The summer movie season is winding down, and one of the year’s biggest comedies has hit theaters. At home, Netflix offers a number of iconic comedies for subscribers to enjoy. With back-to-school classics and modern masterpieces, anyone looking for a laugh can surely find something to enjoy on Netflix this month.
Here are seven of the best comedy movies streaming on Netflix now.
“Dazed and Confused”
Few films evoke high school memories as strongly as “Dazed and Confused,” Richard Linklater’s follow-up to his 1990 feature debut, “Slacker.” The film features a sprawling cast of high schoolers, filled with incoming freshmen, rising seniors and everything in between, as they coalesce on the final day of the school year. The movie may take place in 1970s Texas, featuring hazing rituals and pastimes that may seem alien to today’s current crop of high schoolers, yet the feelings depicted within Linklater’s lackadaisical story remain eternal.
“Dazed and Confused” is surely a funny film, with a number of riotous moments that hold up well. In many ways, it’s one of the ultimate hangout movies, an easy watch that also has immense depth. Linklater perfectly renders the high school experience: the want to be liked, the desire to fit in, the simultaneous feeling that you’ve never been more caged and you’ll never be more free, the frustration that those around you are losers but the losers seem to be having more fun. It’s a miraculous movie, and still one of Linklater’s best.
“Fast Times at Ridgemont High”
In August, Netflix added an Amy Heckerling two-hander, adding the director’s debut (“Fast Times at Ridgemont High”) and her most popular feature (“Clueless“) to the service. It’s hard to imagine “Fast Times” as a debut. The film helped launch the careers of several notable stars, including Phoebe Cates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sean Penn, Judge Reinhold, Forest Whitaker and a slew of others (such as Nicolas Cage, Anthony Edwards and Eric Stoltz in minor roles).
The comic elements of this high school coming-of-age story land well. Reinhold establishes himself as a comedy lead as Brad Hamilton, a high school senior bouncing from job to job and pondering whether he can do better as a “free man” away from his girlfriend of two years. Penn gives a lights out performance as Jeff Spicoli, an eternal stoner who unwittingly finds himself in a feud with history teacher Mr. Hand (played impeccably by Ray Walston). 40 years later, Spicoli remains an iconic performance on the level of comedy movie classics.
Heckerling and screenwriter Cameron Crowe (who based the film on a book he wrote while undercover as a high school student) add emotional weight to “Fast Times” through the central character of 15-year-old Stacy Hamilton (Brad’s younger sister, played by Leigh). Leigh commands her half of this film, playing a young woman looking for romance and sex with nuance and empathy. It’s a phenomenal performance, one that helps elevate “Fast Times” from just another high school comedy to being one of the all-time classics.
“Groundhog Day”
One of the best rom-coms of all time, “Groundhog Day” features Bill Murray as a man who refuses to change until he gets bored of everything else. Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin’s holiday-themed comedy sees weatherman Phil Connors (Murray) stuck in Punxsutawney, PA, reliving the same day on loop for years. It’s a brilliant premise for a comedy, one that has been, ironically, used over and over again.
Murray excels at playing Connors as both hopelessly selfish and believably changed. It is just as fun to see him playing God as it is rewarding to see him finally consider the people around him. Andie MacDowell, meanwhile, plays a strong opposite, showing someone who doesn’t need to be trapped in Hell to think a small town can be interesting and beautiful. For a movie based on repeating its scenes, you would think “Groundhog Day” wouldn’t make a rewarding rewatch, but this comedy could be played on loop without getting old.
“Midnight Run”
It sounds silly to imply that Robert De Niro doesn’t get enough credit as an actor — but when it comes to comedies, does Robert De Niro get enough credit as an actor? Anyone unfamiliar with his skills as a comedian need look no further than “Midnight Run.” Soon after Martin Brest made “Beverly Hills Cop,” he directed this buddy movie from screenwriter George Gallo. The film follows De Niro as Jack Walsh, a jaded bounty hunter who attempts to bring in Mafia accountant Jonathan Mardukas (Charles Grodin) while being pursued by various parties.
“Midnight Run” is buddy comedy filmmaking at its best, a tight, effective script with a slew of engaging character actors and hilarious sequences. De Niro and Grodin have off-the-charts chemistry in their painfully slow evolution from adversaries to begrudging allies to eventual friends. It may not be a drama, but this is a hall of fame performance from De Niro.
“One of Them Days”
As the concept of the cinematic comedy hangs on for dear life, 2025 provided the genre a reprieve. This year saw several outrageously funny films rock theaters, with cringe-out instantly classics like Tim Robinson and Andrew DeYoung’s “Friendship” and joke-a-minute throwbacks like Liam Neeson and Akiva Schaffer’s “The Naked Gun.” Way back in January, Keke Palmer, SZA and Lawrence Lamont’s “One of Them Days” started the year off on the strongest foot imaginable.
“One of Them Days” follows roommates Dreux (Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA) as they try to make it through the day from hell. When the pair discovers that their rent payment was misused on the way to their landlord, they have mere hours to come up with the $1,500 they need to keep their apartment. This takes them on an odyssey throughout South L.A., one involving blood banks, vindictive gang leaders and a Terminator-like quest for vengeance. Palmer continues to leap off the screen with the infectious energy she demonstrated in projects like “Nope,” while SZA delivers a phenomenal comic performance in her cinematic debut.
“Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping”
If “The Naked Gun” had you rolling the theater aisles, be sure to check out Akiva Schaffer’s other directorial efforts, including and especially “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.” The mocumentary, starring the Lonely Island trio of Schaffer, Jorma Taccone and Andy Samberg, tells the story of fictional popstar Conner4Real (Samberg) as his career reaches a new low.
Listening to the soundtrack alone would be an enjoyable experience, featuring extended versions of the songs in the film. Highlights include Samberg bragging about his own humility and fighting for gay rights while repeatedly underscoring that he, himself, is straight.
The film itself plays in much the same way as Schaffer’s “Naked Gun” reboot, with every few seconds bringing a new joke that’s genius, absurd or some mixture of the two. If you’ve ever even passively laughed at a Lonely Island gag, “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” will be well worth the watch.
“Shiva Baby”
“Shiva Baby” has the honor of being the only film on this list that could also be described as a horror movie. There are no jump scares or murderers or anything like that. The film simply catches tension by placing viewers in a nightmare scenario: a gathering you don’t want to be at with people you don’t want to see asking questions you don’t have answers for.
Emma Seligman’s feature directorial debut (adapting her short film of the same name) introduced many audiences to Rachel Sennott, who has since gone in to become a comedy star in films like “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” “Saturday Night” and Seligman’s “Bottoms.” Sennott stars as Danielle, a 20-something with no professional prospects who goes with her parents to a shiva observance with their family and friends. Also in attendance are Danielle’s ex-girlfriend (Molly Gordon) and current sugar daddy (Danny Deferrari), along with his wife (Dianna Agron) and child.
In “Shiva Baby,” Seligman created a perfect artifact of anxiety, ratcheting tension and discomfort through her mercifully short (yet somehow eternal) 78-minute feature. She and Sennott are a match made in heaven, with the comic performer knowing exactly how to capture every awful aspect of being at a family gathering in your early 20s. “Shiva Baby” is one of the strongest debuts of the 2020s, and an absolute hell of a comedy.
