This article is updated frequently as titles leave and enter Max. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.
Who doesn’t need a laugh these days? Max (formerly HBO Max) has one of the richest and deepest catalogs of any of the streaming services, and so it naturally has the comedy you’re looking for tonight. From classic comedies starring iconic performers to movies that played in theaters recently, this rotating list of laugh generators should have something for everyone.
50/50
Year: 2011
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Jonathan Levine
Will Reiser adapted his own story of battling cancer in a tender, genuine film that ended up being a sizable box office hit given its subject matter. People were attracted to the truth in Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s performance as a young man diagnosed with cancer, and how that diagnosis impacted his relationships, particularly one with a good friend, played by Seth Rogen.
*As Good As It Gets
Year: 1997
Runtime: 2h 19m
Director: James Brooks
Believe it or not, this is the last movie to win both the Oscar for Best Actor (Jack Nicholson) and Best Actress (Helen Hunt). James L. Brooks’ romantic comedy is a perfect example of a movie that caught its cast at just the right moment, getting one of the last Nicholson performances that could be called charming and supporting it with great work from Hunt and Greg Kinnear. Some of it is a bit dated, but it catches just enough lightning in a bottle in terms of casting to justify another look.
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Year: 1989
Runtime: 1h 30m
Director: Stephen Herek
It’s really hard to dislike this charming time travel comedy about two underachieving buddies who travel through time for a school project. Keanu Reeves (Ted) and Alex Winter (Bill) are so wonderfully sweet and funny in a film that has held up better than most comedies of its era. Note: The also-excellent follow-up Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey is also on Max.
Barbie
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 55m
Director: Greta Gerwig
One of the biggest films of 2023 has already landed on Max in the form or Greta Gerwig’s daring blockbuster, a comedy that works both as a reminder of the power imagination and the fight for equality. Anyone who thinks this movie is anti-male isn’t paying any attention. The theme of the movie is that no one — not even Barbie nor Ken — should be defined by traditional roles. We should all be free to play however we want. It’s a wonderful film that will truly stand the test of time.
Dear White People
Year: 2014
Runtime: 1h 49m
Director: Justin Simien
This Sundance hit unpacked racial and class issues at a fictional university called Winchester, launching not just a Netflix original series but the careers of Tessa Thompson, Teyonah Parris, and more. It’s a viciously smart movie with scenes that are alternately hysterical and razor sharp in their social commentary.
Dream Scenario
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director: Kristoffer Borgli
Nicolas Cage is wonderful in this twisted comedy, the story of an ordinary man thrust into an impossible spotlight. Cage plays Paul Matthews, an incredibly normal guy who ends up filtering into the dreams of others around the world. Suddenly famous, Paul doesn’t know exactly what to do as his reputation as a modern-day Freddy Krueger starts to shift. It doesn’t quite stick the landing, but it’s smart enough throughout to make that forgivable.
Fargo
Year: 1996
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Joel and Ethan Coen’s masterpiece is only one of the best films ever made, a story of violence and redemption in the great American North. The Coens won Best Original Screenplay and Frances McDormand took her first Oscar home for playing the unforgettable Marge Gunderson, a Minnesotan cop who gets entangled in a car salesman’s deeply inept foray into the criminal world.
Get Shorty
Year: 1995
Runtime: 1h 45m
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Look at me. Barry Sonnenfeld directed one of the best adaptations of an Elmore Leonard novel and anchored it with one of John Travolta’s best performances. Everyone remembers the comeback with Pulp Fiction, but Get Shorty really allows Travolta’s incredible ‘90s charisma to shine. It’s a perfectly calibrated comedy with phenomenal performances all around, including Rene Russo, Danny DeVito, Delroy Lindo, and Gene Hackman too.
I, Tonya
Year: 2017
Runtime: 2h
Director: Craig Gillespie
Who could have ever guessed that the true(-ish) story of Tonya Harding would become an Oscar-winning dramedy? Margot Robbie does some of the best work of her career as the title character, who reclaims her own story through this odd, funny, and ultimately moving character study that won Allison Janney an Academy Award.
Kingpin
Year: 1996
Runtime: 1h 54m
Director: The Farrelly Brothers
The Farrelly brothers follow-up to their hit Dumb and Dumber was an even funnier (but less commercially successful) film about another pair of idiots. Woody Harrelson stars as a disgraced bowler who tries to mentor an Amish hurler (Randy Quaid) to win a championship, toppling his nemesis, unforgettably played by Bill Murray. Fearless in its attempts to make you laugh, Kingpin holds up.
*Lady Bird
Year: 2017
Runtime: 1h 34m
Director: Greta Gerwig
The Barbie director’s Best Picture nominee is one of the most personal and striking coming-of-age films in years. Saoirse Ronan stars as the titular character, a young Californian who longs for someplace cooler than her own hometown. It’s a heartfelt and very smart film, buoyed by great performances throughout, including Ronan, Tracy Letts, Timothee Chalamet, Lucas Hedges, Beanie Feldstein, and Laurie Metcalf, who was robbed of that Oscar.
Legally Blonde
Year: 2001
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: Robert Luketic
Long before she won an Oscar or worked magic with The Morning Show, Reese Witherspoon turned a ditzy blonde into a comedy star in this 2001 romantic comedy from director Robert Luketic. It could be stretching it to call this silly fluff “great” but what elevates the saga of Elle Woods from sorority queen to legal eagle is the total charm and commitment of Witherspoon herself. It’s one of her most likable and memorable performances.
Lost in Translation
Year: 2003
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director: Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola exploded onto the filmmaking scene with her second film, this 2003 dramedy about a fading movie star who meets an American girl in Tokyo and both of their lives change. Bill Murray does career-best work in the film (and should have won an Oscar), and he’s matched by Scarlett Johansson, but this really is Coppola’s film, a tender, brilliant character study with personal resonance.
The Naked Gun
Year: 1988
Runtime: 1h 25m
Director: David Zucker
No one ever could have guessed that the unsuccessful TV series Police Squad! would turn into the wildly successful film series The Naked Gun, which was such a hit on its release that it turned Leslie Nielsen into a massive star and produced two sequels. The first film is still the best, a gloriously ridiculous spoof of cop shows/films in which Nielsen’s Frank Drebin stumbles upon a plot to kill Queen Elizabeth II that involves Reggie Jackson. It’s too bad they don’t make movies this gloriously stupid (in a good way) as often as they did in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
The Other Guys
Year: 2010
Runtime: 1h 48m
Director: Adam McKay
One of the final films of the McKay/Ferrell partnership is also maybe the most underrated. Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg star in this buddy comedy about the two cops who almost never get to the save the day, but they’re forced into action when the legends at the precinct make a fatal mistake. The comedy timing between Wahlberg and Ferrell is some of the best of its era and this movie is much sharper than people remember.
*Parenthood
Year: 1989
Runtime: 2h 4m
Director: Ron Howard
Long before the NBC series of the same name, Ron Howard directed a family comedy inspired by the massive families of the producers, director, and writers. There’s really not much more to it than that simple premise, but it gets by on the likability of its large ensemble, which includes Steve Martin, Tom Hulce, Rick Moranis, Martha Plimpton, Joaquin Phoenix, Jason Robards, and a young Keanu Reeves.
The Player
Year: 1992
Runtime: 2h 4m
Director: Robert Altman
After a rough patch in the ‘80s, Robert Altman came roaring back with his scathing Hollywood satire written by Michael Tolkin. Tim Robbins does his best film work as a studio executive who can’t decide if his biggest problem is at work or the writer sending him death threats. Altman’s skill with improvisational comedy and knowledge of the Hollywood machine blend to make a simply perfect movie, one of the best of the ‘90s.
*Problemista
Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 45m
Director: Julio Torres
The genius behind Los Espookys, wrote/directed/starred in this truly unique A24 gem that has quickly jumped from theatrical release to Max. Torres plays a toy designer trying to survive both the business world and the roadblocks put up for immigrants in this country. Tilda Swinton is unforgettable in this 2024 film that’s really like nothing else on Max.
Singin’ in the Rain
Year: 1952
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Stanley Donen
Movies don’t get more delightful than this beloved classic about backstage drama on the advent of the talkie. Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor are as charming as charming can be, and the movie contains some of the best choreography of its era, and not just in the titular number. It’s joyous from front to back. Honestly, you have to be kind of a jerk not to like this movie.
Up in the Air
Year: 2009
Runtime: 1h 50m
Director: Jason Reitman
One of the best midlife crisis comedies of the modern era, this Oscar winner stars George Clooney as a man who has spent more time on airplanes than he has with his family. Clooney’s Ryan Bingham is a full-time “downsizer,” someone who essentially ruins lives everywhere he goes. Clooney does some of his best work here, matched by Vera Farmiga and a breakthrough performance from Anna Kendrick — all three were nominated for Oscars.
Zola
Year: 2020
Runtime: 1h 26m
Director: Janicza Bravo
The best movie based on a Twitter thread. Aziah “Zola” King started a story on Twitter back in the days when it was still fun and good in 2015, recounting a tale too crazy not to be true. Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, and a stunningly great Colman Domingo star in the film version of that tale, the journey of a stripper and her friend to Tampa, where things go wrong in wild and unpredictable ways.
All recommendations are made independently by our editors. Services you subscribe to through our links may earn us a commission.
