14 smart comedies that don't require you to store your brain in a pickle jar

These will tickle your brain and funny bone

Smart comedies are like the pieces of chicken on your home-delivered pizza. They’re rare, and you have to look for them with the vigour of an Indian mom hunting for a partner for her unmarried 33 year old.

Look beyond the layers of cheese(y slapstick films), and sauce(y raunchy sex gags), and you will chance upon and relish these sometimes dark, and always smart comedies — just like you enjoy the chicken piece you mistook for cheese.

Don’t get us wrong, we love “Aankhe nikaal ke goti kheloonga” as much as the next Crime Master Go-Go, and the downright offensive appeal of cult classic White Chicks, but smart comedies that don’t require you to store your brain in a pickle jar hold an enduring appeal of their own.

They make you think while you hold your sides to keep from splitting at the seams.

These smart comedies address issues we can all relate to – grappling with diarrhoea, death, mid-life crisis, exes, high school, social inequality and even politics.

They wrap their subject matter in a thick crust of wit, that you really have to chew on to enjoy.

Here are some of our favourites, the dark, the gross, the deadpan and the downright silly.

Get ready to watch, rewatch, and guffaw.

Disclaimer: Of course we wanted The Big Lebowski and Anchorman and many others on this list, but they’re not available to stream at the moment. Now that’s a joke.

Cult classics to off-beat originals: Smart comedies you can stream

Delhi Belly, 2011

Between the lines of ‘Bhaag DK Bose, Bhaag Bhaag DK Bose’, and the earworm ‘I Hate You Like I Love You’, lie dark truths. Like the underbelly of the Indian crime scene, and the stark reality of how urban youth actually live — a KJo movie, this is not.

The film, produced by Aamir Khan, follows three ‘urban poor’ debt-ridden roommates (played by Vir Das, Kunaal Roy Kapur and Imran Khan), living in Delhi, who get embroiled in the dealings of a local gangster when they misplace his expensive diamonds.

Naturally, shit hits the fan.

The diarrhoea-led plot, casually peppered with intense profanity, is a commentary on Indian society, and a laugh riot – only if you have the stomach for it.

“Sir! Yeh toh tatti bilkul nahi hai.”

Watch on Netflix

Deadpool, 2016

I lost myself down a wormhole of dark Deadpool memes while researching this — because that’s how great the first movie in the series is.

The Ryan Reynolds-led superhero tale of a special forces operative-turned-mercenary-turned-reluctant superhero follows the lead as he tries to track down the bad guys who lured him in to treat his cancer, but turned him into a monster instead.

So he’s ‘immortal but ugly’.

Constantly breaking the fourth wall and mocking the genre of superhero franchises (“You’re still here? It’s over. Go home! Oh, you’re expecting a teaser for Deadpool 2. Well, we don’t have that kind of money. What are you expecting? Sam Jackson showing up in an eyepatch and a saucy little leather number? Go!”) , this one is for those who are tired of earnest superheroes with the moral righteousness of all the Prems in Sooraj Barjatya films.

Special mention: Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), a badass romantic partner who can hold her own against Deadpool’s twisted humour and the villains who come after her. (This is still a superhero movie)

Watch on Google Play

Being John Malkovich, 1999

As a 13 year old watching this bizarre entry into the pantheon of smart comedies, I got two things — confused, and a great option for charades.

A self-involved failed puppeteer Craig (John Cusack) discovers a hidden portal that leads directly into the mind of actor/star John Malkovich. He also finds himself stuck in a love triangle between him, his ‘homely’ wife (Cameron Diaz) and a mysterious woman at work (Catherine Keener).

For a 15-minute session, all three can see and feel what Malkovich sees and feels. Like a drug you can’t stop using, this becomes their escape.

The film is surreal, bizarre and downright bonkers — an insight into the incorrigible culture of celebrity that turns us inexplicably into voyeurs, and a twisted, layered look into perhaps how you can only discover your true self if you look inwards through another person’s eyes.

Each viewing leads to new discoveries — it’s all about what’s in your mind.

Watch on Google Play

Zoolander, 2011

A good natured, but self-absorbed male model (Ben Stiller) retiring to take up coal mining, a fierce rivalry with an up-and-coming young model (Owen Wilson), a mysterious assassination plot to end a world leader — the fashion parody that has been referred to as aggressively “unfunny” is actually very funny.

On the surface, it’s parodying the ‘superficial’ fashion world and its vapidity.

But look closer. It may be a movie about ‘stupid people and situations’ but it’s not stupid — cleverly masking its messages of consumerism, image-obsessed society and the dark side of the fashion industry.

You’re either going to love it for its layered message and laughs, or shudder at its offensiveness, crass humour and hate it. For the latter, I have one message:

“You think that you’re too cool for school, but I have a newsflash for you, you aren’t.”

Watch on Netflix

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, 1983

Two photographers (Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani), employed by their editor to expose the scandalous activities of the rich and the privileged open up Pandora’s casket when they accidentally photograph a murder. Modern-day paparazzi, these two are not.

Watching the film as a kid, you focus on its obvious humour, like that scene of two of the actors speaking to each other on the phone, back-to-back, while in the same room.

As an adult, you can’t escape its dark undertones.

Its stars may have aged, but its relevance hasn’t. Corruption, conspiracy, class divides and of course, the self-serving nature of heroes meant to disseminate information objectively — all of this and more is shrouded in a veil of slapstick humour.

The Mahabharata scene on the other hand, is simply a godsend.

Watch on Google Play

Captain Fantastic, 2016

A story about family that is forced by circumstances to reintegrate into society after living in isolation for a decade  — what could possibly be funny about that?

Viggo Mortensen stars as the patriarch disillusioned with capitalism and American life who trains his six kids to be leftist, survivalist and grow up without technology (wait, maybe this is a horror movie.)

Everything is thrown into disarray when the matriarch (Trin Miller) passes away and kids start to question their upbringing after they are exposed to the ‘real world’.

The sweet, poignant subtly funny story possibly resonates even more today — when we’re living in dystopian, cut-off worlds of our very own, debunking and supporting our own conspiracy theories.

At some point, we too will have to get used to reintegrating into real life.

Watch on Google Play

The Truman Show, 1998

The movie revolves around Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey), who gradually begins to realise that his seemingly idyllic life is nothing but an elaborately constructed lie.

He’s been adopted and raised by a corporation inside a tv show revolving around his life. Sure, now you’re looking for the cameras under your bed — after being sealed in for two weeks due to a case of coronavirus in your building.

But at the time of the film’s release, reality shows and 24 hour live streams were only in their nascent stages.

Darkly funny, its inclusion in the list of smart comedies reminds us of one thing — is life really as we know it and are we living for ourselves or the ever-present audience we call our friends and family?

Or is an omnipresent entity having a great laugh at our expense?

Watch on Netflix

Sideways, 2004

A naked middle-aged man being chased by another man. You’re either laughing hysterically or traumatised.

And this movie, that follows depressed teacher and failed writer Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti) on a road trip with his washed-up actor friend, Jack Cole (Thomas Haden Church), on a week-long road trip to Santa Barbara County wine country to celebrate the latter’s upcoming wedding is a delicate combination of hilarious and hurtful.

Based on novelist Rex Pickett’s book of the same name, their misadventures (physical, emotional, situational) show how enduring friendships survive through angst and and take them both soul-searching journeys.

Watch on Google Play

The Death of Stalin, 2017

After being in power for nearly 30 years, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin takes ill and quickly dies, leaving the Council of Ministers scrambling for power to take on his mantle.

A British-French-Belgian co-production, the satirical black comedy was banned in a number of countries for making a mockery out of its leaders and you know you want to watch something when you’ve explicitly been asked not to.

The audacious dark comedy led by a dazzling ensemble cast (Jason Isaacs, Jeffrey Tambor, Steve Buscemi, among many others) is a takedown of bureaucratic function (and dysfunction).

Just remember, life is stranger than fiction – and one of the most powerful countries in the world is led by an ex-reality TV star, and the other is well, in extended lockdown right now.

Watch on iTunes

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975

A comedic take on the dark Middle Ages, told via the story of King Arthur, framed by a modern-day murder investigation, written and produced by the British comedy group, Monty Python.

If the title itself offends you, might want to leave now.

The zany, absurd plot not only parodies the legend of Arthur’s search for the Holy Grail, it rewrites history for humorous effect and has no regard for religious doctrine, or scientific beliefs and is generally what everyone on the internet would label as offensive.

And it breaks the fourth wall time and time again, even making fun of itself.

Are you laughing at it? Are you laughing with it?

There, lies its genius.

Watch on Netflix

Mr Roosevelt, 2017

The film directed by and starring Noël Wells, follows her character, Emily, an LA-based comedian, as she returns to her hometown, Austin, in a bid to come to terms with her past — but she’s staying with her ex-boyfriend, and his present girlfriend.

From sad slapstick, one-line zingers to nuanced moments of humour, this is a lighter, more relatable take on life situations we’re all too familiar with — missed chances, resenting those we left behind for moving on, and young people trying to make sense of their life decisions, and so so much more.

Is my cat trying to kill me? Was my ex-boyfriend the one that got away (no.)? Thank god I’m not the only one who makes scenes at restaurants. These may be stray thoughts you’re plagued with while this watching this film that hits a little too close to home for 20-somethings.

Watch on Netflix

Dolemite Is My Name, 2019

A famous bold, loud comedian steps into the shoes of yet another well-known talented comic. Talk about meta.

Eddie Murphy stars in this dramatised biopic of filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore, who is best known for having portrayed the character of Dolemite in his stand-up and in a range of (blaxploitation) films.

The story follows Murphy as Moore as he releases his raunchy spoken-word albums to a big following and ends up becoming an icon.

This many-layered biopic, that sends through the importance of representation, tugs on Murphy’s ability to rein in his own signature style and effectively shine as the man he’s playing — a larger-than-life figure.

Watch on Netflix

Mean Girls, 2004

Surviving bitchy cliques, obsessing over the cutest boy, not failing your classes while maintaining a semblance of a social life — no matter how much humans advance as a race, high school never really changes. And sometimes adult life feels like a reflection of what you went through in school. It’s always a rat race.

The Lindsay Lohan-starrer follows homeschooled Cady Heron (Lohan) and her zoologist parents returning to America after a 12-year-long research trip in Africa, attempting to integrate into normal life.

The multi-layered film makes its naïve heroine jumps through hoops before she learns that real life is hard. And gets harder if you try to fit in when you’re born to stand out.

Tina Fey’s signature scathing style of calling out the double standards of the world we live in shines through.

Watch on Youtube movies

Wine Country, 2019

A control freak, a smaller group within a larger group, a friend that’s keeping secrets and the chaos that ensues when all these variables are stuffed into the same space like stress-filled sardines grappling with existential crisis and hormones — most of us can identify with being part of this kind of peer group.

And those of us on the other side of 30 can also identify with hangovers lasting for two days.

In debutante director Amy Poehler’s unassuming feature film, she brings together a group of friends commemorating their friend’s 50^th. There’s a lot of wine. And a lot of Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch and even some Tina Fey, among others.

Just like its leads, it ages like a fine wine and gets more poignant, and drily funny with each viewing.

And goes better with a bottle of it, too.

Watch on Netflix