12 movies I found funny (but nobody else did)

Some say that comedy is subjective; a joke that will have one person literally rolling around on the floor laughing will have another simply rolling their eyes. The best way to test this theory is to find a joke, tell it to a bunch of different people and make a note of their varying reactions – I know a joke about bubblegum that is perfect for this.

Of course, others disagree. They think that if something is funny, then it is funny. If someone slips on a banana skin in the woods and no one is around to laugh at it, is it still funny? Of course it is, these other people say.

Personally, I’m on the first team, and I take such a firm stance because I have seen a lot of comedy films over the years, and found most of them absolutely hilarious…and yet on several films, I stand alone.

Smile, and the whole world smiles with you. Laugh at Tom Green whacking off an elephant, and you laugh alone.

Here are 12 films that I loved, but the critics and most of the world hated.

12. Boat Trip

Two guys looking for a respite from their bumpy romantic lives find themselves in the midst of a very confusing situation in this broad comedy. Boat Trip is one of those fish out of water comedies, only instead of a fish it’s Cuba Gooding Jr., and instead of being out of the water, he’s accidentally on board a gay cruise. I know, it sounds terrible, and tasteless, and many describe the jokes as penile, puerile junk, but I laughed my way through it. Only 7% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes could bring themselves to give Boat Trip a positive review, and the general public didn’t think much more of it, seeing as its current IMDB rating is a mere 4.8. Watch it, but don’t take it too seriously, even if it’s only to enjoy Roger Moore’s character.

 

11. You, Me and Dupree

In at eleven, we have You, Me and Dupree – a film that, despite a cast list boasting the likes of Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson, Matt Dillon, Michael Douglas and Seth Rogen, didn’t do all that well. You, Me and Dupree tells the tale of a newly married couple who end up letting their unemployed, lazy friend move in with them. Dupree is an interesting character, who shuns any kind of commitment and responsibility, and it’s great to see him grow as a person over the course of the movie. Failing that, this flick shows you exactly how butter can be used as a sex aid, and features a memorable rant delivered effortlessly by Dillon, branding Dupree a “librarian-banging, backstabbing, bike-riding, couch-burning masturbator”. Hard hitting stuff that only dazzled 21% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and currently has a 5.6 on IMDB.

 

10. Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo

Rob Schneider is…a gigolo, but it turns out only 23% of critics wanted to see him on the job, and while he may have been a hit with the seemingly undatable women of America, IMDB users could only give this flick a 5.7. Yes, the movie boasts crude and ridiculous humour, but it’s Rob Schneider playing a gigolo, for crying out loud – what were you expecting? After accidentally trashing the house of the gigolo he was house sitting for (come on, we’ve all been there) Deuce takes it upon himself to start seeing clients to try and make enough money for the repairs. This flick will have you saying “eww” and “aww” in equal measure, because if you look past the filthy, silly humour there’s actually an important message to be learned about loving people despite their flaws. Probably. There’s a girl with a penis for a nose in the sequel, I probably shouldn’t be reading so much into it.

 

9. Dude, Where’s My Car?

Any film that pays tribute to a classic like The Big Lebowski has to be amazing, right? Not according to the 82% of critics who couldn’t bring themselves to give Dude, Where’s My Car? a positive review or IMDB users, where the flick currently has a 5.5. The movie sees loveable stoners Seann William Scott and Ashton Kutcher getting in to all kinds of trouble as they try to locate their missing car. With aliens, angry transsexual strippers and a refrigerator full of pudding, the film is as wacky as you’d expect, but very good fun. It is still as quotable as ever between those who love it, even fourteen years after its release.

8. White Chicks

“Your mother’s so dumb she went to Dr Dre for a Pap smear” is just one of the many one-liners you can expect from White Chicks, and the 2004 movie is also the reason it’s OK to like Vanessa Carlton’s catchy-as-hell track A Thousand Miles, because you can pretend you’re being Brittany and Tiffany, and not just a secret fan of the tune. The movie came out when shows like The Simple life were on our screens, and the entire world was fascinated by the lives of the likes of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Step up two of the Wayans Brothers (Shawn and Marlon), who took on the roles of two airhead heiresses, and had us in stitches with their portrayal of white chicks. Yes, it’s dick jokes and toilet humour, but what’s so wrong with that? Just remember to suspend your disbelief or you’ll totally have a BF (bitch fit), like the 85% of critics who didn’t have anything nice to say about it. The fun flick currently has a rating of 5.3 on IMDB.

7. Seed of Chucky

Everyone is familiar with the spooky Child’s Play flicks, but when I went to see Seed of Chucky for the first time I had no idea it was a comedy. In fact, I was terrified during that opening scene…until the pant-pissing, then I realised it was a comedy and I uncovered my eyes. What followed was 87 minutes of hilarious. It’s gross, it’s crude and it’s the only movie I’ve ever seen at the cinema where the audience loudly cheered the death of a character, just because she was in a certain UK pop band. Seed of Chucky is probably the most critically acclaimed film on this list, which is saying something. 32% of critics had positive things to say about it, but as for the general IMDB public, the film is only worth a rating of 4.9.

6. Just Go With It

I have always loved Adam Sandler movies, but the older ones are certainly the best. Big Daddy, Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison – these are some of my favourite Sandler flicks, but somewhere around the time of Click, his movies stopped dazzling me like they used to do. So, when I sat down to watch Just Go With it, I expected it to be rubbish. It wasn’t, though. I loved it. It’s got that wonderful brand of humour that Adam does so well, and you instantly like his character even though he’s probably a bit of an arsehole because of the way he manipulates women into sleeping with him. Still, it’s Adam Sandler, so it’s adorable. It may not have the incredible soundtrack his films had over ten years ago, but like all his best movies, his character learns a valuable lesson by the end of it. My love for Just Go With It sees me standing with 19% of critics who gave it a positive review, and all the people who voted on IMDB to bag this film a rating of 6.4.

5. Norbit

What this list needs is a film where Eddie Murphy plays several characters and one of them needs to be really fat – thankfully there’s at least three to choose from. The Nutty Professor didn’t do too badly – unlike its sequel – but for me, it has to be Norbit. Before I watched it I had only heard bad things about how terribly unfunny and offensive it was, so you can imagine how cool I felt as I laughed all the way through. It is oh-so daft, but it’s funny, and sometimes that’s enough. Also, if someone as foxy as Thandie Newton can fall for a milquetoast like Norbit, then there’s hope for us all. For laughs as big as Rasputia’s boobs, this is the flick for you. Eddie’s three varying roles were not enough for the critics, with only 9% praising the flick, and with a 3.9 on IMDB, Norbit is the least popular with the public, too.

4. The Ugly Truth

The Ugly Truth is not just another chick flick, because it has all the filthy humour and naughty language of your typical 15-rated comedy flick. On top of making you laugh, The Ugly Truth actually delivers some invaluable information about the way men see women and what they want them to be like. Of course, the message at the end is that you shouldn’t have to change for a man, but sticking to Mike’s rules will serve you well in the meantime – like don’t tell men your problems and don’t wear your hair in a ponytail. You have to be two people. The saint and the sinner. The librarian and the stripper. Maybe a comedy flick is a terrible place to take relationship advice from, but you won’t be able to stop yourself laughing through vibrating underwear mishaps and the never ending blunt honestly that flows from the beautiful mouth of Gerard Butler. Only 13% of critics liked it, but the film is our most popular with the public, with a 6.5 on IMDB.

3. Movie 43

Of all the films on this list, it was Movie 43 that the critics loved the least, with just 4% giving it the thumbs up. Even IMDB users only saw fit to give this flick a 4.4, so it’s safe to say that not many people liked it – but I was one of the people who did. The cast for Movie 43 was huge – both in number and star power. We had Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Bell, Halle Berry, Gerard Butler, Josh Duhamel, Anna Faris, Richard Gere, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Justin Long, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Seann William Scott, Emma Stone, Jason Sudeikis, Uma Thurman, Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet to name but a few. The movie saw A-Listers take part in a series of sketches, and I just can’t understand why the world didn’t love it, because I laughed and laughed and laughed. Supposedly the humour is disgusting (it is), juvenile (yep) and ridiculous (I’ll even give them that one) but I fail to see how any of that prevents it from being funny.

2. The Watch

When it comes to the likes of Movie 43 and Norbit, I can understand why people hate them, even though I don’t agree. However, I cannot figure out why only 17% of critics enjoyed The Watch, and why it only has a 5.7 on IMDB. The script was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (and they wrote Superbad!), and Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Johan Hill and Richard Ayoade took on the lead roles as four guys who start a neighbourhood watch, only to discover that an alien invasion is imminent. Yes, it’s ridiculous, but yes, it is funny. There’s a montage somewhere in the middle to the tune of Centerfold by The J. Geils Band that really, really made me laugh. Yes, there are a lot of dick jokes, but that’s because dick jokes are funny. Some found the on-screen chemistry between the men to be lacking, but I thought they were all hilarious, both individually and together – especially with the ad-libbing.

1. Freddy Got Fingered

And finally, the number one film on our list…Freddy Got Fingered. The film is every inch as stupid as the title suggests, but it’s a work of art. Tom Green is one of those comedians who truly has his own brand of humour, and I dig it. It’s silly, it’s so very disgusting and sometimes it makes absolutely no sense, but it’s great. I can count the number of people I know that love this movie on one hand, because most people just seem to despise it. From the backwards man to the sausage song to Tom whacking off animals for his art, this film manages to fit so much funny weirdness into just 87 minutes. What I really love is that the film won five Razzies (including worst picture, worst actor and worst director) and that Tom actually showed up to collect them. What a good sport. Sadly, only 11% of critics had nice things to say about the flick and it has an IMDB rating of just 4.5. If we can learn anything from Freddy Got Fingered it’s that we should believe in ourselves and follow our dreams. Oh, and how to whack off an elephant, of course.