Comedy/Tragedy Mood Swing Films
by jzappa | created - 14 Jun 2011 | updated - 16 Jun 2011 | PublicThis is a selection of films that achieve what is arguably the most difficult to do in movies, at least in American culture. That is, blend the humorous with the harrowing. It's not necessarily a matter of black comedy or satire, though both appear on the list, as well as a non-American film or two. It's simply a matter of making light of horrible circumstances, and horrible circumstances coming out of light-hearted hilarity. Like life more than anything else.
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1. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
PG | 112 min | Drama, Romance
A recently widowed woman is on the road with her precocious young son, determined to make a new life for herself as a singer.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, Mia Bendixsen, Alfred Lutter III
Votes: 27,309 | Gross: $18.60M
2. Amarcord (1973)
R | 123 min | Comedy, Drama
A series of comedic and nostalgic vignettes set in a 1930s Italian coastal town.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Magali Noël, Bruno Zanin, Pupella Maggio, Armando Brancia
Votes: 46,648 | Gross: $0.58M
3. American Beauty (1999)
R | 122 min | Drama
A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley
Votes: 1,207,718 | Gross: $130.10M
4. The Beaver (2011)
PG-13 | 91 min | Drama
A troubled husband and executive adopts a beaver hand-puppet as his sole means of communication.
Director: Jodie Foster | Stars: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Cherry Jones
Votes: 50,667 | Gross: $0.97M
5. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
R | 111 min | Action, Biography, Crime
Bored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman
Votes: 120,323
6. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
An ophthalmologist's mistress threatens to reveal their affair to his wife while a married documentary filmmaker is infatuated with another woman.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Bill Bernstein, Claire Bloom
Votes: 60,664 | Gross: $18.25M
7. The Dying Western (2009)
32 min | Short, Drama
In The Dying Western, Howard obsessively pursues his dreams to be the next John Wayne, but has only been successful at playing dying extras in western movies. Set in 1960's Hollywood, ... See full summary »
Director: Michael Kortlander | Stars: Mike Mihm, Bekka Prewitt, Christopher Wells, Colton Barrackman
Votes: 24
8. Extras (2005–2007)
TV-MA | 30 min | Comedy, Drama
Andy Millman is an actor with ambition and a script. Reduced to working as an extra with a useless agent, Andy's attempts to boost his career invariably end in failure and embarrassment.
Stars: Ricky Gervais, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant, Shaun Williamson
Votes: 60,229
9. The Front (1976)
PG | 95 min | Drama
In 1953, a cashier poses as a writer for blacklisted talents to submit their work through, but the injustice around him pushes him to take a stand.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Woody Allen, Zero Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, Michael Murphy
Votes: 9,643
10. Funny People (2009)
R | 146 min | Comedy, Drama
When seasoned comedian George Simmons learns of his terminal, inoperable health condition, his desire to form a genuine friendship causes him to take a relatively green performer under his wing as his opening act.
Director: Judd Apatow | Stars: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana
Votes: 123,482 | Gross: $51.86M
11. Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
R | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A look at a few chapters in the life of Poppy, a cheery, colorful, North London schoolteacher whose optimism tends to exasperate those around her.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman, Samuel Roukin, Elliot Cowan
Votes: 40,999 | Gross: $3.49M
12. The Hospital (1971)
PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
A hospital's chief-of-staff struggles to find meaning in his life during a spate of staff deaths.
Director: Arthur Hiller | Stars: George C. Scott, Diana Rigg, Barnard Hughes, Richard Dysart
Votes: 7,296 | Gross: $19.71M
13. The Host (2006)
R | 120 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A monster emerges from Seoul's Han River and begins attacking people. One victim's loving family does what it can to rescue her from its clutches.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-Bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona
Votes: 132,216 | Gross: $2.20M
14. Husbands and Wives (1992)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When their best friends announce that they're separating, a professor and his wife discover the faults in their own marriage.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Sydney Pollack, Judy Davis
Votes: 31,132 | Gross: $10.56M
15. Life (I) (1999)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
In 1932, two strangers are wrongfully convicted and develop a strong friendship in prison that lasts them through the 20th century.
Director: Ted Demme | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Obba Babatundé, Nick Cassavetes
Votes: 54,593 | Gross: $63.84M
16. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
PG-13 | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
Director: Roberto Benigni | Stars: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano
Votes: 740,582 | Gross: $57.60M
17. Little Murders (1971)
PG | 108 min | Comedy, Crime
Pitch black comedy about a young nihilistic New Yorker coping with pervasive urban violence, obscene phone calls, rusty water pipes, electrical blackouts, paranoia and ethnic-racial conflict during a typical summer of the 1970s.
Director: Alan Arkin | Stars: Elliott Gould, Marcia Rodd, Vincent Gardenia, Elizabeth Wilson
Votes: 3,550 | Gross: $0.26M
18. Louie (2010– )
TV-MA | 22 min | Comedy, Drama
The life of Louie C.K., a divorced comedian living in New York with two kids.
Stars: Louis C.K., Hadley Delany, Ursula Parker, Pamela Adlon
Votes: 82,046
19. Man Bites Dog (1992)
NC-17 | 95 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A film crew follows a ruthless thief and heartless killer as he goes about his daily routine. But complications set in when the film crew lose their objectivity and begin lending a hand.
Directors: Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde | Stars: Benoît Poelvoorde, Jacqueline Poelvoorde-Pappaert, Nelly Pappaert, Hector Pappaert
Votes: 43,609 | Gross: $0.21M
20. Melinda and Melinda (2004)
PG-13 | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two alternating stories, one comedy and the other tragedy, about Melinda's attempts to straighten out her life.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Will Ferrell, Vinessa Shaw, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Wallace Shawn
Votes: 33,149 | Gross: $3.83M
21. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
R | 133 min | Drama
In the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco
Votes: 1,068,998 | Gross: $112.00M
22. Pete 'n' Tillie (1972)
PG | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Tillie Shlai is not looking forward to meeting yet another blind date. This one's name is Pete Seltzer. Pete and Tillie are not a match made in heaven; he uses wisecracking and constant ... See full summary »
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Walter Matthau, Carol Burnett, Geraldine Page, Barry Nelson
Votes: 1,154 | Gross: $18.97M
23. Radio Days (1987)
PG | 88 min | Comedy
A nostalgic look at radio's golden age focusing on one ordinary family and the various performers in the medium.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, Mike Starr, Paul Herman
Votes: 36,162 | Gross: $14.79M
24. The Savages (2007)
R | 113 min | Comedy, Drama
A sister and brother face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.
Director: Tamara Jenkins | Stars: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman
Votes: 38,586 | Gross: $6.61M
25. Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A pianist helps his brother escape from two gangsters, who retaliate by abducting their kid brother.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Charles Aznavour, Marie Dubois, Nicole Berger, Michèle Mercier
Votes: 20,573
26. Six Feet Under (2001–2005)
TV-MA | 60 min | Comedy, Drama
A chronicle of the lives of a dysfunctional family who run an independent funeral home in Los Angeles.
Stars: Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose
Votes: 148,627
27. Love in the Time of Hysteria (1991)
Not Rated | 94 min | Comedy, Romance
A womanizer is falsely diagnosed with AIDS by a jealous lover and falls in love with a woman equally suicidal as he.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Daniel Giménez Cacho, Claudia Ramírez, Luis de Icaza, Astrid Hadad
Votes: 4,022 | Gross: $0.01M
28. Something Wild (1986)
R | 114 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
A free-spirited woman "kidnaps" a yuppie for a weekend of adventure. But the fun quickly takes a dangerous turn when her ex-convict husband shows up.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, George 'Red' Schwartz, Leib Lensky
Votes: 20,975 | Gross: $8.36M
29. Stalag 17 (1953)
Not Rated | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, War
After two Americans are killed while escaping from a German P.O.W. camp in World War II, the barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss
Votes: 58,660
30. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A recently laid off factory worker kidnaps his former boss' friend's daughter, hoping to use the ransom money to pay for his sister's kidney transplant.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, Bae Doona, Lim Ji-eun
Votes: 74,853 | Gross: $0.05M
31. Terms of Endearment (1983)
PG | 132 min | Comedy, Drama
Follows hard-to-please Aurora looking for love and her daughter's family problems.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito
Votes: 65,222 | Gross: $108.42M
32. Trainspotting (1996)
R | 93 min | Drama
Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd
Votes: 723,555 | Gross: $16.50M
33. Bijitâ Q (2001)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Drama, Horror
A troubled and perverted family find their lives intruded by a mysterious stranger who seems to help find a balance in their disturbing natures.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Ken'ichi Endô, Shungiku Uchida, Kazushi Watanabe, Jun Mutô
Votes: 17,005
34. World's Greatest Dad (I) (2009)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Drama
When his son's body is found in a humiliating accident, a lonely high school teacher inadvertently attracts an overwhelming amount of community and media attention after covering up the truth with a phony suicide note.
Director: Bobcat Goldthwait | Stars: Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara, Morgan Murphy, Naomi Glick
Votes: 40,699 | Gross: $0.22M
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