15 Funniest Movies of 2024, Ranked

Short answer: Hundreds of Beavers is our No. 1 pick for pure comic invention, while The Fall Guy is the safest broad-audience recommendation. For a sharper romantic comedy, choose Hit Man; for warmth, choose Thelma; and for horror mixed with laughs, choose Abigail.

This is a ranking of the funniest films released to U.S. audiences in 2024—not simply the most acclaimed films that happened to contain jokes. Laugh density, comic timing, setup-and-payoff writing, originality, performances, and accessibility all matter here. Comedy hybrids count because many of the year’s strongest comic films were also action movies, horror films, romances, satires, dramas, or musicals.

The list is spoiler-light and aimed at someone deciding what to watch for a solo movie night, date, group viewing, or comedy binge.

What counts as a 2024 movie?

For this list, a film qualifies if it had a meaningful U.S. theatrical, streaming, or substantial commercial release during 2024. That is more useful for viewers than using the first festival premiere anywhere in the world.

Release-year labels can otherwise be misleading. Hundreds of Beavers premiered at a festival before its 2024 commercial rollout, but became a notable U.S. release through self-distribution that year. Hit Man and Problemista also had earlier festival histories but received meaningful U.S. releases in 2024. Wicked Little Letters had different release dates in different countries, and some Netflix catalog metadata labels it 2023 even though it is generally presented as a 2024 U.S. film. The People’s Joker had 2024 theatrical screenings and commercial availability.

This is therefore not a ranking based on first worldwide premiere date, production year, or the year a film happened to become available in one particular country.

How the ranking works

“Funniest” is not the same as “best.” A best comedy ranking may prioritize filmmaking achievement, emotional depth, acting, or cultural importance. This list gives more weight to whether a film consistently generates laughs and whether its comic ideas are executed with timing and escalation.

• Laugh density and consistency: 35%
• Comic writing, setups, and payoffs: 25%
• Performances and timing: 20%
• Originality and rewatchability: 10%
• Accessibility to a general audience: 10%

Those are editorial criteria, not measured audience-laugh data. Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic are useful reception evidence, but a Tomatometer score measures the percentage of positive reviews—not how often a film makes people laugh. That is why a strange, divisive film can appear here alongside a polished studio hit.

1. Hundreds of Beavers

Verdict: The year’s most inventive laugh machine, and the best choice for viewers who want comedy built almost entirely from visual ideas.

This nearly wordless absurdist slapstick film follows a frontier-style struggle against an increasingly elaborate beaver problem. Its comic engine is physical rather than verbal: traps fail, plans escalate, costumes appear, cartoon violence accumulates, and earlier gags return in more elaborate forms. The movie keeps expanding its own silent-game logic until the simple premise becomes an ingenious chain of visual setups and payoffs.

That formal commitment is why it takes the top spot. Hundreds of Beavers does not need a celebrity performance or a stream of quotable dialogue. It finds new variations on movement, timing, repetition, frustration, and escalation. The result feels like silent cinema, a slapstick video game, and a handmade cartoon sharing the same improbable world.

Best for: Viewers who enjoy silent comedy, physical gags, surreal world-building, and films that reward attention to recurring details.

Watch-outs: Expect crude physical humor and cartoon violence. It is also the list’s clearest eligibility exception: its festival history predates 2024, but its substantial U.S. commercial release belongs to 2024. The Associated Press explains its unusual production and release path, while Rotten Tomatoes lists the film’s strong critical reception.

Format and release: Near-wordless silent slapstick; meaningful U.S. commercial release in 2024. Content note: Cartoon violence and crude physical humor.

2. The Fall Guy

Verdict: The best all-purpose crowd-pleaser: a romantic action comedy that turns stunts, movie-set chaos, and celebrity mythology into running jokes.

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt supply the film’s central comic chemistry, but the stunt work is an equally important performer. The movie repeatedly finds humor in the mechanics of action filmmaking: dangerous falls, impossible recoveries, production disasters, movie-star egos, and the contrast between what audiences see on screen and what a crew must do to create it. Even the romance and a dog become sources of comic timing rather than decorative side plots.

The film is generous with its audience. You do not need deep knowledge of Hollywood or stunt history to enjoy it, although film fans will catch more of the industry jokes. Its 126-minute running time and action structure mean it is not a pure joke-per-minute comedy, but the jokes are woven through nearly every major set piece. That makes it a particularly strong choice for a date night or mixed group.

Best for: A broadly accessible date-night movie, a group watch, or anyone who wants jokes without giving up spectacle and romance.

Watch-outs: It is still a PG-13 action film, with action violence, drug content, and strong language. Universal’s official page classifies it as an action comedy, and early critical coverage highlighted its charm and laughs.

Format and release: Action comedy and romantic comedy; U.S. release in 2024. Rating: PG-13. Content note: Action violence, drug content, and strong language.

3. Hit Man

Verdict: A smart, flirtatious crime farce whose biggest comic weapon is Glen Powell’s ability to make every fake identity feel like a different person.

Gary is an ordinary man who becomes unusually convincing while assisting a police sting operation. Once he starts creating hit-man personas, each disguise changes the social rules around him. The humor comes from the gap between Gary’s everyday self and the confidence, wardrobe, voice, and attitude he invents for each role. His performances turn a procedural setup into an identity comedy, while the romantic storyline gives the deception increasingly complicated consequences.

The opening stretch is especially funny because it allows the film to cycle through different personas and comic situations before the plot becomes more urgent. Richard Linklater and Powell keep the dialogue nimble and the premise playful without losing the criminal stakes. It is more polished and conventional than some entries lower on this list, but it is also one of the easiest recommendations for viewers who want a genuinely funny modern rom-com.

Best for: Date night, fans of clever dialogue, romantic comedies with a crime premise, and viewers who enjoy performances built around disguises or social improvisation.

Watch-outs: The back half becomes more plot-driven and less relentlessly funny than the early sting-operation sequences. It is an adult film with sexual and criminal material; verify the rating in your market. Netflix describes it as an offbeat dark comedy, and Rotten Tomatoes’ film page provides reception and release context.

Format and release: Romantic crime comedy; 2024 U.S. theatrical and Netflix release, despite earlier festival history. Content note: Sexual and criminal material.

4. Thelma

Verdict: A warm, character-driven action comedy that gets its laughs from an older woman taking control of a situation rather than being treated as the joke.

June Squibb plays Thelma, an elderly woman pulled into a scam-revenge adventure that gives her the chance to become an unlikely action hero. The premise is inherently funny, but the film’s best decision is to preserve Thelma’s dignity. Her age creates practical obstacles and unexpected advantages; it does not reduce her to a collection of stereotypes. Richard Roundtree adds an affectionate supporting presence, and the relationship between the characters gives the action a human center.

Thelma is not as explosively joke-dense as Hundreds of Beavers or Babes. Its appeal is consistency, kindness, and the pleasure of watching an underestimated protagonist make her own choices. That makes it the most universally recommendable film here for viewers who want laughs without an aggressively crude or cynical tone.

Best for: A mixed-age adult audience, older viewers, family members watching together, or anyone who prefers warmth and character humor to nonstop raunch.

Watch-outs: This is an affectionate action comedy, not broad slapstick. Rotten Tomatoes lists it as a 2024 PG-13 comedy/action film, and the Associated Press review discusses its central performance and tone.

Format and release: Warm action comedy; U.S. release in 2024. Rating: PG-13. Content note: Action violence and mature language.

5. Deadpool & Wolverine

Verdict: A high-volume superhero comedy for viewers who know the franchise history and want crude jokes, fourth-wall breaks, cameos, and bloody spectacle.

Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool remains a machine for self-aware asides, sexual references, pop-culture jokes, and commentary on superhero filmmaking. The film adds Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, fan-service encounters, and a large supply of comic violence. Its jokes arrive quickly and often, with the characters frequently acknowledging the machinery of sequels, studios, celebrity casting, and superhero continuity.

For the right audience, that density is the point. The film is designed to reward familiarity with Marvel, Fox-era superhero movies, and Reynolds’ public persona. It can still be entertaining for newcomers, but many references and emotional beats will land more strongly if you understand what the movie is sending up. Its 77% critic score and 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes illustrate a strong viewer response, but neither score makes it universally accessible.

Best for: Marvel and superhero fans, large groups, and viewers who prefer irreverent franchise comedy with a very high gore tolerance.

Watch-outs: It is not the best first recommendation for someone who dislikes superhero lore. Expect gore, strong bloody violence, language, and sexual references. Rotten Tomatoes lists its genre and reception, while Marvel provides official release information.

Format and release: Superhero satire and action comedy; U.S. release in 2024. Rating: R. Content note: Gore, bloody violence, strong language, and sexual references.

6. Kneecap

Verdict: An anarchic musical comedy that turns political anger, cultural identity, and the self-mythology of a Belfast hip-hop group into combustible humor.

Kneecap is energetic, profane, and deliberately unruly. Its comic force comes from the chemistry of the performers, the group’s rebellious image, and their clashes with police, politicians, parents, and cultural institutions. The film uses music-video style, exaggeration, and self-aware storytelling to make its subjects feel larger than life while still grounding the comedy in the politics of language and identity.

It is also more than a straight comedy. The film has serious cultural and political stakes, and its Irish-language and English dialogue is central to its subject. That combination gives the jokes more bite, but it also means the movie is not a neutral or universally gentle crowd-pleaser.

Best for: Viewers who want profane musical comedy, political satire, rebellious biographies, and films with a strong sense of place.

Watch-outs: It is politically charged, partly in Irish, and also a serious cultural-history film. Subtitles may be needed depending on your language settings. Rotten Tomatoes lists it as a comedy, drama, music, and biography, and Sony Pictures provides official film information. The listed 95% critic and 95% audience scores indicate broad enthusiasm, but not that every viewer will share its comic sensibility.

Format and release: Musical comedy, political satire, and biographical comedy; U.S. release in 2024. Content note: Profanity, drug references, and mature themes.

7. Babes

Verdict: A raunchy friendship comedy that combines fast dialogue and childbirth gross-out humor with a sincere story about what adult friendship demands.

Directed by Pamela Adlon in her feature debut, Babes centers on a friendship tested by pregnancy, parenthood, and the unequal demands placed on the people around a new child. The film’s comic voice is deliberately bodily and unfiltered: pregnancy discomfort, childbirth, sex, exhaustion, and bad decisions all become material for jokes. The humor is often gooey or gross, but it is not detached from the characters’ emotional lives.

That balance keeps Babes from becoming merely a sequence of outrageous pregnancy gags. Its strongest scenes understand that close friends can be loving, selfish, honest, and infuriating in the same conversation. The performances make the speed and messiness feel lived-in.

Best for: Adults who enjoy raunchy buddy comedies, frank conversations about pregnancy, and friendship stories that can turn from a dirty joke to an emotional argument.

Watch-outs: This is not a safe pick for viewers uncomfortable with childbirth, bodily functions, sexual material, drug use, or sustained profanity. Rotten Tomatoes lists it as an R-rated 2024 comedy, and the Associated Press describes its raunchy, gooey, sometimes emotional tone.

Format and release: Raunchy friendship and pregnancy comedy; U.S. release in 2024. Rating: R. Content note: Sexual material, language, drug use, childbirth, and bodily-function humor.

8. Abigail

Verdict: A bloody ensemble horror-comedy that gets funnier as a group of criminals loses control of the situation.

The film begins with a kidnapping setup and lets its ensemble play off one another through suspicion, panic, bravado, and increasingly absurd survival behavior. The humor works because the characters are not all responding to danger in the same way: some try to maintain professional composure, some collapse into fear, and others keep making terrible decisions with complete confidence.

Abigail also understands the value of comic set pieces. Its jokes are physical, its violence is exaggerated, and its cast has enough personality to make the group dynamics entertaining between scares. The film’s premise shift is part of the fun, so this ranking intentionally does not explain it.

Best for: Viewers who want horror with laughs, ensemble panic, bloody set pieces, and a movie-night premise that can keep a group guessing.

Watch-outs: Do not choose it for a gentle comedy. Expect gore, strong bloody violence, pervasive language, and brief drug use. Rotten Tomatoes’ listing identifies its horror-comedy appeal and content profile. Avoid reading detailed plot summaries if you want the film’s central surprise to work.

Format and release: Horror comedy and ensemble farce; U.S. release in 2024. Rating: R. Content note: Gore, strong bloody violence, pervasive language, and brief drug use.

9. Wicked Little Letters

Verdict: A bawdy British period comedy in which Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley turn obscene correspondence into a battle over class, respectability, and social control.

Based on the real Littlehampton letters scandal, the film uses a mystery framework to explore a community scandal involving aggressively profane letters. Colman and Buckley do most of the heavy comic lifting: one brings tightly wound respectability and frustrated authority, while the other supplies an unruly energy that punctures the period setting’s rules.

The profanity is not just shock value. It becomes a weapon against the social expectations imposed on women and working-class characters. The contrast between polite surroundings and spectacularly filthy language creates the film’s main comic rhythm. This is a performance-led comedy, so viewers should come for the cast and the language rather than a difficult mystery.

Best for: Fans of British period comedy, Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, true scandals, and jokes built from the clash between decorum and vulgarity.

Watch-outs: The mystery is relatively predictable, and the film’s sustained profanity will not suit every group. Rotten Tomatoes lists it as a comedy, history, and mystery, while Netflix’s background coverage identifies the Littlehampton letters scandal.

Format and release: British period comedy and mystery; 2024 U.S. release, with different international release labels. Rating: R. Content note: Sexual material and sustained profanity.

10. Problemista

Verdict: A surreal workplace and immigration satire that turns bureaucracy, New York employment, and the art world into a strange modern fairy tale.

Julio Torres writes, directs, and stars in a film whose humor is less about conventional punchlines than about the absurdity of systems. Work authorization, insecure employment, exploitative professional relationships, and institutional gatekeeping become visual and narrative jokes. The art world is presented not as a place of effortless creativity but as another maze of rules, status games, and impossible demands.

Torres’ imagination gives the movie its distinctive texture. Bureaucratic obstacles can feel like fantasy monsters; everyday professional language can become surreal; and small humiliations can expand into bizarre comic set pieces. It is an unusually specific film, which is precisely why it works so well for viewers who share or recognize its anxieties.

Best for: Art-house audiences, fans of deadpan surrealism, viewers interested in immigration and work satire, and anyone who prefers odd visual concepts to standard joke structures.

Watch-outs: Its humor is eccentric, dry, and highly particular. It may frustrate viewers seeking a conventional narrative or constant punchlines. Rotten Tomatoes describes its surreal comedy, and the Associated Press discusses its inventive satire.

Format and release: Surreal workplace and immigration comedy; 2024 U.S. release after earlier festival exposure. Rating: R. Content note: Sexual content and language.

11. The People’s Joker

Verdict: A personal, DIY parody that uses superhero iconography as raw material for a trans coming-of-age story and a deliberately messy piece of meta-comedy.

Vera Drew’s film is collage-like, handmade, and openly uninterested in the polished visual language of a conventional studio superhero movie. Its Batman-and-Joker-inspired parody framework allows Drew to discuss identity, performance, loneliness, gender, comedy culture, and the pressure to become a version of yourself that other people will accept.

The result is much more personal than a standard fan spoof. Its comic ideas emerge from the collision of familiar character mythology with DIY editing, surreal images, and autobiographical feeling. That makes it one of the year’s most formally unusual entries, but also one of the least likely to work as a casual mainstream superhero comedy.

Best for: Fans of experimental cinema, trans coming-of-age stories, underground parody, and superhero satire with a strongly personal perspective.

Watch-outs: This is a fan-made parody with a specific visual and political sensibility. It encountered intellectual-property issues; do not describe it as officially approved by DC or Warner Bros. Rotten Tomatoes lists a 96% critic score and a 64% audience score, a useful sign that its appeal is sharply divided. Visit the film’s official site and its Rotten Tomatoes page for more context.

Format and release: DIY parody, trans coming-of-age comedy, and meta-comedy; 2024 theatrical and commercial release. Content note: Mature themes, sexual material, and drug references.

12. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Verdict: A visually busy gothic fantasy comedy that finds reliable laughs in Michael Keaton’s macabre showmanship, Catherine O’Hara’s deadpan energy, and the absurd rules of the afterlife.

The sequel returns to the world of ghosts, bureaucracy, family conflict, practical effects, and supernatural misbehavior. Keaton remains a natural source of chaos, while O’Hara brings an eccentric comic rhythm that keeps the family material lively. The film’s visual design and macabre slapstick make it a comfortable choice for audiences who want something spooky without committing to straight horror.

It is not as sharply constructed as the original and has several storylines competing for attention. Nostalgia is part of the experience, particularly for viewers who already like Tim Burton’s style and the original film’s afterlife absurdity. Still, the cast and practical-effects sensibility give it enough comic personality to earn a place on a mainstream 2024 list.

Best for: Burton fans, Halloween-season viewing, viewers who enjoy gothic fantasy, practical effects, and family comedy with a macabre edge.

Watch-outs: The film is nostalgia-dependent and structurally crowded. Rotten Tomatoes lists it as a 2024 fantasy, horror, and comedy, with a 76% critic score and 78% audience score. See the current Rotten Tomatoes listing for changing reception and availability information.

Format and release: Gothic fantasy comedy and macabre slapstick; U.S. release in 2024. Content note: Supernatural peril, macabre imagery, and comic violence.

13. Lisa Frankenstein

Verdict: A neon-colored horror comedy for viewers who prefer camp, undead romance, body-part absurdity, and a deliberately stylized teen-gothic mood.

Lisa Frankenstein is built around a teenage romance that refuses to behave like a normal romance. Its visual palette, undead complications, and Diablo Cody-style gallows humor create a world where body parts, awkward desire, and adolescent frustration can all become comic props. The movie is less interested in naturalistic behavior than in committing to its heightened, cult-film tone.

That commitment makes it a strong taste-based recommendation rather than a consensus pick. Some viewers will enjoy the combination of neon aesthetics, horror tropes, and silly escalation; others will find the screenplay too uneven or the style too mannered. SlashFilm included it among 2024’s notable comedies, while the film’s roughly divided critical response shows why it belongs lower in a general ranking.

Best for: Teen horror fans, goth-camp audiences, viewers who like stylized romance, and anyone looking for an intentionally silly alternative to conventional studio comedy.

Watch-outs: This is one of the list’s most divisive choices. Rotten Tomatoes lists a 51% critic score, and negative reviews—including one from RogerEbert.com—make its cult appeal far from universal. Check the current film listing before choosing it for a group.

Format and release: Camp horror comedy and teen comedy; U.S. release in 2024. Content note: Horror imagery, undead violence, sexual material, and dark humor.

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14. My Old Ass

Verdict: A winning coming-of-age comedy-drama whose emotional generosity is more important than its laugh-per-minute total.

The premise is instantly appealing: after a psychedelic experience, an 18-year-old encounters a version of herself from the future. Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza give the two versions of the character distinct comic energies, allowing the film to build humor from mismatched expectations, awkward advice, and the impossibility of treating your future self as a normal stranger.

The film gradually leans into questions of family, change, memory, and the fear of becoming someone unfamiliar. That emotional development is part of its strength, but it also explains the ranking. My Old Ass is a gentle, heartfelt comedy-drama rather than a laugh riot. It is a better recommendation for viewers who want to laugh and feel something than for someone seeking relentless comic escalation.

Best for: A tender solo watch, a coming-of-age audience, viewers who like fantasy premises with emotional follow-through, and people who prefer warmth to raunch.

Watch-outs: Expect sexual material, language, drug use, and substantial emotional content. Rotten Tomatoes lists it as a comedy, drama, and fantasy, with a 90% critic score. Avoid detailed summaries if you want its later emotional turns to arrive naturally.

Format and release: Coming-of-age comedy-drama and fantasy; U.S. release in 2024. Rating: R. Content note: Sexual material, language, drug use, and emotional themes.

15. Drive-Away Dolls

Verdict: A short, lurid queer road comedy with broad B-movie energy, an appealing odd-couple pairing, and an intentionally erratic sense of humor.

Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s film follows a road-trip structure into crime farce, sexual comedy, and surreal detours. Its humor comes from the contrast between the leads’ personalities, the escalating trouble surrounding their journey, and the movie’s willingness to embrace pulp rather than polish. It is colorful, explicit, and more interested in attitude than airtight plotting.

That attitude will be exactly right for some viewers and exhausting for others. The film has a clear queer sensibility and a deliberately broad tone, but its screenplay can feel uneven. Rotten Tomatoes records a 63% critic score and a 37% audience score, making it one of the most divisive entries here. The ranking is not a claim that it is objectively better than more acclaimed comedy-dramas; it is a recommendation for a particular appetite.

Best for: Adults who want an explicit queer road-trip farce, pulp crime comedy, and a deliberately scruffy alternative to polished studio movies.

Watch-outs: Expect nudity, crude sexual content, strong language, and some violence. Rotten Tomatoes lists its genre blend and divided reception. Choose it for the tone and pairing, not for a tightly engineered mystery.

Format and release: Queer road comedy, crime farce, and sex comedy; U.S. release in 2024. Rating: R. Content note: Nudity, crude sexual content, language, and violence.

Best 2024 comedies by mood

If your group wants…	Start with…	Why
Maximum visual invention	Hundreds of Beavers	Nearly wordless slapstick, escalating traps, callbacks, and cartoon logic.
A broadly accessible date-night movie	The Fall Guy or Hit Man	The first adds action and romance; the second adds disguises, crime, and sharper dialogue.
A warm adult crowd-pleaser	Thelma	Affectionate character humor without making its older protagonist the butt of the joke.
Gore and jokes	Deadpool & Wolverine or Abigail	Choose the former for franchise satire and the latter for ensemble horror.
Raunchy friendship comedy	Babes	Fast dialogue, childbirth humor, and sincere friendship conflict.
Profanity and British social satire	Wicked Little Letters	Period decorum collides with spectacularly obscene language.
Political, musical, rebellious comedy	Kneecap	Irish-language hip-hop, cultural conflict, and anarchic performer chemistry.
Surreal art-house humor	Problemista	Bureaucracy and work insecurity become a modern fairy tale.
Experimental transgressive parody	The People’s Joker	A personal DIY superhero parody with a sharply individual point of view.
Goth camp and practical-effects comedy	Beetlejuice Beetlejuice or Lisa Frankenstein	The first is mainstream and nostalgic; the second is more divisive and stylized.
A tender comedy-drama	My Old Ass	A funny fantasy premise with substantial emotional weight.
Explicit queer road-trip farce	Drive-Away Dolls	A colorful, uneven, deliberately pulpy crime comedy.

Honorable mentions

Several other 2024 films deserve attention, even if they do not quite fit a laugh-first top 15.

• Mean Girls: An accessible musical comedy and a reasonable group-watch option, though its remake status and uneven comic consistency keep it outside the ranking.
• Scrambled: A sharp comedy about fertility, self-determination, and the pressure to follow a prescribed life path. It is a strong alternative to Babes.
• Y2K: A deliberately nostalgic teen disaster comedy that works best if 1990s and early-2000s references are part of the appeal.
• Sasquatch Sunset: An extreme absurdist and gross-out choice with full nudity, sexual content, and bloody imagery. It is much more taste-dependent than its presence in some comedy roundups suggests; check its current content and reception listing.
• Anora: Darkly funny and critically acclaimed, but better described as a dramatic film with comic force than as a laugh-first recommendation.
• A Real Pain: Funny, observant, and emotionally serious—a comedy-drama rather than a nonstop comedy.
• Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World: A major critical comedy selection that Metacritic named its Best Comedy of 2024, but its length, bleakness, and accessibility make it a specialized recommendation rather than an obvious group-watch pick. See Metacritic’s year-end selection.

Where to watch these movies

Streaming rights are country-specific and change frequently, so a permanent “now streaming on” claim will age quickly. Check the current U.S. catalog of the relevant service or the film’s official page before planning a watch party. The available listings in the supplied research identify examples such as Hit Man on Netflix, My Old Ass through Prime Video, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice through HBO Max, and Babes through Disney+/Hulu, but those arrangements should be rechecked immediately before publication or viewing.

Netflix’s official Hit Man page is the most stable starting point for that title. For the others, use the linked film pages above as identification and reception references, then confirm the current U.S. rental, purchase, theatrical, or subscription option.

Why the highest-rated movie is not automatically the funniest

Aggregate reviews answer a different question from this ranking. A film can be beautifully written, emotionally rich, and widely admired without generating a laugh every few minutes. Conversely, a cult comedy can divide critics while remaining exactly right for viewers who enjoy its tone.

The People’s Joker is a useful example: the supplied Rotten Tomatoes listing shows a 96% critic score but a 64% audience score, suggesting a substantial taste divide. Drive-Away Dolls shows an even wider split, with a 63% critic score and 37% audience score. Lisa Frankenstein has cult-comedy appeal despite a 51% critic score. Those numbers are not contradictions; they indicate that comic style, audience expectations, and execution do not affect everyone in the same way.

At the other end, Hundreds of Beavers combines unusually high critical approval with an unusually clear comic identity. That is why it leads this particular list—not because any score can prove it is the funniest film of the year, but because its visual invention and sustained escalation make the strongest case for pure comedy.

Likewise, My Old Ass ranks below more joke-dense films despite its strong reception because its emotional development matters as much as its jokes. Deadpool & Wolverine ranks higher than some more refined comedy-dramas because it delivers a large volume of jokes for the specific audience that understands its franchise references.

Final recommendation

If you want the boldest answer, watch Hundreds of Beavers. If you want the film least likely to lose a mixed group, choose The Fall Guy. For a date, try Hit Man; for a warm and humane watch, Thelma; and for an adult horror-comedy night, Abigail. The right choice depends less on a universal comedy champion than on the kind of laughter you want.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the funniest movie of 2024?

Our No. 1 pick for pure comic invention is Hundreds of Beavers, thanks to its nearly wordless slapstick, visual escalation, traps, callbacks, and cartoon violence. For a more conventional and broadly accessible comedy, choose The Fall Guy.

Why are movies with earlier festival premieres included in a 2024 list?

This ranking uses meaningful U.S. theatrical, streaming, or substantial commercial release during 2024 rather than first worldwide festival premiere. That allows films such as Hundreds of Beavers, Hit Man, and Problemista to count because they reached U.S. audiences commercially in 2024.

Are all 15 films straight comedies?

No. The list includes action comedies, horror comedies, romantic comedies, period satire, musical comedy, fantasy comedy, and comedy-dramas. The genre label is included for every film because My Old Ass and Kneecap, for example, offer more emotional or dramatic weight than a pure laugh-per-minute comedy.

Which film is best for viewers who dislike superhero or franchise humor?

Start with Hundreds of Beavers, Thelma, Babes, Problemista, or Wicked Little Letters. Deadpool & Wolverine is much more dependent on Marvel, Fox-era superhero, and Ryan Reynolds familiarity.

Are these movies family-friendly?

Only a few are suitable for a broad mixed-age audience, and the list is primarily aimed at adults. The Fall Guy and Thelma are relatively accessible PG-13 options, while Deadpool & Wolverine, Babes, Abigail, Wicked Little Letters, Problemista, My Old Ass, and Drive-Away Dolls carry R ratings or adult content. Always check the current local rating and content advisory.

The Bottom Line

Bottom line: Start with Hundreds of Beavers for the most original and laugh-dense experience, or choose The Fall Guy when you need a reliable mainstream crowd-pleaser. The rest of the ranking is best used as a comedy-style guide: Hit Man for romance, Thelma for warmth, Babes for raunch, Abigail for gore, and Problemista for surreal satire.

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