The 5 Best Modern Comedies on Prime Video Right Now

With You’re Cordially Invited, starring Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell, and the ever-great Geraldine Viswanathan now streaming on Prime Video, there’s no better time to peruse the streamer’s assortment of other modern-day comedy films. As it turns out, there are quite a few movies available that should make for a fine addition to the aforementioned rom-com library when it comes time for double-feature night. The only qualifier for inclusion here? It had to be released after the year 2000. They didn’t just have to be straightforward comedy movies, either, as fellow rom-coms were considered, as were genre-bending sci-fi and horror comedies.

From two backwoods friends facing an onslaught of ill-fated dumb teenagers to a world-saver with a proclivity for celery, these are the best modern comedies on Prime Video. And be sure to check out the charming You’re Cordially Invited.

MacGruber

A box-office flop during 2010’s summer movie season, MacGruber has nonetheless gone on to find its audience. In fact, the divisive film even got a nearly-as-fantastic sequel series on Peacock back in 2021. The film is based on the Saturday Night Live shorts which saw the bumbling MacGyver ripoff try and hilariously fail to dismantle bombs in various locations with different guest stars unfortunate enough to be in the blast radius.

It was an odd pick to expand to a feature film, but with The Lonely Island’s Jorma Taccone at the helm, the movie is arguably even better than the shorts that inspired it. With a game Kristen Wiig joining MacGruber himself, Will Forte, it’s laugh-a-minute stuff for those who can get on its silly wavelength.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil went a little under the radar at first but like MacGruber, it’s since gone on to develop an audience. It’s an audience that should expand, and Prime Video is the streamer to make that happen. Led by Tyler Labine and Creature Commandos‘ Alan Tudyk, it’s a brilliant send-up of ’80s horror films where nameless handsome young people were knocked off one by one at the hands of a masked killer.

It’s just, here, the nameless handsome young people bring it on themselves. The backwoods duo these coeds are so afraid of are actually just kind-hearted hillbillies who are fixing up a recently purchased lakefront cabin. Even still, one by one, the youths are knocked off by methods such as running frantically into a pointed tree branch and diving headfirst into a woodchipper.

Tag

Based on a touching true story, Tag is an underappreciated movie about a group of five childhood friends who, one month each year, play a game of tag. One of them is undefeated, and now that he’s about to get married, he’s given his friends one last chance to get him once and for all.

With performances from Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress, scene-stealer Isla Fisher, Annabelle Wallis, Jon Hamm, and Jeremy Renner, Tag is certainly a star-studded affair. Their chemistry is white hot, making the audience truly believe they’ve been lifelong friends, and making the film’s final reveal all the more heartbreaking.

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The Fall Guy

A rom-com action movie hybrid, David Leitch’s The Fall Guy is another win under the Hobbs & Shaw and Bullet Train director’s belt. It’s also his most personal film to date, considering Leitch himself got his start as a stuntman. The story follows Ryan Gosling’s Colt Seavers, a stuntman who was forced out of his line of work by a terrible fall, only to be called back in after a year-and-a-half to track down the star he spent years doubling for, Tom Ryder. He agrees, not for the sake of the arrogant movie star, but rather to reconnect with Emily Blunt’s Jody Moreno, a former camerawoman who is now making her directorial debut with Ryder’s newest silly action flick.

The central mystery is interesting, but what really sells The Fall Guy is the style on display, Gosling’s charm, and his chemistry with Blunt. Toss in fun supporting performances from Hannah Waddingham, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Winston Duke, and Stephanie Hsu, and The Fall Guy is the exact type of movie that sees its audience grow steadily as time marches on.

Bridesmaids

The movie that made a megastar of Melissa McCarthy, Paul Feig’s Bridesmaids was one of the biggest financial success stories of 2011. It’s easy to see why, as it has lost none of its comedic impact nearly 15 years later. It’s astonishing that the film’s critical and commercial success didn’t immediately result in a glut of similar women-led studio comedies, as it’s one of the best examples of its genre not just from its respective year, but also the entirety of the 2010s.

The narrative focuses on Kristen Wiig’s Annie Walker, a somewhat lost young woman whose friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph), has just gotten engaged. Annie is called upon to be Lillian’s maid of honor, but to accomplish this task, she may have to do some work on herself first.