8 Hilarious Movies to Give Your Friends

Ranked as the funniest movie of all time by the American Film Institute, this classic screwball comedy starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe could have been called Transvestites on a Train. It combines slapstick, cross-dressing and some of the sharpest dialogue ever to grace the silver screen. Lemmon and Curtis play two struggling musicians who witness a mob hit in Chicago, are pursued by the gangsters, and make their escape by masquerading as women and joining an all-female band that is taking a train to Florida. After both men fall for Sugar Kane (Monroe), the band's vocalist and ukulele player, the action and laughs are non-stop.

When three misfit parapsychologists lose their jobs at Columbia University and launch a paranormal extermination business in an abandoned New York City fire station, the stage is set for madcap comedy and adventure. Especially when the film features the comedic talents of Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson and Rick Moranis. Aykroyd and Ramis wrote the script, which was enhanced during filming by Murray's irrepressible ad libs. Saving New York City from a horde of slime-slinging ghosts and the giant, demonic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is no job for the faint of heart, but our boys are up to the challenge.

The Birdcage, an American remake of La Cage aux Folles, became an instant comedy classic when it hit theaters in 1996. Directed by Mike Nichols with a script by Elaine May, the film features a brilliant cast and standout performances by Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest and Hank Azaria. The comedy is set in motion when the son of a gay nightclub owner and its drag-queen star from South Beach, Florida, and the daughter of an ultra-conservative Republican senator from Ohio decide to marry. When the two families meet, the encounter is frantic, funny and unforgettable.

From the fertile minds of Joel and Ethan Coen comes this hilarious tale of mistaken identity complicated by lies, embezzling, kidnapping, bowling, drugs and erotic art. The stellar cast -- led by Jeff Bridges as "The Dude" and including John Goodman, Ben Gazzara, Steve Buscemi and Julianne Moore, among others -- makes this crime caper a comedy classic.

Duck Soup opened to mixed reviews in 1933 and was a box-office disappointment for Paramount, but today many critics consider it a masterpiece and the Marx Brothers' finest film. Groucho Marx plays Rufus T. Firefly, leader of the bankrupt nation of Freedonia, which is on the brink of war with neighboring Sylvania. Chico and Harpo are Sylvanian spies trying to dig up dirt on Firefly, and Zeppo (in his last Marx Brothers film) plays Bob Roland, Firefly's assistant and frequent straight man. Duck Soup is a classic Marx Brothers romp with dozens of lines that will leave you laughing long after the final credits.

Rob Reiner's 1984 hilarious parody of rock music documentaries is so pitch-perfect that many first-time viewers thought Spinal Tap was a real band, and a number of famous rock musicians were stunned by how well the film captured life on the road and in the music business. Reiner shot dozens of hours of footage and allowed his actors to improvise much of the dialogue. In addition to the three main stars -- Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest -- This is Spinal Tap features appearances by comedic talents such as Billy Crystal, Bruno Kirby and Ed Begley, Jr., as well as professional musicians such as Russ Kunkel and Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar.

This offbeat Coen Brothers comedy, which stars Nicholas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman and Frances McDormand, has become a cult classic that now appears on many lists of the best comedy films ever made. Hunter plays a police officer named Edwina (Ed), who marries a career criminal named Herbert I. "Hi" McDunnough (Cage) and moves into a mobile home in the desert. Their domestic bliss is threatened when they discover they can't have children, and they attempt to solve the problem by kidnapping one of the "Arizona Quints," sons of a local furniture magnate. Things go from bad to worse when Hi's two prison buddies and a bounty hunter get involved, but it all adds up to a lot of laughs.

No list of the funniest movies would be complete without a Mel Brooks film, and this spoof of racism and classic Westerns set the standard for raunchy humor that has become so popular in recent films. Cleavon Little stars as a black sheriff trying to save a town full of dimwits, criminals, con men and conniving women. Little is assisted by an able cast that includes Gene Wilder (as a drunken gunslinger), Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn, Slim Pickens, and Mel Brooks himself, in a variety of cameo roles.