellent in all of them. The sister of Jonah Hill, it’s fitting that Feldstein stars in this generation’s Superbad because her work in this high school comedy two-hander—opposite the equally talented Kaitlyn Dever—did for her career what Superbad did for her brother’s.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, like its predecessor, surprised audiences with its kept-under-wraps existence. Also like its predecessor, it became an instant hit and even garnered Academy Awards attention—with a Best Supporting Actress nomination for newcomer Maria Bakalova. As Borat’s naive daughter, Tutar, Bakalova gives a fearless performance thanks largely in part to being just as wide-eyed and fish-out-of-water as the character she plays. She is dragged along by her dad on a wild plan that crosses paths with both the pandemic and the 2020 presidential election, ending up at the intersection of biting satire and “holy shit, how did they get away with THAT?!” comedy that earned Bakalova a deserved Oscar nom.

Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar was a much-needed salve in the early years of the pandemic, with Bridesmaids’ writers Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumalo blessing us with their Frankenstein-like assembly of gag-filled sketches and meme-able musical numbers. Written by and starring Wiig and Mumalo, Barb And Star taps the same vein of acerbic wit and parody that Austin Powers does, with a unique blend of goofy action comedy that lets Wiig and Mumalo shine. Their off-the-charts chemistry and inventive script makes Barb And Star endlessly rewatchable, especially the two friends’ very imaginative conversation that conjures the near-mythical Trish into being.

As male sidekick Ken, Gosling’s performance in Barbie has already spun awards pundits into “He should get nominated for Best Supporting Actor” mode. The early praise for the Oscar hopeful is deserved, as Gosling is fiercely committed to playing Ken as someone (something?) with the untapped potential to be more than just “my job is beach.” Writer-director Greta Gerwig provides Ken with a hilarious and timely existential identity crisis, which in turn gives Gosling a generous amount of comedic runway to explore Ken’s journey to self-realization. He plays it straight, giving full Kenergy to making sure we laugh with, but never, at Ken. And, come the 2024 Academy Awards, that might just be “Kenough” to win Gosling an Oscar.