![]() ![]() Written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, the film offers a complex look at female friendship that is equal parts can’t-stop-laughing hilarious and whoa-too-real brutal honesty. “I’m glad he’s single because I’m going to climb that like a tree.”īefore it was released, Bridesmaids was unfairly positioned as “the female version” of the many, many dude-centric R-rated comedies that populated the previous decade, but very quickly audiences realized this was something wholly unique. From the choice to showcase it in black-and-white to the long shot of Frances dancing down a NYC street to “Modern Love,” this is one of the most irresistibly charming comedies of the decade. At once hilarious and tremendously sad, every bone of Frances Ha is crafted with a verve for life, which seeps through onscreen. This intimate story of a twentysomething trying to find her place in the world in New York is relatable to an upsetting degree, and Baumbach and Gerwig inherently know exactly when to go for the laugh, and when to go for the heartache. This 2012 delight was co-written by and stars Greta Gerwig, who we now know as the towering filmmaking talent behind Lady Bird. His earlier films like The Squid and the Whale and Greenberg were marked by a cynicism and anger that made them a bit prickly, but starting with Frances Ha, Baumbach lightens up a lot-and his films are all the better for it. ![]() It’s consistently funny and quick-witted, and Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson play possibly the best onscreen parents of the decade.įrances Ha marked a turning point for filmmaker Noah Baumbach. Easy A presents a story about femininity and sexuality that avoids being preachy or mean-spirited, instead traveling down more complex roads. Stone is at once supremely confident and cripplingly self-conscious, echoing the experience of many, many teenagers. While the now-Oscar-winning actress had breakout roles in Superbad and Zombieland, this is the film where she got the chance to shine in the lead, and shine she does. But the movie consistently charms when in the wrong hands it may have induced eyerolls, and no doubt a huge part of why it works so well is Emma Stone. ![]() The film arrived in the wake of the raunchy Apatow-influenced, male-focused films of the mid-to-late 2000s and presented a teen-centric take on The Scarlet Letter (again, sounds terrible right?). "I don't think letting Peter Hedlin motorboat you behind a Bed, Bath, and Beyond really makes you a super slut."įilmmaker Will Gluck has made a career out of crafting surprisingly good-to-great movies that look kind of terrible, which is certainly the case with Easy A. RELATED: The Best Comedy Shows on Netflix Right Now And then you had filmmakers like Taika Waititi and Phil Lord and Chris Miller who were able to work within the confines of massive studio blockbusters and still deliver hilarious, whip smart comedies. People like Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, and Greta Gerwig not only made some of the funniest movies of the 2010s, they were also some of the best. That’s not to say the 2010s were a bad decade for comedy, and the lack of consistently great traditional comedies gave way to more artful, interesting comedies from “serious” filmmakers. Even fan-demanded sequels like Anchorman: The Legend Continues and Zoolander 2 were met with cool receptions, which gave studios an even bigger excuse to put their money towards movies where things blow up instead of films in which two dudes talk about genitalia for five minutes. No longer was the next Judd Apatow-produced, star-driven comedy a lock. At the same time, the box office prospects of the few studio comedies that were being produced also became far more hit-and-miss. The arrival of the Marvel Cinematic Universe gave every major studio in town an excuse to look for their next huge franchise, and as a result of those films being incredibly expensive, the number of studio-backed comedies began to decline. This influence carried over to the beginning of the 2010s, which is when a shift in the kinds of films studios were making started to occur. Audiences ate it up, turning films like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Superbad into huge hits. The mid-2000s were marked by the introduction of “the Judd Apatow influence”-a type of comedy that was heavily improvised, incredibly dirty, but also surprisingly sweet and heartfelt. The 2010s were a weird decade for the comedy genre. In order to understand the best comedies of the 2010s, it's important to travel back further through history. ![]()
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