This post is updated frequently as movies leave and enter Hulu. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.
Everyone needs a good laugh every now and then, probably more than ever in the 2020s. Hulu’s catalog is packed with television and arthouse critical darlings, so it can be hard to leaf through it when you just want something to take the edge off the day. That’s why we’re here. This regularly updated blend of comedy classics, indie films you may not have seen, and newer laugh generators is all you need when it’s time to escape.
(500) Days of Summer
Year: 2009
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: Marc Webb
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are charming in this indie hit that has become a staple on streaming services. The structure of the film is one of its charms, bouncing back and forth through a relationship in a way that felt fresh and new at the time. In fact, it’s interesting to watch this movie now in light of the number of indie rom-coms that attempted to copy its template (and failed).
Another Round
Year: 2020
Runtime: 1 hour, 57 minutes
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
The Oscar winner for Best International Film in 2021 features one of the best performances ever from the great Mads Mikkelsen. The Hannibal star plays a teacher who decides, with a group of three friends, to be a little drunk all the time. Bored and unmotivated by life, they try an experiment wherein they have a small blood alcohol content at all times. At first, it goes well. It doesn’t end well. Not everything here works but it’s a likable film that features a killer ending.
The Banshees of Inisherin
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 54m
Director: Martin McDonagh
One of the best films of 2022 and a multiple Oscar nominee last year, this dark comedy is already on streaming services, less than a year after its release. Colin Farrell does career-best work as a hapless Irishman who discovers that his best friend, played by Brendan Gleeson, doesn’t want to talk to him anymore. A film about how neighbors become enemies feels particularly timely in the currently fractured world, and this one is brilliant, funny, and moving.
The Big Lebowski
Year: 1998
Runtime: 1h 57m
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Well, that’s just like your opinion, man. Joel and Ethan Coen followed up the biggest hit of their careers, Fargo, with the story of Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski, unforgettably played by Jeff Bridges. In one of his most iconic roles, Bridges captures a kind of lazy L.A. style that turned this flick into a comedy classic, a movie that’s being quoted somewhere in the world on every minute of every day.
The Death of Stalin
Year: 2017
Runtime: 1h 47m
Director: Armando Iannucci
Armando Iannucci, the creator of Veep and The Thick of It, co-wrote and directed this viciously dark satire about the power struggle that emerged in the wake of the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. More nervously unsettling than laugh-out-loud funny, Iannucci’s style works well for his incredible cast, including Steve Buscemi, Paddy Considine, Jason Isaacs, Rupert Friend, Michael Palin, and Andrea Riseborough.
I, Tonya
Year: 2017
Runtime: 2h
Director: Craig Gillespie
Margot Robbie should have won the Oscar for playing Tonya Harding in this tonal highwire act. More than just a biopic or the true crime story of the 1994 attack on Nancy Kerrigan, Gillespie’s film is an interrogation of sports and celebrity culture. Centering it all is Robbie’s performance, one of the most challenging and impressive of the 2010s.
The Little Hours
Year: 2017
Runtime: 1h 30m
Director: Jeff Baena
There’s a movie on Hulu that features Aubrey Plaza as a profanity-spewing nun and you haven’t watched it yet? Jeff Baena’s Sundance hit also stars Alison Brie, Dave Franco, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, and Fred Armisen in a ridiculous, raunchy retelling of The Decameron. It’s reminiscent of classic Mel Brooks in the way it skewers classical storytelling structures with modern comic sensibilities.
My Cousin Vinny
Year: 1992
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Jonathan Lynn
Joe Pesci may be the titular character in this hit 1992 comedy, but it’s Marisa Tomei who walked away with it to such a degree that she won an Oscar. After two New Yorkers are tried for a murder that they didn’t commit deep in the heartland, Pesci’s Vinny has to go to the country to get them off. The city vs. country dynamic gets fresh life thanks to the film’s big heart and perfect coming timing of its entire cast.
Palm Springs
Year: 2020
Runtime: 1h 30m
Director: Max Barbakow
Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti are wonderful in this charming sci-fi rom-com about a pair of people caught up in a time loop and forced to live the same wedding day they’re attending over and over again. This is the kind of comedy gem that got a little screwed by the pandemic, forced to premiere on Hulu when it should have played to packed, laughing crowds in theaters first.
Poor Things
Year: 2023
Runtime: 2h 21m
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Emma Stone took home a second Oscar for her fearless portrayal of Bella Baxter in the latest mind-f*ck from the director of The Lobster and The Favourite. Bella is the Frankenstein-esque creation of a mad scientist (Willem Dafoe), who teaches her the way of the world, until she discovers sex and her own identity. Visually stunning, it’s like nothing else on Hulu. Or anywhere really.
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 27m
Directors: Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone
One of the best mockumentaries ever made, Popstar perfectly captures the anarchic spirit of the Lonely Island guys. Andy Samberg plays Connor Friel, a moronic popstar with a massive ego. When Connor’s career collapses, he’s forced to reunite with The Style Boyz, the group he left years ago and the friendships that got destroyed in the process. As consistently hilarious as any comedy of the last decade, this movie should have been much bigger.
*The Royal Tenenbaums
Year: 2001
Runtime: 1h 50m
Director: Wes Anderson
One of Wes Anderson’s best films remains this comedy about three gifted siblings who learn that adult life may not be all that they were promised when they were young. Gene Hackman is great as Royal Tenenbaum, the irascible patriarch of the clan, but this is really Anderson’s show, and it contains one of his smartest screenplays, which was nominated for the Oscar.
*Rushmore
Year: 1998
Runtime: 1h 33m
Director: Wes Anderson
Writer/director Wes Anderson’s best film is arguably still his second work, a brilliant coming-of-age comedy about a teenager named Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) and the love triangle that forms (at least in his mind) between him, a teacher named Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), and a wealthy man named Herman Blume (Bill Murray). Charming, eccentric, and hysterical, Rushmore is a modern classic.
Rye Lane
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 22m
Director: Raine Allen Miller
The best romantic comedy in years premiered at Sundance in January 2023 and is already on Hulu. David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah star in a film that’s reminiscent of Before Sunrise in the way it captures two people meeting and walking through a city as they slowly fall in love. Heartbroken, creative people, these characters are so incredibly likable in a film that has a sharp, brilliant screenplay, and stunning use of setting. The world around these people comes so vibrantly to life that it almost feels like a character.
Sanctuary
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: Zachary Wigon
Some would call this a thriller instead but it’s really close to being a romantic comedy at the same time. Whatever you call it, just watch it. It’s one of the best films of 2023, a two-hander between a future CEO (Christopher Abbott) and the longtime dominatrix (Margaret Qualley) that he’s trying to fire. Abbott and Qualley do some of the best work of their already notable careers in a film that’s unpredictable, twisted, and, yes, funny.
*Sideways
Year: 2004
Runtime: 2h 7m
Director: Alexander Payne
An adaptation of the novel of the same name by Rex Pickett, this comedy is the most successful project of Alexander Payne’s career. One of the reasons for that is the perfect casting of Paul Giamatti as Miles Raymond, a depressed teacher who goes on a wine trip with his buddy Jack (Thomas Haden Church) as they try to find actual happiness. It’s a clever film that’s deeply relatable.
Sleeping With Other People
Year: 2015
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director: Leslye Headland
If you love Russian Doll (and really who doesn’t) then you should dig into the history of its creator, Leslye Headland. She wrote and directed this clever 2015 comedy starring Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie, Adam Scott, Jason Mantzoukas, and, of course, Natasha Lyonne.
Theater Camp
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director: Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman
Something like a modern Waiting for Guffman, this Sundance hit lovingly parodies life at theater camps with a bunch of cast members who know a few things about how to stage a musical performance. Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Jimmy Tatro, Ayo Edebiri, and more star in one of those comedies that feels destined to produce future stars. In particular, Galvin and Tatro are hysterical here in a movie that will work better for anyone who used to be a theater kid.
Triangle of Sadness
Year: 2022
Runtime: 2h 29m
Director: Ruben Ostlund
A Best Picture nominee and Palme d’Or winner, Triangle of Sadness is the one of the biggest international critical darlings of 2022. From the writer/director of Force Majeure, this is the story of a model couple on a boat trip from Hell, a journey that goes so disastrously wrong that social lines are blurred forever. It’s a sharp commentary on the haves and have-nots with fun performances from Harris Dickinson, Dolly de Leon, Woody Harrelson, and more.
The Worst Person in the World
Year: 2021
Runtime: 2h 8m
Director: Joachim Trier
The partnership between Neon and Hulu continues to pay off for subscribers as the streamer is the exclusive home of one of the most acclaimed films of 2021 in this Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominee. Renate Reinsve is stunning as a young woman named Julie who navigates career, love, and life in a film that’s funny, moving, and true.
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