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The 20 Best Comedy Movies According to Real People
Comedies where critics and audiences disagree the most — plus the ones everyone loves.
Published March 18, 2026
Comedy is arguably the genre where critics and everyday audiences disagree the most. A comedy that makes you laugh out loud might get a mediocre review from a film critic who's seen 500 movies that year. When evaluating a comedy, the audience's laughter matters more than a critic's analysis.
Key insight: Comedy has some of the BIGGEST gaps between audience approval and critics scores. The Intouchables (93% audience vs 66% critics = 27-point gap) and Back to the Future Part II (91% vs 60% = 31-point gap) show that what makes people happy isn't always what impresses critics.
1Forrest Gump (1994)Life is like a box of chocolates — and 94% of people loved it
👍 94%🎬 78%+16 gap
6Pulp Fiction (1994)Tarantino's nonlinear masterpiece that critics love even more
👍 91%🎬 94%-3
8Green Book (2018)The controversial Best Picture winner audiences actually loved
👍 91%🎬 73%+18 gap
10The Truman Show (1998)Jim Carrey's dramatic turn that audiences and critics both loved
👍 90%🎬 92%-2
11Ratatouille (2007)Anyone can cook — and critics love it even more than audiences
👍 90%🎬 96%-6
12Amélie (2001)The whimsical French fantasy that charmed the world
👍 90%🎬 80%+10 gap
13Parasite (2019)Bong Joon-ho's genre-bending masterpiece — critics love it more
👍 89%🎬 98%-9
15Shrek 2 (2004)The rare sequel that audiences liked even more
👍 89%🎬 82%+7
The Comedy Gap
Comedy is the genre where audience scores are most valuable. Films like The Intouchables, The Devil Wears Prada, and Back to the Future Part II have massive gaps between what audiences think and what critics score. These are films that make regular people happy — which is, after all, the entire point of comedy.
Meanwhile, films like Parasite and Ratatouille are rare cases where critics actually scored them HIGHER than audiences. These are comedies with more artistic ambition that film professionals appreciate even more than casual viewers.
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