'Comedy Examiner Slow News Day' presents: The Top 10 Comedies of The Past 10 Years

  You better believe Mystery Team made our list for the top ten comedies of the decade

The year is 2010 at last I checked, which means that we're supposed to be doing all these "Top Ten" lists for things that have happened over the last ten years.  Oh, sure, 2010 isn't over yet, but are you really concerned that Gulliver's Travels was going to earn a spot on this list?  If that's the case, we'll do a rewrite in December.  I mean, let's face facts: we're whipping out the good ol' "Top Ten" list mainly because it's a slow news day...but also because there's a few films we've placed on the list below that you may have never seen, and if this is the list that finally inspires you to check out, say, Mystery Team, then so be it.  Read on for the Comedy Examiner's picks, my gentle Examiner readers...

These "Top Ten" lists really aren't my cup of tea, but when the news is running as slow as it's been for the past couple of days (and when we're down to publishing Taylor Swift parody videos in a fit of desperation), it's time to wheel one out and see what we come up with.  It's been awhile since we've done a "Top XX" list, anyhow, so here's hoping that everyone will forgive me and instead give bonus points for A) not employing a slideshow here, B) picking some genuinely funny movies), and C) forget all about the fact that you're reading a "Top Ten" list and instead just argue over my selections in the comments section.  That's what you guys love above all else, right?  Good.  Here's my picks for the top ten funniest comedies of the past decade:

10.  HIGH FIDELITY:  I know there are many people out there that'll tear me to pieces for this selection, just as there were people that would've crapped all over Reality Bites had someone selected it for a "Best of the 90's" list (though in that case, the uproar would've been more than justified).  High Fidelity's a great movie to watch after you've broken up with someone you actually cared about, something that I've spent the last decade making a habit of.  Further, it features the role that caused a great number of people to begin their long, abusive relationship with Jack Black-- he's awesome here, and don't try and tell me you didn't look stupefied when he started singing in the final scene.  John Cusack's on-point, the script's sharp, and it's the best Nick Hornby adaptation to ever grace the screen.  Suck it, haters.

9. ANCHORMAN:  Try and think back to when Anchorman wasn't being quoted as much as #3 on our list by ever douche-bag in every bar you frequent every Saturday night.  Think back to when Will Ferrell hadn't beaten us over the head with his "Stupid Man-Boy" routine.  Think back to the first time you saw the "Sex Panther" scene, or the first time you watched Brick Tamland kill a guy with a trident.  Think back to the first time you saw Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.  Those were good times.  Since he made Anchorman, Ferrell has yet to match the glory he found here.  There's been talk of a sequel, but the word on the street is that Paramount's too scared to finance it.  Come on, Paramount: give it a shot.  What's the worst that can happen? (Sshh: nobody say Land of The Lost or it'll never happen)

8. ZOMBIELAND:  I'll get this out of the way-- I'm a sucker for a well-made zombie movie.  And if that zombie movie has comedy in it?  Well, I'm smitten.  This is a recent addition to the list, and it's deserved:  Jessie Eisenberg proved that he's not a Michael Cera clone; Woody Harrelson was hilarious; the script is sharp and the direction was solid; And, of course, there's that epic Bill Murray cameo to consider.  Zombieland was far better than any of us thought it was going to be.  It might actually be higher on the list were it not for its kinda nonsensical ending (why did the girls think hiding in plain sight atop an amusement park ride was going to help anything?), but it's not enough to get it stricken from the record.

7. THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN:  Here's another film along the lines of Anchorman, where you've seen it so many times at this point that you're kinda sick of it.  But give it a couple years in between viewings (and avoid shouting the film's catchphrases like a parrot every time you think it'll be really, super-funny), and The 40 Year Old Virgin holds up very well.  This may be the best of the Judd Apatow films, but I'm sure that there are many who will argue that Knocked Up should've been here instead.  Nonsense: T40YOV works better as a straight-up comedy.

6.  MYSTERY TEAM:  Another recent addition to the list, Mystery Team just arrived on DVD a week or two ago.  The first feature-length film from the members of Derrick Comedy, this is the sort of comedy we haven't seen since Super Troopers came along: a well-made, balls-out comedy that's hilarious from start to finish featuring a cast of people we barely know.  Mystery Team proves-- beyond a shadow of a doubt-- that all the success that the various members of Derrick Comedy have been enjoying over the past couple years is no fluke: these guys are the real deal.  If you haven't already read my sloppy BJ of a review, check it out right here.  Mystery Team should be on your shelf if you're a fan of the comedy genre.

5.  THE HANGOVER:  This one woulda been higher, but I'll confess to feeling a little Hangover hangover recently: I've seen the flick too many times in the past year to still be feeling all warm and fuzzy about it.  But if for no other reason, The Hangover delivered Zach Galifianakis upon an unsuspecting public, and now he's lining up projects left and right.  You can point to all sorts of plot-holes and weak moments in the film, but you can't argue that making "Zach Galifianakis" a household name was a bad thing.  Besides, The Hangover is riotously funny in places, particularly whenever Ken Jeong is on-screen.  We'll have to see if the sequel (filming by year's end) will sully the reputation earned by the original when it arrives next year.

4.  HOT FUZZ:  There'll be arguments amongst Edgar Wright fans (myself included) over whether or not this one deserves to be this far back on the list, or whether or not it oughtta be in the spot that Shaun of The Dead is in.  Allow me to remind you: I'm a sucker for well-made, funny zombie movies.  As such, Hot Fuzz will have to settle for being the fourth-funniest film released over the past ten years.  Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost are a team sent from comedy heaven, and if I have a complaint here, it's that Hot Fuzz seemed about ten minutes too long.  Then again, that could just be this Absinthe talking.

3.  BORAT:  According to legend, an early screening of Borat made Larry David laugh so hard, it knocked a whole new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm out of him.  Like Anchorman, it's easy to forget how truly amazing, funny, and original Borat was when it arrived because every frat boy douche-bag in the world has beaten it into the ground with some of the worst impressions around since standup in the 80's.  Borat is a miracle, and we should all be amazed that it even exists.  Having seen the film, would you have predicted that a major studio would dare release the film?  It's really kinda amazing.  Bruno was a bit of a let-down, but we'll always have Borat.

2.  TEAM AMERICA: I've gone back and forth on whether or not I wanted to make this film the #1 here, but let's just accept that on some days, Team America rules the roost, while on others, it's Shaun of The Dead (don't pretend like you didn't already skip down to see who was #1).  Team America didn't do well at the box office when it was released, and that's a damn shame: the blood, sweat, and tears that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone poured into this thing is legendary, and perhaps if it'd been a bigger hit we'd be seeing movies from their braintrust a little more often.  I defy you to watch five minutes of this movie without laughing hysterically.  Bonus points: it holds up well, and because it never reached the levels of popularity that, say, Borat did, we didn't have to deal with too much heavy quoting from d-bags on this one.  I watch Team America at least once every six months, and I suggest you do the same.

1.  SHAUN OF THE DEAD:  Here it is, the number one comedy of the decade.  Director Edgar Wright managed to make a film that is by turns funny, scary, thought-provoking, and heartfelt...and he did it all within the zombie genre.  Fans of Wright's Spaced already knew that he had the chops to pull this one off, but everyone else was surprised.  While not the most quotable movie on the list, that's something that works in its favor (for the same reasons we listed above for Team America).  With this, Hot Fuzz, and the looking-absolutely-jaw-droppingly-awesome Scott Pilgrim VS. The World about to arrive, it appears that Wright has pulled off a cinematic comedy hat-trick that hasn't been seen since...well, I can't even recall.  Shaun of The Dead may end up being Edgar Wright's masterpiece, but I'll be happy to watch him try and top it for the rest of his career.

Stay tuned for more on this as it becomes available, folks, along with more funny videos, news, reviews, interviews, recaps, funny pictures, and other nonsense from the Comedy Examiner's Office in the near future.  We've got all manner of nonsense to keep you busy while you're supposed to be getting productive at work, so hit the "Subscribe" button up top if you want to get all of the future time-wasting content you can handle from the Comedy Examiner delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge, the moment it's published.  And check out some of these other recent Comedy Examiner articles while you're here:

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(photos: top--screencap, high--collider.com, anchorman--myspace.com, zombieland--slashfilm.com, mysteryteam--avclub.com, fuzz-shaun-- scrapetv.com, hangover--collider.com)