Transforming mankind’s worst impulses into account, black comedy movies, like Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 cult classic Inglourious Basterds, use gallows humour to shed light on commonly objectionable topics. Curious to know what other flicks push cinematic boundaries to entertain audiences with biting satire? Here’s a list of some of the best black comedy films of all time, as ranked by IMDb.
With characters dancing mid-murder or losing their car in the parking lot during a heist, some of the best black comedy movies of all time promise to leave audiences with a humorously cathartic experience. A case in point is Tarantino’s 1992 neo-noir dark comedy crime drama Reservoir Dogs — where Mr. Blonde (played by Michael Madsen) is seen nonchalantly dancing around the room to Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle with You” on the radio as Marvin Nash (played by Kirk Baltz) awaits being tortured.
Breaking out of the flashy and stylistically violent Tarantino and Kubrick-like cinematic mayhem is South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s gasp-inducing 2019 masterpiece Parasite. Starring acclaimed Hallyu stars Choi Woo-shik and Cho Yeo-jeong, the movie premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2019, where it became the first Korean film to win the prestigious Palme d’Or.
Additionally, Parasite became the first South Korean Oscar-winning film, taking home four Academy Awards — Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film, at the 92nd Academy Awards.
The best black comedy movies ranked lowest to highest, according to IMDb
Birdman (2014)
Directed by: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Cast: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough
IMDb rating: 7.7
Synopsis: Riggan Thomson (Keaton), an actor famous for playing Birdman in a series of superhero films, is now trying to burnish his stagnant career by making a Broadway adaptation. But with a voice plaguing his mind grotesquely, he needs to fight not just the prejudiced acting community but also his inner demons.
About the movie: One of the best black comedy movies of all time, Birdman is also known as Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).
Awards won: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography at the 87th Academy Awards.
Watch here.
Fargo (1996)
Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen
Cast: William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Harve Presnell, Kristin Rudrüd, Frances McDormand
IMDb rating: 8.1
Synopsis: Car salesman Jerry Lundegaard (Macy) has gotten himself into debt and is desperate for money. He hires two thugs, Carl (Buscemi) and Gaear (Stormare), to kidnap his wife Jean (Rudrüd) and collect the ransom from her wealthy father (Presnell), whom Jerry dislikes. But the plan backfires when the thugs end up shooting a state trooper and are investigated for the same by police chief Marge Gunderson (McDormand).
About the movie: One of the highest-rated black comedy movies of all time, Fargo received seven Oscar nominations at the 69th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor.
Awards won: Oscars for Best Actress for McDormand and Best Original Screenplay for the Coen brothers.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Directed by: Martin McDonagh
Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Peter Dinklage
IMDb rating: 8.2
Synopsis: Grieving mother Mildred Hayes (McDormand) puts up three billboards near her town of Ebbing, to challenge the local police department after they fail to investigate her daughter’s rape and murder. When second-in-command Officer Dixon (Rockwell) gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing’s police department takes a violent turn.
Awards won: McDormand and Rockwell each won the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, SAG Award, BAFTA Award and Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor for their respective roles in this black comedy movie.
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The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Margot Robbie, Jonah Hill
IMDb rating: 8.2
Synopsis: Young Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio) enters a Wall Street brokerage firm and steadily climbs up the success ladder. In just a few years, he becomes the owner of the Stratton Oakmont firm and earns huge sums by scamming wealthy investors. But soon the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) gets on his tail.
About the movie: One of the most popular black comedy movies of all time, The Wolf of Wall Street is based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, a famous Wall Street stockbroker. The screenplay is inspired by the 2007 book of the same name, authored by Belfort.
Watch here.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth
IMDb rating: 8.3
Synopsis: In Nazi-occupied France, Jewish woman Shosanna Dreyfus (Laurent) witnesses the brutal Nazi execution of her family by SS officer Hans Landa (Waltz). She flees the wretched place and is now living a quiet life in Paris as a theatre owner. Soon, she learns that Lt. Aldo Raine (Pitt), who is the leader of a Jewish-only squadron of American soldiers, is leading disparate assassination plots against Adolf Hitler. Shosanna joins Lt. Aldo, and together they plan to get revenge on the Nazis.
About the movie: In the 2010 Oscars, this black comedy movie was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor.
Awards won: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Waltz won, for the epic portrayal of antagonist Col. Hans Landa.
Watch here.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Steve Buscemi
IMDb rating: 8.3
Synopsis: Eight gangsters carry out a diamond heist only to be ambushed by the police. The gangsters manage to shoot their way out and reach their safe zone, the warehouse. However, they soon realise that the heist was a setup and try to find the traitor amid them.
About the movie: When this American neo-noir black comedy was released at the Sundance Film Festival, critic Jami Bernard of the New York Daily News compared the effect of Reservoir Dogs to that of the 1895 French movie L’Arrivée d’un Train en Gare de la Ciotat and said that people were not ready for the effect Reservoir Dogs would have on them.
Watch here.
Snatch (2000)
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Cast: Jason Statham, Alan Ford, Brad Pitt, Stephen Graham, Dennis Farina, Benicio del Toro, Rade Sherbedgia
IMDb rating: 8.3
Synopsis: Gangster Frankie Four Fingers (Toro) steals a diamond in Antwerp and returns to London. When the word gets out, a Russian named Boris the Blade (Sherbedgia) along with illegal boxing promoter Turkish (Statham), bare-knuckle boxer Mickey (Pitt) and American gangsters Avi (Farina) and Brick Top (Ford) try to snatch the diamond from Frankie. However, with the rock handcuffed to his wrist, their chances appear grim.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Adrienne Corri, Miriam Karlin
IMDb rating: 8.3
Synopsis: Alex (McDowell) is an anti-social delinquent who leads a gang of thugs called droogs, including members Pete (Tarn), Georgie (Marcus) and Dim (Clarke). Soon, Alex is jailed for his violent deeds, but the former submits to behaviour modification techniques to earn his freedom. When Alex finally returns to the world as a changed man, he becomes the victim of his prior victims.
About the movie: One of the best black comedy movies of all time, this Kubrick directorial is based on acclaimed American author Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel of the same name. The movie also received four nominations — Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay Based on Material From Another Medium and Best Film Editing — at the 44th Academy Awards.
Watch here.
Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964)
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens
IMDb rating: 8.4
Synopsis: Two psychotic American Generals Jack D. Ripper (Hayden) and Buck Turgidson (Scott) are developing a deadly plan to unleash a strategic wing of B-52 bombers and their nuclear payloads inside Russia. When the brain behind the scheme, a wheelchair-bound nuclear scientist named Dr. Strangelove (Sellers) accidentally activates the bombing mission before time, the President of the United States (also Sellers) must stop the impending destruction.
About the movie: Based on the 1958 war novel Red Alert by Welsh author Peter George, this Kubrick directorial is one of the best political satire black comedy movies to be released in 1964. Additionally, the dark comedy movie received four Oscar nominations — Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor — at the 37th Academy Awards.
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Parasite (2019)
Directed by: Bong Joon-ho
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-sik
IMDb rating: 8.5
Synopsis: The poverty-stricken Kim family cunningly place themselves in the service of the wealthy Parks to make their ends meet. What they don’t know is that the obscenely wealthy household has been harbouring dark secrets in their basement for years.
About the movie: One of the most-watched South Korean black comedy thriller movies of all time, Parasite is inspired by the 1960 Korean film The Housemaid and the Christine and Léa Papin incident in the 1930s. However, the script is based on Bong’s own source material from a play written in 2013.
Watch here.
Django Unchained (2012)
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington
IMDb rating: 8.5
Synopsis: Just before the advent of the Civil War, German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Waltz) is accompanied by former slave Django (Foxx) on a mission to capture the dangerous Brittle brothers. Successful in doing so, Schultz and Django decide to go after the South’s most-wanted criminals. This, however, leads the duo to the plantation of the notorious Calvin Candie (DiCaprio), where Django’s estranged wife Broomhilda (Washington) is still working as a slave.
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Goodfellas (1990)
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci
IMDb rating: 8.7
Synopsis: As a young Irish-Italian boy, Henry Hill (Liotta), who came from a poor family, grows up amid crime and works his way up in a mafia organisation. Money, drugs and the thrill of murder soon blind him. Eventually, his greed for power becomes the cause of his doom.
About the movie: With amorality and vicious murder jokes, Goodfellas is a complex mix of violence, satire and slapstick. One of the best black comedy true crime movies, Goodfellas is adapted from the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi. During the movie’s premiere at the 47th Venice International Film Festival in 1990, Scorsese was honoured with the Silver Lion for Best Director.
Watch here.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Duane Whitaker
IMDb rating: 8.9
Synopsis: Hitmen Vincent (Travolta) and Jules (Jackson) work for crime lord Marsellus Wallace (Rhames), whose wife is Mia (Thurman). While the duo mostly screw up their assigned drug deals, it’s specialist Winston “The Wolf” (Keitel) who cleans up their mess. In another parallel plot line, ageing boxer Butch Coolidge (Willis) is on the run from Marsellus, having double-crossed the crime boss. However, when serial killer Maynard (Whitaker) holds Marsellus in his basement as his captive, Butch comes to his rescue.
About the movie: One of the most popular black comedy movies of all time, this Tarantino magnum opus was named best picture by the National Society of Film Critics after its theatrical release in October 1994. Additionally, Pulp Fiction was nominated in seven categories at the 67th Academy Awards.
Awards won: Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for Tarantino and Roger Avary.
(Hero and featured image: Courtesy IMDb)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– What is the black comedy movie about high school?
One of the most popular black comedy movies about high school is the 1999 hit Election directed by Alexander Payne. The movie, which revolves around a student body election and satirises high school life and politics, is based on Tom Perrotta’s 1998 novel of the same name.
– Why are black comedy movies so popular?
Black comedies, with their morbid humour and memorable characters, make grim events relatable while also allowing filmmakers to make a strong statement about society. The genre also lures in audiences by putting a humorous spin on day-to-day life incidents as well as topics like death, pain, deformity and tragedies. Some of the best movies from the dark comedy genre like Tarantino’s first movie Reservoir Dogs or A Serious Man by the Coen brothers have not just made remarks on the double standards of society using dark humor but have also minted impressive numbers at the box office.
– Which is the best black comedy movie of all time?
Some of the best dark comedies are Inglourious Basterds, Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, Parasite, Game Night, Dr. Strangelove, Election, Django Unchained and Reservoir Dogs.
– Which black comedy movie is the highest-rated according to IMDB?
Some of the highest-rated black comedy movies of all time are Inglourious Basterds, Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, Parasite, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Django Unchained, Reservoir Dogs, The Wolf of Wall Street and Snatch.
A PhD research scholar, Sushmita is a full-time writer and a part time poet. Notepads are Sushmita's one true love -- the unbothered victims drowned in the ink of her pen. An avid fan of K-pop and K-dramas, she mostly writes about Korean culture and entertainment. When not writing, Sushmita is dancing, reading, collecting books, learning about fashion, art, motion pictures, and appreciating BTS.
