Watch These Comedies If You Just Need To Laugh At Total Nonsense
You’ve had a terrible week. Or month. Or year.
The kind of stretch where even your comfort shows can’t comfort you, and the idea of self-care feels like a scam invented by people who’ve never been on hold with customer service for three hours. Your brain is tired. Not “I could use a nap” tired. I mean, existentially tired. The kind where you stare into space and wonder if humans were a mistake.
And this is where the magic of unserious cinema comes in. Sometimes you don’t need a three-hour think piece about generational trauma. You don’t need an indie darling where everyone whispers through their emotional breakdowns in a minimalist kitchen. You just need Chris Tucker yelling, “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?” for pretty much no reason at all. Here are four perfectly unserious movies to heal your overthinking brain.
Rush Hour (1998)
Rush Hour is peak “throw logic out the window and just have a good time” cinema. Jackie Chan’s physical comedy is so flawless it feels choreographed by a mischievous elf, and Chris Tucker’s voice alone could power a small city. The plot, which is centered around an international kidnapping, is really just an excuse to watch two police officers who could not be more different become best friends imaginable. Every scene is a set piece for either a fight, a gag, or both at the same time. And every rewatch feels like catching up with old friends who are still yelling at each other.
Shanghai Noon (2000)
Cowboys and Kung Fu is the kind of Hollywood mash-up that sounds like a sleep-deprived person pitched it at 2 a.m. And yet, Shanghai Noon pulls off its odd premise. Jackie Chan plays a by-the-book Chinese Imperial Guard opposite Owen Wilson’s charmingly lazy outlaw, and together they trip over cultural misunderstandings, bad guys, and ridiculous situations like two kids let loose in a sandbox. The fight scenes are super inventive, and the jokes never feel forced. It’s also got that early-2000s optimism where everything could be solved with teamwork and improbable stunts.
Mr. Deeds (2002)
Mr. Deeds is one of those movies that feels like a warm, fuzzy blanket. Adam Sandler plays a small-town guy who inherits a fortune but keeps his unshakable kindness and small-town weirdness intact. There’s slapstick fish-out-of-water humor, and a surprisingly sweet romance with Winona Ryder. It’s a story that isn’t afraid to be corny, because it knows the value of sincerity. You don’t watch Mr. Deeds to be wowed by plot twists. You watch it to feel like the world might not be so bad after all.
Money Talks (1997)
Money Talks features Chris Tucker at his scheming best, getting into more trouble with every scene. The film is messy in the way only 90s action-comedies can be, with car chases, explosions, cops, bad guys, and a plot that doesn’t make sense if you think about it for more than two seconds. But Tucker’s banter with Charlie Sheen is electric, and the comedy comes from watching two people who don’t like each other be forced into survival mode together. It’s not polished, but it’s pure dopamine if you just accept the story for what it is.
Why We Need to Stop Judging These Movies
Somewhere along the way, the movie-goers started acting like watching stories that leaned into their silly side somehow made us guilty of intellectual laziness. We started to equate seriousness with value. Like if a film doesn’t make you unpack a metaphor for two hours, it’s not worth your time. But here’s the thing. Escapism isn’t a flaw in your character. It’s a tool that can be used to decompress when you’re dealing with constant stress, relentless news cycles, and the daily grind of simply existing.
So the next time someone side-eyes your movie choice because it doesn’t have an Academy Award nomination of three, remember that not every movie needs to change your life. Some just need to get you through the day. And if the thing that gets you through happens to be Owen Wilson in a cowboy hat, so be it, because there’s a certain defiance in choosing joy that makes no sense on paper. Life will always offer you enough seriousness to drown in.
The trick is remembering you can come up for air. Put on the movie with the implausible plot, the over the-top chase scenes, and the jokes that make you laugh against your will. Let it be stupid. Let it be crazy. And most of all, let it remind you that, in its own chaotic way, not everything worth holding onto needs to be profound. Sometimes it just needs to make you feel a little lighter.
