These 25 Comedy Action Movies Add "Ha Has" To Your "Pew Pews"
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Do you need jokes to break the tension when you're watching a car chase, sword fight, or international espionage in the movies? Sounds like you're into action comedies. They're so great! Some action movies take themselves way too seriously, let's be real, and we all need to acknowledge that. Luckily, there are a lot of movies that lovingly riff on the action genre to create a new genre. These action comedies can deliver the thrills and the giggles.
I do have a bone to pick with a certain subgenre of action comedies: the action romantic comedies. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy movies like The Lost City and Ticket to Paradise, but why are there guns in my romantic comedies all the time now?? Are they scared that men are going to get bored? They can stay home, if so! (Also, maybe think higher of men? I know. It's not easy. But they're capable of loving a rom-com without life or death stakes, I promise.) Trust me, I can't wait to see Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt fall in love in The Fall Guy, but it's like, here we go again with the explosions where there should be flirting. Romantic comedies are great, but they come in all shapes and sizes. So do action comedies. Look how different all of these rip-roaring, hilarious flicks are.
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
You don't need to know anything about that game the kids on Stranger Things play to enjoy this wacky medieval fantasy adventure. It's ultimately just the story of a guy trying to get back to his daughter... with his best friend, a sorcerer who's trying his best, a talking bird named Jarnathan, and a teeny tiny Bradley Coooper.
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Galaxy Quest (1999)
Action comedy...IN SPAAAACE!! Galaxy Quest is about the washed-out minor celebrities who used to be in a Star Trek-like show and now only get money from the convention circuit. They hate their lives, until one day a group of aliens who somehow watched the show and thought they were real space heroes recruit them to fight off a Big Bad who's oppressing their people. The actors have to save the day for real and learn to work with coworkers they hate.
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Tropic Thunder (2008)
Similarly, Tropic Thunder is about actors shooting a war film who get caught up in an actual war. It's an action satire poking fun at Hollywood in so many honestly shocking ways.
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Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
You may have been tempted to check out the original film because of the Amazon Prime series. Let me be the first to tell you that it totally holds up! It's also very horny, if I do say so myself! Action stars can be hot for each other and it doesn't take away from the comedy or danger. Who knew?
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The Heat (2013)
Ever think of a movie as "recent" and then realize it's over a decade old? Anyway. The Heat stars Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock as a federal investigator and police detective with disparate personalities who team up to take down a drug dealer in Boston. The buddy cop scenario is a tale as old as time, but with two comedians at the top of their game it's always a good time too!
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Game Night (2018)
You know those friends who take games way too seriously? This movie gives them a taste of their own medicine. It's about a group of people who think they're in a role-playing game where one of them gets kidnapped...but then actually get kidnapped. They have to use their teamwork and puzzle-solving skills to escape a dangerous night of crime that gets very intense.
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Polite Society (2023)
This adorable movie about a wannabe stunt woman who sees conspiracies behind every corner when her sister gets a serious boyfriend is a great addition to the action comedy canon. Watch it if you've ever been the only one in the friend group to notice a red flag and/or totally think you could pull off a heist.
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Deadpool (2016)
A superhero movie about a superhero who knows he's in a superhero movie? What will they think of next? This film, based on Marvel comics and set in the X-Men corner of Marvel movies, is relentlessly funny. It's Ryan Reynolds' world and we're just living in it.
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Spy Kids (2001)
Nothing appealed more to young millennials than movies about kids excelling with adult responsibilities. Little did we know how much the real adult world sucked! When ordinary kids like Juni and Carmen Cortez become spies to save their secret spy parents, it looks dangerous but also kind of fun! "Adulting," as it were, is far from fun.
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The Princess Bride (1987)
It may be a "kissing book," but The Princess Bride has some pretty impressive fights and swordplay for a comedy. They didn't have to go that hard! If you've never experienced the swashbuckling talents of Mandy Patinkin and Cary Elwes, you're in for a treat.
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Ghostbusters (1984)
Many may try, but you can't beat the original. There's just something so funny about these four men trying to be good action heroes and do a service (a.k.a. busting ghosts) while wearing uniforms and carrying weapons that look like that, you know?
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Birds of Prey (2020)
Far and away my favorite superhero movie, this dark and dirty romp starring Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn is friggin' hilarious. Her chemistry with every single costar, from Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Rosie Perez to Ewan McGregor, is too good. It's colorful, chaotic, and heightened in a Looney Toons way that even makes gruesome fighting funny.
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Hot Fuzz (2007)
Edgar Wright's "Cornetto Trilogy" of films (Hot Fuzz, Shawn of the Dead, and The World's End) are each perfect action comedies in their own right. But this one, about a police sergeant who gets assigned to a sleepy down with a dark secret, goes above and beyond to parody action film tropes for peak comedy.
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D.E.B.S. (2004)
What if the SAT secretly sent your aptitude results to a spy academy for girls? That's the premise of this comedy starring Sara Foster, Jordana Brewster and Meagan Good. All hell breaks loose when a notorious criminal catches the eye of one of the agents. It's like Charlie's Angels, Sky High, and Black Widow rolled into one.
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Men in Black (1997)
They don't make 'em like this anymore. Men in Black is so simple. The aliens are goofy. The odd couple dynamic between Agent K and Agent J is goofy. The whole concept that aliens live among us and well-dressed agents with big guns make sure we never find out is goofy as hell!
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Miss Congeniality (2000)
Hilarity ensues when a tomboy FBI agent goes undercover in a beauty pageant. There is a love story too (one of my faves actually) but it's an action movie first and foremost. And we got one of the best memes of all time from Miss Rhode Island.
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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Dating someone with baggage is never easy, but what if you literally had to fight someone's exes in order to be with them? That's the premise of this film based on a graphic novel series, and I promise that it's much funnier and not as stressful as it sounds.
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Logan Lucky (2017)
You've heard of Ocean's Eleven, but have you heard of Ocean's Seven Eleven? That's the self-referencial nickname given to the heist crew in Steven Soderberg's comedy set in the vroom vroom world of NASCAR.
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Romancing the Stone (1984)
Before The Lost City and Argylle came this film about a shy novelist lost in the type of action-adventure world she writes about from the safety of her home. Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner have crackling chemistry and classic '80s movie action.
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The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
This is a horror comedy with a lot of action, particularly towards the end. The premise is a tale as old as time: a group of friends go to a creepy lake house and are picked off by a mysterious threat. But there's a meta twist that's alternatively horrifying and hilarious.
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Thor Ragnarok (2017)
Taika Waititi injected his sense of humor into the midpoint of the MCU with Thor Ragnarok. Real ones knew that Chris Hemsworth was secretly a comedy genius (The Cabin in the Woods, Ghostbusters: Answer The Call, etc.) but he hadn't gotten to flex those particular muscles as much in the Marvel movies.
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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Provided you're not sick of Johnny Depp for whatever reason, the first film in this franchise is pretty flawless. I distinctly remember watching this in the movie theater, because the audience slowly realized that this pirate movie was a comedy and the laughs got progressively bigger and bigger. That's cinema!
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The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
And provided you can still stomach Armie Hammer, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is a pretty elite spy comedy. Illya Kuryakin and Napoleon Solo make a great odd couple, and both Elizabeth Debicki and Alicia Vikander are very funny. Once upon a time, all I wanted was a sequel, but I guess that was for the best.
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Attack the Block (2011)
Before John Boyega starred in films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Woman King, and They Cloned Tyrone he broke out in this scrappy indie action comedy about an alien invasion. The film also features Nick Frost, an action comedy icon you know from films like Hot Fuzz, Shawn of the Dead, and The World's End.
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Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
The Academy Award-winning film is action-packed and anything but high-brow. From jokes about butt plugs to hot dog fingers and Raccacoonie it's full of weird humor! It might make you want to call your mom. The "laundry and taxes" line might even make you cry. But if a movie is already comedy and action (and honestly science fiction too) you know it can multitask.
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