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 · ThumbScore Editorial

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. At ThumbScore, we think the audience's laughter matters more than the 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.

Forrest Gump (1994)

Life is like a box of chocolates — and 94% of people loved it

👍 94%🎬 78%+16 gap

The Intouchables (2011)

The French buddy comedy that conquered the world

👍 93%🎬 66%+27 gap!

Life Is Beautiful (1997)

Roberto Benigni turns the Holocaust into a love story

👍 93%🎬 69%+24 gap!

Back to the Future (1985)

The time travel comedy that defined a generation

👍 92%🎬 90%+2

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Vampire mockumentary brilliance from New Zealand

👍 92%🎬 86%+6

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Tarantino's nonlinear masterpiece that critics love even more

👍 91%🎬 94%-3

Back to the Future Part II (1989)

Hoverboards and 2015 predictions — audiences loved it, critics didn't

👍 91%🎬 60%+31 gap!!

Green Book (2018)

The controversial Best Picture winner audiences actually loved

👍 91%🎬 73%+18 gap

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

3 hours of excess and 90% of people wanted more

👍 90%🎬 77%+13 gap

The Truman Show (1998)

Jim Carrey's dramatic turn that audiences and critics both loved

👍 90%🎬 92%-2

Ratatouille (2007)

Anyone can cook — and critics love it even more than audiences

👍 90%🎬 96%-6

Amélie (2001)

The whimsical French fantasy that charmed the world

👍 90%🎬 80%+10 gap

Parasite (2019)

Bong Joon-ho's genre-bending masterpiece — critics love it more

👍 89%🎬 98%-9

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Meryl Streep's iconic Miranda Priestly — 21 points above critics

👍 89%🎬 68%+21 gap!

Shrek 2 (2004)

The rare sequel that audiences liked even more

👍 89%🎬 82%+7

The Comedy Gap

Comedy is where ThumbScore shines brightest. 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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