Black comedy laughs where laughing feels forbidden, which is exactly why it works. This tag collects reviews of dark comedies: death, disaster, and taboo played for laughs that cost something.
1990sSeptember 10, 2026
The Big Lebowski (1998) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A Raymond Chandler plot handed to a man with no interest in solving it. Failed on release, found its people later, and now has a festival and…
1980sJune 6, 2026
Nicolas Cage delivers one of the most committed and bizarre performances ever as a yuppie who thinks he's turning into a vampire. Vampire's Kiss earns its 6.5 as a fascinating, deeply strange film that is far more interesting as a…
1940sMay 19, 2026
A magazine columnist who has fabricated her domestic Connecticut life must host a war hero and her publisher for Christmas. Christmas in Connecticut is Peter Godfrey's 1945 American romantic comedy about a magazine columnist whose readers believe she lives on…
2010sMay 19, 2026
Santa's bumbling son Arthur must deliver a forgotten present before sunrise, using an antique sleigh and his grandfather's wisdom. Arthur Christmas is Sarah Smith's 2011 British-American animated Christmas comedy from Aardman Animations depicting the modern operation of Santa's high-tech global…
1980sMay 19, 2026
Scrooged is Richard Donner's 1988 American comedy adaptation of A Christmas Carol, with Bill Murray as a cynical television executive producing a live Christmas Carol broadcast on Christmas Eve who is himself visited by three spirits over the course of…
1980sMay 19, 2026
Chechik's 1989 American comedy depicting Clark Griswold's plans for a perfect family Christmas at his suburban Chicago home, which unravel through extended-family chaos, holiday catastrophe, and a frozen pool that becomes the screenplay's central comic obsession. Christmas Vacation is the…
2000sMay 19, 2026
A drunken con artist working seasonal Santa jobs robs department stores on Christmas Eve and reluctantly bonds with a strange child. Bad Santa is Terry Zwigoff's 2003 American black comedy depicting Willie Soke, an alcoholic safecracker who works seasonal Santa…
2000sMay 19, 2026
A human raised by Santa's elves travels to New York City to find his biological father, an embittered publishing executive. Elf is Jon Favreau's 2003 American Christmas comedy about Buddy, a human raised among Santa's elves at the North Pole,…
2010sMay 19, 2026
A dysfunctional family's hostile Christmas attracts the attention of the anti-Santa demon Krampus, who arrives with monstrous helpers. Krampus is Michael Dougherty's 2015 American horror-comedy depicting a dysfunctional family's hostile Christmas attracting the attention of the anti-Santa demon Krampus, who…
1980sMay 19, 2026
Trading Places is John Landis's 1983 American comedy depicting two wealthy commodity brokers who place a one-dollar wager on whether a homeless con artist and an Ivy League executive can be switched places without either knowing about the experiment, with…
1980sMay 19, 2026
Tim Burton's comedy about a deceased couple haunting their old house and hiring a deranged bio-exorcist to scare out the living family. Alec Baldwin plays Adam Maitland.
2000sMay 19, 2026
A small-time thief stumbles into an LA acting career and a noir investigation, with Robert Downey Jr. as narrator across the Christmas season. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is Shane Black's 2005 American neo-noir comedy depicting a small-time New York thief…
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