Five Comedy Films That Earned Roger Ebert’s Coveted Perfect Rating

Ebert’s love for comedic classics was well-documented; titles like “Annie Hall,” “Dr. Strangelove,” and “Fargo” were among those he held in high esteem. His top 10 list even included the timeless Buster Keaton comedy “The General.” Yet, Ebert was not just a fan of universally acclaimed comedies. He frequently gave four-star ratings to films that might have surprised some, showcasing his varied taste and willingness to champion overlooked gems that brought him genuine joy.

While not every comedy on Ebert’s list might surprise you, they collectively reflect his appreciation for a diverse range of humor. Ebert’s ability to embrace comedies that did not always receive critical acclaim from his peers, and his knack for overlooking minor flaws if a film made him laugh, highlighted his unique approach to film criticism.

Among the more predictable yet noteworthy selections is “This Is Spinal Tap.” This mockumentary about a struggling rock band on a disastrous tour has long been celebrated as a must-see cult classic. Ebert called it “one of the funniest films ever made” in a 2001 retrospective review, when he added it to his list of Great Movies.

We start off with what might be the least shocking inclusion on this list. It isn’t tough to find a critic who loved “This Is Spinal Tap” — the mock rockumentary about a washed-up band trying to push through a tour that is falling apart, a fact that is obvious to pretty much everyone but them — and it’s generally hailed as a cult classic movie everyone needs to watch. But we included it because Ebert proclaimed it “one of the funniest films ever made” in a retrospective review in 2001, when he added to his list of Great Movies. 

In his original four-star review, Ebert was no less effusive with praise for “This Is Spinal Tap.” He commended the film for its then-novel approach to presenting itself as a documentary, and appreciated that the movie trusts the audience to get what it’s trying to do and pick up on the sometimes quite subtle satire on display. On his year-end top 10 for 1984, he not only included “This Is Spinal Tap” but even ranked it above the best picture Oscar nominee, “The Killing Fields.” 

When considering the film career of Steve Martin, most people either default to early classics like “Three Amigos” and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” or they associate the comedian more with bigger box office hits like “Father of the Bride” and “Cheaper by the Dozen.” As such, some of his greatest movies get overlooked — such as 1991’s rom-com satire “L.A. Story,” which Martin wrote and stars in as an unlucky-in-love TV weatherman. We put it right in the middle of our ranking of Martin’s best movies — not a bad showing, but seemingly not befitting a film that Roger Ebert deems worthy of four stars.

In his review, Ebert says “L.A. Story” represents Martin finally finding “the right comic presence for the movies,” toning down the chaotic energy of his earlier performances for a more effortless — but still hilarious — charm. For context, Ebert hated “Three Amigos” and wasn’t crazy about “The Jerk” either. Ebert also points out that Martin’s working on the script for “L.A. Story” for seven years was time well spent, resulting in an expertly crafted and tightly polished comedy gem. “There’s never the feeling that anything is being punched up, or made to carry more than its share,” Ebert writes.

Mel Brooks has been so prolific in the spoof genre that we included four of his films on our list of the best spoof movies of all time — “Young Frankenstein” and “Spaceballs” are two of his most popular; “High Anxiety” is an underrated send-up of Alfred Hitchcock thrillers; and cult favorite “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” And that isn’t even all of his great spoofs. Another of his lesser-known entries, “Silent Movie,” is a favorite of Roger Ebert — far more so than “High Anxiety,” “Men in Tights,” or “Spaceballs,” which he liked far less, based on his reviews.

“Silent Movie” didn’t half-ass its premise, with only one word spoken audibly in the entire film. The movie’s very meta concept is that silent-era filmmaker Mel Funn (Brooks) wants to make a new silent movie in the 1970s. And he becomes convinced that a studio will fund the film if he can get big stars to be in it — cue an impressive procession of Hollywood royalty playing themselves in cameos.

Ebert loved the movie, saying in his review, “On the Brooks-Laff-O-Meter, I laughed more than in ‘Young Frankenstein’ and about as much as in ‘Blazing Saddles.’” High praise indeed. Much of the last paragraph of his review is just listing what he deems “classic” moments in the movie, coming up with six of them before having to stop himself, clearly having more in mind. 

One of the funniest comedies you’ve never seen is “Withnail and I,” a 1987 dark buddy comedy that Roger Ebert added to his Great Movies list. The semi-autobiographical film based on writer/director Bruce Robinson’s life stars Paul McGann as Robinson’s stand-in, Marwood, and Richard E. Grant as his pal, Withnail. They’re two struggling actors who lazily fumble their way into wild misadventures in both urban and rural England.

Ebert actually got pretty personal in his 2009 review (he didn’t review it upon its original release) of “Withnail and I,” relating to the film’s protagonists by admitting that he and his friends also thought they had the world figured out as they’d hang out and drink — and of course, knowing now that nothing could’ve been further from the truth. “‘Withnail and I’ […] conveys the experience of being drunk so well that the only way I could improve upon it would be to stand behind you and hammer your head with two-pound bags of frozen peas,” he wrote.

Elsewhere, Ebert asks, “Why does the film, which I have made sound so depressing, remain so popular after more than 20 years?” To which he answers his own query thusly: “It achieves a kind of transcendence in its gloom. It is uncompromisingly, sincerely, itself. It is not a lesson or a lecture, it is funny but in a consistent way that it earns, and it is unforgettably acted.” 

As you are no doubt aware, Roger Ebert passed away in 2013 from the thyroid and salivary gland cancer that took away his ability to speak seven years prior. But Ebert continued to write movie reviews until the end, with his final review actually being published posthumously. With all that in mind, we wanted to include a comedy he raved about in the final stretch of his life and career. “Rango” would end up being one of his final 4-star reviews of a comedy.

“Rango” was an odd film indeed, marketed as a typical kids’ animated romp but actually best appreciated by older audiences who will get all the references to movies of the ’60s and ’70s. To be sure, there are many things only adults notice in “Rango,” the story of the shy titular anthropomorphic chameleon (voiced by Johnny Depp) who somehow finds himself the sheriff of a frontier town. After attempting to get by just cosplaying as a lawman, Rango is soon left with no choice other than to actually become the brave hero he was always meant to be.

Ebert was completely smitten with “Rango,” calling it “some kind of a miracle” in his review because it is “wonderfully made, great to look at, wickedly satirical.” He also clearly had a bone to pick with 3D movies, all the rage when “Rango” was released, as he mentions several times how great it is that “Rango” didn’t have a 3D version, and hoped it would convince more people how unnecessary 3D is.