Entertainment
The 8 Most Fun Movies of the 21st Century, Ranked
Why do people watch movies? It is a question with no shortage of answers. We watch movies to experience everything from exciting escapism to cultural enlightenment, to educate ourselves on the world, on human behavior, and even to learn more about how we as individuals navigate emotions and empathy. Then again, sometimes we all just want to watch a movie to have fun, to be enraptured in a sense of glee that we feel with every ounce of our being.
The first quarter of the 21st century has seen an abundance of movies that allow viewers to revel in this air of joy. As one may expect, this list features many masterpieces of modern comedy that had audiences laughing aloud throughout, but everything from swashbuckling fantasy adventures to propulsive spectacles of action awe have defined cinematic fun over the past 26 years, creating viewing experiences that, even after multiple rewatches, leave viewers grinning from ear to ear.
8
‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ (2016)
Charming, charismatic, and endlessly enjoyable, Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a feat of quirky comedy magnificence underlined with a sense of pathos that exhibits all of director Taika Waititi’s defining qualities at their very best. It centers on the bond between rebellious youth Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) and his cantankerous foster father, Hector (Sam Neill). When Ricky goes on the run to avoid returning to the foster care system, he and Hector are thrust on a marvelously messy adventure and find themselves at the heart of a growing media frenzy.
Dennison and Neill are exceptional in their roles, conjuring a rich, heartwarming chemistry that carries the movie’s beautiful emotional core while allowing for all the absurdist fun to maintain a sense of depth and poignancy. Presenting a perfect odd-couple dynamic while exuding warm wit and a penchant for lovable adventure, Hunt for the Wilderpeople is 105 minutes of wholesome fun that absolutely anyone in the world can enjoy.
7
‘The Nice Guys’ (2016)
When handled with a sense of propulsive momentum and charm, mystery cinema can offer intoxicating fun as its story of suspense and intrigue unfurls. The Knives Out movies are a prime example of this in recent years, but the most outlandishly enjoyable of the 21st century is undeniably 2016’s criminally underrated buddy-cop film, The Nice Guys. It follows a bumbling private eye and an enforcer-for-hire as they team-up to scour 1970s L.A. investigating a missing girl, a dead porn star, and an underlying government conspiracy behind it all.
The chemistry between Ryan Gosling’s Holland March and Russell Crowe’s Jackson Healy is a treat that holds up on multiple rewatches, while the movie around them strikes a perfect balance between masterful mystery plotting, ridiculous comedy eccentricity, and engrossing high-stakes suspense to make for a relentlessly exciting picture that also offers a plethora of laughs. Also featuring razor-sharp writing and an immersive period setting, The Nice Guys is an endlessly rewatchable buddy comedy that is one of the most fun mystery movies of all time.
6
‘Tropic Thunder’ (2008)
A brutal satire of the egomaniacal excess of movie stars, the nature of Hollywood war films, and the process of filmmaking at large, Tropic Thunder is a bold deconstruction of blockbuster cinema that pulls no punches in its pursuit of barbed and bruising hilarity. Its entertaining fervor is only strengthened by its incredible ensemble cast and its ability to combine unflinching shock comedy with piercing precision as it follows the shambolic production of a Vietnam War movie that sees the self-centered lead actors dropped into Southeast Asia to capture a sense of authenticity only for the stars to find themselves in a fight for survival when they encounter a drug dealing syndicate.
Tropic Thunder is not afraid of leaning into all-out absurdism, be it in regard to its comedic wrath or its action bombast. Both of these qualities conspire to make for one of the most relentlessly enjoyable movies ever made. It is uncompromising in its endeavor to lampoon the self-serious entitlement many war dramas have occupied over the years, and its purposefully over-the-top performances parodying everything from Hollywood producers to method acting only add to this scorching critique of major studio filmmaking.
5
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’ (2003)
Combining classical swashbuckling romantic adventure with high-fantasy ideas, a litany of memorable performances, and action sequences that are stunning in both conception and realization, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl delivers cinematic escapism at its most immersive and enjoyable. The crux of the story is blacksmith Will Turner’s (Orlando Bloom) efforts to rescue the governor’s daughter from the pirates that abducted her, but the movie finds its lifeblood in everything from Johnny Depp’s iconic portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow to its inflections of supernatural horror and brilliant comedic timing.
Complimented by an astonishing score, masterful fight choreography, and the ageless beauty of its practical filmmaking and physical, real-world locations, The Curse of the Black Pearl holds a transfixing quality that is both hypnotically engrossing and ceaselessly entertaining. It is the pinnacle of adventure fun in the 21st century, as are its two immediate sequels, with all three movies making for a descent into magic and mania that, in addition to being a sensation of modern filmmaking, stands as one of the most viscerally enthusing viewing experiences in the history of blockbuster cinema.
4
‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ (2014)
Wes Anderson’s unique visual style is always a catalyst for unbridled cinematic fun, especially as his eye-catching aesthetic is almost always combined with charming stories of humanity and stunning ensemble casts. The Grand Budapest Hotel is the finest example of this, with the 2014 comedy adventure film revolving around the journey of the framed concierge of the illustrious titular hotel, M. Gustav (Ralph Fiennes), and his loyal lobby boy, Zero (Tony Revolori), as they strive to prove Gustav did not commit murder.
The film is ultimately defined by its underlying heart, especially as its story-within-a-story approach imbues it with a slight degree of pathos to compliment the vibrant adventurous joy of the story and the spellbinding majesty of the set design and cinematography. The Grand Budapest Hotel marks one of the greatest triumphs of cinema this century, a wonderfully constructed tale of friendship, wild adventure, and loss that ensnares viewers from the opening minute and immerses them in what is a soaring glory of style, substance, and sensational fun.
3
‘Shrek’ (2001)
Whether it be puerile or piercing, parody has always been a great outlet for hysterics and hilarity when handled well. Serving as a send-up of classic Disney animated movies, as well as a lampooning of the fairy tale format at large, Shrek is a sublime example of spoof comedy as it follows the titular ogre in his endeavor to rescue a princess in exchange for being left alone in his swamp.
From its opening minute, the 2001 DreamWorks Animation classic flips the tropes of the genre on their head. The tales of gallantry, heroism, and beauty are replaced by a crude ogre, fun-loving vulgarity, and Smash Mouth’s “All Star”. As the movie unfurls, it only grows more enjoyable, especially as it combines its appetite for laugh-out-loud lunacy with razor-sharp messaging about self-worth and true love. In many respects, what makes Shrek so fun isn’t just that it mocks fairy tale storytelling, but that it improves it. Shrek 2 is also worthy of an honorable mention for how it achieves a similar feat, with both movies sprucing up the traditional ideas of the form with accessible family fun, unforgettable and beloved characters, and rollicking adventure stories accentuated with a lively soundtrack and plenty of joyous jabs at modern pop-culture.
2
‘Hot Fuzz’ (2007)
Driven by the brilliant comedic chemistry of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and powered by the kinetic filmmaking of director Edgar Wright, Hot Fuzz stands as one of the most addictively entertaining movies ever made. Blending the quiet serenity of the English countryside with outstanding satire of Hollywood blockbuster action excess, it follows a renowned London cop as he is dispatched to a quiet remote village where he begins to suspect a series of grisly accidents may be part of a larger conspiracy.
More than just a punchy parody, Hot Fuzz showcases Wright’s tremendous love for cinematic history as it mocks the action bombast of the ‘80s and ‘90s with both affectionate liveliness and deep respect. Compounded by its litany of excellent one-liners, energized sense of bizarre pandemonium, and its ability to extract uproarious hilarity from impeccably filmed action sequences, Hot Fuzz has a gravitas that is as viscerally alluring as it is enthralling and infectiously fun. Furthermore, as part of the thematically-connected “Cornetto” Trilogy, it contributes to what is arguably the most fun and enthusing movie trilogy cinema has ever seen.
1
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ (2015)
Pure propane punch. Mad Max: Fury Road isn’t just the greatest action movie of the 21st century, it is possibly the most awe-inspiring and ferociously outstanding blockbuster experience of all time. With George Miller returning to the post-apocalyptic dystopian he first mastered in the original 1979 classic, the soft reboot maintains the same sense of grit and brutality while ratcheting up the spectacle as it unfurls as a continuous rampaging chase sequence over the course of its relentless two-hour run.
It may not be the kind of movie that inspires fits of laughter, but every frenetic combat sequence is realized with such craftsmanship and creativity that it captures an air of prodigious magnificence, leaving viewers breathless and gleefully overwhelmed. A masterclass in epic-scale action bolstered by the faultless precision of its choreography and camerawork, the tangible realism of its high-concept storyworld, and its propulsive sense of momentum, Mad Max: Fury Road is the peak of energized cinematic grandeur that enthralls and excites with its majesty as well as its might to be the most fun and invigorating movie of the 21st century thus far.
Mad Max: Fury Road
- Release Date
-
May 15, 2015
- Runtime
-
121 minutes
- Director
-
George Miller
- Writers
-
Brendan McCarthy, George Miller, Nico Lathouris
You must be logged in to post a comment Login