18 Underrated Movies Of Classic Comedians

Back to School stars Rodney Dangerfield as wealthy businessman Thornton Melon. He's rich, obnoxious, and always ready for a good time. When his son Jason (Keith Gordon) threatens to drop out of college, Thornton enrolls in the same school to set a positive example. The hard-partying dad quickly becomes a college sensation, winning over the student body, infuriating the professors, and repeatedly upstaging his kid. He even becomes a star of the school diving team. The movie is quintessentially ‘80s, but it holds up exceptionally well because of how effectively it nails its particular aesthetic. Back to School has Sam Kinison as a venomous prof, a cameo from Kurt Vonnegut, and a frat party with Oingo Boingo as the house band. At the center of it all is Dangerfield, tossing out hilarious wisecracks left and right. The fun he’s obviously having is infectious.

Steve Martin tossed aside the “wild and crazy guy” image he was known for in the ‘70s and ’80s for Roxanne. The movie is a comic take on Cyrano de Bergerac, with the comedian playing C.D. Bales, a small-town fire chief with an unusually long nose. He falls in love with Roxanne Kowalski (Daryl Hannah), but she puts him in the friend zone. Instead, Roxanne finds herself attracted to fireman Chris McConnell (Rick Rossovich), a guy with a normal-sized nose but little intelligence. C.D. reluctantly agrees to help Chris, giving him the words to court the woman they both love. Despite a reputation for wacky comedy, Martin has always had an intellectual side. That comes out in Roxanne. It's got all the laughs you would expect from one of the actor's movies, yet they're in service of a sweet, thoughtful, emotionally astute story. The film also has an all-timer of a scene in which C.D. humiliates a bully by insulting his own nose far more brutally than the bully can.

Before Caddyshack, Stripes, and Ghostbusters, there was Meatballs. This 1979 comedy marked Bill Murray's debut as a lead actor. He's Tripper Harrison, a wisecracking counselor at Camp North Star. During one wild summer, he romances another counselor, pulls pranks on the camp director, and helps a shy kid named Rudy Gerner (Chris Makepeace) come out of his shell. Director Ivan Reitman was smart enough to let Murray do his thing. Unsurprisingly, the comedian ad-libs and riffs like his life depends on it. The result is magic, especially during a climactic scene in which Tripper gives a motivational speech - which Murray improvised - to the assembled campers. The phrase “It just doesn't matter!” will become lodged in your head afterward. Meatballs is one of the best summer camp comedies ever made because it has a little heart to temper its outrageousness.

National Lampoon's Vacation and Christmas Vacation, Caddyshack, and Fletch are all ‘80s comedy classics starring Chevy Chase. Funny Farm deserves to be recognized similarly. It’s arguably his best film in a traditional sense. Chase stars as Andy Farmer, a sports writer who buys a country home hoping to write the “great American novel” there. While the town looks quaint, Andy and his wife Elizabeth (Madolyn Smith) discover that the locals aren't terribly welcoming toward city folk. Funny Farm was directed by George Roy Hill, the man who made Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting. He emphasizes story and comedic tone, helping Chase give a three-dimensional performance that ranks among his best work. Culture clash comedies are a dime a dozen, but this one is so well made and so relentlessly funny that it stands apart from the pack. It's too bad Funny Farm had the misfortune of opening on the same day as the Tom Hanks movie Big in 1988.

In terms of movies, Richard Pryor is best known for his stand-up comedy films and his collaborations with Gene Wilder, like Silver Streak and Stir Crazy. His 1981 comedy Bustin' Loose is much less familiar to general audiences. He plays Joe Braxton, an ex-convict asked to drive a busload of special needs children cross-country. Along the way, he falls for their teacher, Vivian (Cicely Tyson). The idea of putting foul-mouthed, wisecracking Pryor on a bus with special needs kids admittedly sounds politically incorrect these days. Bustin' Loose has a sweet undercurrent, though. The star gets laughs with his patented style of off-color comedy, but he also shows how Joe develops fondness for the kids. The story is on the predictable side, but Pryor is so funny that it's easy to overlook that and simply enjoy the ride.

John Candy had a chance to be a romantic leading man in 1991's Only the Lonely. He nailed it. The actor plays Danny Muldoon, a Chicago cop who lives with his controlling mother Rose (Maureen O'Hara). That becomes problematic when he starts dating funeral home worker Theresa Luna (Ally Sheedy). Danny wants to get married and have kids. Rose doesn't want to be abandoned by him. The movie explores the funny way this dilemma plays out. Only the Lonely is a delightful rom-com. It's also much better written than many of them. Candy proves himself a winning romantic lead, showing vulnerability and decency while still getting plenty of laughs. He and Sheedy make a couple you root for. The film additionally benefits from the unrestrained performance of screen veteran O'Hara as the endlessly demanding mom.

Only one person could credibly play Joe Friday in a movie remake of the TV series Dragnet, and that person is Dan Aykroyd. He has the ability to do the same kind of rapid-fire dialogue that Jack Webb made famous on the show, albeit in a comedic way. The film finds Friday and partner Pep Streebek (Tom Hanks) investigating a series of thefts. The trail leads to a mysterious pagan cult looking to sacrifice a virgin. Much of the humor in Dragnet comes from the way Aykroyd spoofs Friday's dead-serious personality and strict adherence to the police code. Hanks provides a goofier edge to balance that out. Paring these two legends together leads to serious fun. As an added bonus, the actors collaborate on a rap song called “City of Crime” that plays over the end credits.

Captain Ron stars Martin Short as Martin Harvey, an office worker who inherits a sailboat from his deceased uncle. He wants to take his family on a vacation but doesn't know how to use the thing, so he hires Ron Rico (Kurt Russell) to be his captain. Despite his proclamations of being seaworthy, Ron is hiding a bunch of secrets that come out during the hilariously disastrous trip they take together. Short and Russell are an unlikely pairing, but it works. The actors are different enough in appearance and personality that they make a delightful odd couple. Lots of laughs emerge from their sometimes tense interactions. Captain Ron is perfect for those occasions when you want an unrepentantly silly comedy that will have you giggling nonstop.

The early 1990s were a time of experimentation for Robin Williams. He'd established himself as a master of hyperactive comedy with Good Morning, Vietnam and showed he could do drama in Dead Poets Society. The question became how to show other aspects of his talent. An opportunity presented itself with Cadillac Man, in which he plays Joey O'Brien, a car salesman stuck in an incredibly stressful situation. Not only does he have to sell 12 cars in two days to keep his job, but a gunman also bursts into the dealership and takes everyone hostage. Cadillac Man is a darker comedy than Williams was known for at that time. Whereas he's often the instigator of hilarious behavior, this film has him as the person reacting to the madness around him. That's a whole different style of humor. Williams pulls it off, showing an edgier side that would later blossom with Death to Smoochy and One Hour Photo. He's funny here and has amusing interactions with Tim Robbins, who plays the gunman. This is a good one to watch in order to see just how versatile the late comic actor was.

Gene Wilder was one of the biggest names in screen comedy during the 1970s, thanks to his work in Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. In 1975, he wrote, directed, and starred in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, a riff on the classic Arthur Conan Doyle character. He smartly surrounded himself with fellow alums of Mel Brooks's movies, including Madeleine Kahn, Marty Feldman, and Dom DeLuise. Wilder plays Sigerson Holmes, Sherlock's younger sibling. He seeks to step out from his brother's shadow by solving the mystery of a pilfered document. The plot is secondary to the madcap comedy, with the stellar cast creating hilariously wacky characters. Wilder shows a great appreciation for Doyle's work, however, as the movie is filled with knowledgeable references to it. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Younger Brother is definitely a labor of love and respect.

John Belushi was known for his manic style of comedy. He demonstrated it as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, then on the big screen in National Lampoon's Animal House and The Blues Brothers. In an effort to avoid being pigeonholed, he signed on for 1981's Continental Divide, a low-key romantic comedy. As it turned out, he could be just as funny when showing a softer side. Belushi plays Chicago journalist Ernie Souchak. He ventures outside his big city comfort zone to interview bald eagle expert Nell Porter (Blair Brown). They end up falling for each other despite wildly different backgrounds. Belushi and Blair generate excellent chemistry together, and the late comedian finds a lot of humor in the notion of a city boy trying to adapt to a wilderness setting. Continental Divide hints at the range Belushi might have shown had he not passed on prematurely.

Boomerang casts Eddie Murphy as Marcus Graham, a successful business executive and unabashed womanizer. He's got a sexy new boss named Jacqueline (Robin Givens), who he immediately starts hitting on. It surprises him to discover she's an even bigger player than he is. Meanwhile, he also finds himself attracted to Jacqueline's colleague Angela (Halle Berry), a much nicer, more sincere - but, to him, less exciting - potential partner. Seeing Murphy in a different kind of role is a lot of fun. Boomerang contains some sharp insights into dating, specifically how people occasionally find themselves drawn to partners they know are emotionally unavailable. The actor makes Marcus's transition from lothario to monogamist credible and he also shares several hilarious scenes with Grace Jones, who plays a vulgar fashion diva.

Lucille Ball was one of the queens of television comedy, with I Love Lucy, in particular, achieving certified classic status. She also made movies, some of which garnered attention and some of which didn't. One of her more underrated big-screen projects is The Facts of Life, which teams her with another legend, Bob Hope. Although nominally a romantic comedy, it has a few serious undertones that make it something other than a total laugh-fest. Ball and Hope star as Kitty Weaver and Larry Gilbert, two married people who have an affair while on vacation in Acapulco and then have to decide whether to continue the fling back home. Underneath the zany antics - including a race to prevent Kitty's husband from discovering a note she wrote to Larry - are observations about the pain an extramarital affair can have on everyone involved. You get to see Ball showing a new facet of her persona here.

If there was one thing that was predictable about Peter Sellers, it was that he would always be unpredictable. His stellar turns in Dr. Strangelove and the Pink Panther movies showed unparalleled skill in both physical and verbal comedy. His endless invention was also on display in 1964's The World of Henry Orient, which casts him as a quirky concert pianist who is pursued by two obsessed teenage fans. Sellers once again mixes his skills inventively here. He's hilarious, conveying the titular pianist's eccentricities while indulging in moments of farce and slapstick. The World of Henry Orient devises a bunch of awkward situations to put the character in as the girls follow him around, including having him romantically pursue a married woman. There's also a nice supporting performance from Angela Lansbury as the mother of one girl.

As one of Saturday Night Live's original “Not Ready for Prime Time Players,” Gilda Radner quickly hit the big time. Unlike co-stars Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and John Belushi, she didn't get prime movie opportunities. Nevertheless, she did intriguing work in several films, including the 1980 political satire First Family, written and directed by Buck Henry. Radner plays Gloria Link, the sex-obsessed daughter of President Manfred Link (Bob Newhart). When an agreement is made between Link's administration and an important African official, Gloria is sent abroad to become enslaved. Yeah, First Family is not exactly P.C. And, to be frank, reviews at the time were savage. Even so, the picture is fascinating to watch as a comedic time capsule. Aside from Radner and Newhart, the movie has an incredible cast, including Madeleine Kahn, Harvey Korman, Fred Willard, and Rip Torn. Also, for whatever else it lacks, Henry's got some shrewd observations about post-Watergate politics.

Dick Van Dyke was primarily known for his work on television sitcoms, but he had a lengthy film career, too, with Mary Poppins arguably his most widely known movie. In 1967's Divorce American Style, he plays Richard Harmon, a man who splits up with his wife Barbara (Debbie Reynolds). They assume ending the marriage will solve their problems, but they couldn't be more wrong. Divorce only creates a new series of problems for them to navigate. The actor played a happily married man on his TV show, so Divorce American Style shows him in a different light. Instead of the cheery family man, he gets to play a guy who's not always so happy and becomes frustrated by the messes he has to deal with. Van Dyke and Reynolds make a solid team, bouncing off one another effectively. The '60s-era view of divorce may not entirely hold up, but the observational humor does.

Carol Burnett is so strongly associated with her TV sketch comedy show that it's easy to forget she had a movie career. At times, it was pretty impressive, especially when she joined the cast of legendary director Robert Altman's A Wedding in 1978. The film is very Altman-esque, following a bunch of characters as they attend the nuptials of a young woman from a newly rich Southern family and the son of an already wealthy Chicago clan with possible ties to the mob. Burnett is “Tulip” Brenner, the bride's mother. She finds herself fending off the advances of a male guest. A Wedding has more than 40 characters. Altman weaves back and forth between them - a common approach in his work. Burnett earns some laughs, but she gets to have a few more profound moments, as well. The scene where her would-be suitor makes his move offers a pleasing mix of comedy and poignancy. It's an immensely affecting performance in a picture whose characters are as memorable as they are colorful.

Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin were one of the top comedy duos of the 1950s. After they split, Lewis found solo success with The Nutty Professor. His movies had to be tailored to his slapstick tastes, given that Martin wasn't around to balance out his over-the-top craziness. An excellent example of that is The Patsy. He plays Stanley Belt, a hotel bellboy who is, shall we say, a few fries short of a Happy Meal. When a famous comedian dies in a plane crash, his agents and managers decide to turn Stanley into a star so they can keep their jobs. The Patsy is everything you could want from a Jerry Lewis movie. In fact, it offers Jerry Lewis turned all the way up to 10. He mugs at the camera. He flails himself around. He speaks in funny voices. The film finds him completely unleashed from beginning to end, doing what he does best. The spoofing of show business adds another level of fun.