Laughter is the Best Medicine: Modern Comedies That Will Make You LOL

They say laughter is the best medicine in the world… and considering the current situation we’re in, we could use a whole lot of laughter to get through the day. Social distancing and staying at home for weeks means very limited socialising. It’s times like these where you begin to forget about the days and everything feels monotone, or your mind gets so clouded, deep in your own thoughts that you might feel a little bit crazy.

Subscribe to ‘Home Life’
A Monday newsletter with new recipes, movies to watch, workouts to try, musical inspiration, our brand new podcast and more.

In keeping the spirit light and positive, we suggest watching comedy movies that’ll make you burst out laughing and forget about the things happening out there for a moment.

Here we share a list of the funniest modern comedies that will make you laugh out loud:

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

Directed by prominent comedy filmmaker Judd Apatow in his directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a sex comedy film released in 2005 and stars Steve Carell (who co-wrote the screenplay with Apatow) in his first lead role in a film.

The story follows the titular character of Andy Stitzer (Carell), an action-figure-and-video-game collecting 40-year-old virgin who works as an account at Fertilizers company and as a railway ticket booking agent. During a poker game with his co-workers David (Rudd), Cal (Rogen), Mooj (Bednob) and Jay (Malco), they find out that Andy is still a virgin when past sexual exploits became the topic of conversation and his friends resolve to push Andy into losing his virginity. As Andy attempts to overcome his awkwardness around women, he meets local shop owner, Trish (Keener), and begins a tentative romance.

What follows is a hilarious, raunchy but realistically funny comedy that will resonate with adult audiences. The film received critical and commercial success, which cemented Carell’s status as a leading man.

Starring: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Leslie Mann, Jane Lynch, Kat Dennings, Gerry Bednob and Shelley Malil.
Directed by: Judd Apatow
Written by: Judd Apatow & Steve Carell
Runtime: 116 minutes
Release date: August 19, 2005

The Hangover (2009)

Directed by Todd Phillips, The Hangover is a comedy film that was released in 2009 and received critical and commercial success, winning Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 67^th Golden Globe Awards.

The plot follows the story of four friends Phil Wenneck (Cooper), Stu Price (Helms), Alan Garner (Galifianakis) and Doug Billings (Bartha), who travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party to celebrate Doug’s upcoming marriage to Alan’s sister. After celebrating with a night of drinking on the rooftop of Caesar’s Palace, the friends wake up with no recollection of the previous night and with Doug missing. What ensues is a hilarious, erratic quest as they piece together the previous night’s events to find Doug before the wedding can take place, with subplots including a baby, a police cruises, a tiger, a stripper named Jade (Graham), Mike Tyson, and a crowbar-wielding naked Asian man in the trunk (Jeong).

The breakthrough roles of Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis in the film launched them into stardom, and kickstarted The Hangover Trilogy, with The Hangover Part II released in 2011 and The Hangover III released in 2013.

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong and Jeffrey Tambor.
Directed by: Todd Phillips
Written by: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Runtime: 100 minutes
Release date: June 5, 2009

Bridesmaids (2011)

Released in 2011, Bridesmaids is a comedy film directed by Paul Feig and written by Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig. The film received positive reviews and was a commercial success, garnering nominations for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Wiig at the 69^th Golden Globe Awards as well as Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for McCarthy at the 84^th Academy Awards.

The film follows the story of Annie Walker (Wiig), a down-on-her-luck single woman in her mid-thirties, living in Milwaukee, who lost her bakery and savings, on top of her boyfriend leaving her, due to the recession. When Annie’s best friend Lillian (Rudolph) gets engaged and asks her to be the maid of honour, Annie suffers a series of mishaps and misfortunes after she meets the rest of Lillian’s bridesmaids, including Helen (Byrne), the rich, beautiful, and elite wife of the groom’s boss, who constantly clashes with Annie due to jealousy of each other’s friendship with Lillian; Rita (McLendon-Covey), Lillian’s cynical, worldly and long-married cousin; Becca (Ellie Kemper), Lillian’s naïve and idealistic newlywed co-worker; and Megan (McCarthy), the groom’s unfiltered sister.

The diverse, funny and dysfunctional characters result in priceless comedic moments including Annie arguing with an entitled, spoiled teen customer; the women getting diarrhoea from food poisoning during bridal shopping; a sedative and alcohol-induced Annie hallucinating and making a commotion on the airplane en route the bachelorette party in Las Vegas, which results in an emergency landing; and Annie throwing a tantrum and wrestling giant heart-shaped chocolate during the bridal shower.

Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Chris O’Dowd, Rebel Wilson, Matt Lucas, Michael Hitchcock, Jon Hamm and Jill Clayburgh.
Directed by: Paul Feig
Written by: Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Runtime: 125 minutes
Release date: May 13, 2011

Spy (2015)

Released in 2015, Spy is an action comedy spy film written and directed by Paul Feig. The film was a critical and commercial success, receiving two nominations for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for McCarthy at the 73^rd Golden Globe Awards.

The plot follows the story of Susan Cooper (McCarthy), a 40-year-old, single CIA employee whose desk-bound job consists of remotely helping her charming partner, field agent Bradley Fine (Law). When Bradley is supposedly killed by Rayna Boyanov (Byrne), daughter of an arms dealer whom Bradley accidentally kills, Susan’s life takes a turn for the unexpected as she voluntarily becomes a field agent to track down Rayna and a stolen portable nuclear device. What follows is pure comedic gold as Susan goes through various secret identities to try to get close to Rayna, consistently crossing paths with the ultra-macho Ford (Statham), a fellow agent who doesn’t approve of Susan being a field agent.

The film was praised for its direction and screenplay, McCarthy and Byrne’s fantastic chemistry on screen, as well as Statham’s surprisingly hilarious comedic role that will get major belly laughs from viewers.

Starring; Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney, Peter Serafinowicz, Morena Baccarin and Jude Law.
Directed by: Paul Feig
Written by: Paul Feig
Runtime: 120 minutes
Release date: June 5, 2015

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is a comedy film written and directed by Adam McKay in his directorial debut, starring Will Ferrell (who co-wrote the screenplay McKay) as the titular character of Ron Burgundy. Regarded as one of the best comedies of the 2000s, the film received generally positive reviews upon its release.

The film tells the story of Ron Burgundy (Ferrell), an eccentric hotshot television anchorman of KVWN channel 4, a fictional local San Diego TV station, who works alongside his childhood friends on the news team: lead field report Brian Fantana; sportscaster Champ Kind; and meteorologist Brick Tamland. When station director Ed Harken (Willard) hires upstart reporter Veronica Corningstone (Applegate), Ron welcomes her into the male-dominated field of broadcast news, but trouble arises when Ron grows jealous of Veronica starts to outshine him on air. A tense feud arises with Ron eventually tarnishing his career when he makes a vulgar remark on live TV. When a horrible story breaks at the Sand Diego Zoo, Ron sees this as an opportunity to redeem himself and save his career.

The film was lauded for its humour with critics praising its inspired silliness and quotable lines as well as its excellent cast, lead by the buffoonish main character played by Ferrell.

Starring: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner and Fred Willard.
Directed by: Adam McKay
Written by: Will Ferrell & Adam McKay
Runtime: 94 minutes
Release date: July 9, 2004

Brian Sjarief

Brian is an Associate Editor at NOW! Bali. He developed his central interest in the arts from an early age, pursuing his studies in Motion Pictures & Television in San Francisco with a focus on screenwriting. Through this long-held passion for film, he now channels his creativity into storytelling, be it written, visual or otherwise.