The 10 Best Comedies to Stream on Netflix Right Now

If you’ve squeezed all the laughs out of your favorite comedies, there’s hope: Netflix has a vast selection of classics and contemporary hits, including a handful of originals. Check out 10 of the funniest movies currently streaming on the service.

Chevy Chase scored one of his biggest theatrical hits in this comedy based on the Gregory Mcdonald novels. As Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher, Chase is a reporter looking to figure out why a millionaire put a hit out on himself. Mcdonald retained the right to veto casting choices for the character; before agreeing to Chase, he turned down Burt Reynolds and Mick Jagger.

Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling make an unlikely buddy pairing in this comedy written and directed by Shane Black. In 1970s Los Angeles, the two detectives bumble through a seedy underworld to find a missing girl. Black originally wrote it as a television pilot before deciding it worked better as a feature film.

Ali Wong was already an accomplished stand-up, but this romantic comedy cemented her irresistible charms, as she plays a celebrity chef reconnecting as an adult with her childhood crush (played by Randall Park). The Asian-led cast and crew give the film a wonderfully unique perspective, even as those details underscore the universality of its ultimate truths. Meanwhile, Internet Boyfriend Keanu Reeves plays himself as a love interest for Wong’s character: He agreed to the role because he’s a fan of Wong’s stand-up.

Eddie Murphy returned to form with this funny and moving biopic of Rudy Ray Moore, a struggling stand-up comic in the 1970s who finds his big break as Dolemite, a butt-kicking alter ego that became the subject of Moore’s low-budget film debut. Murphy met Moore several times before Moore’s passing. Murphy once said that Moore wanted to go on a comedy tour with him.

The ever-reliable Paul Rudd stars in this amiable indie film about a writer who takes on a side hustle as a caregiver for a teen (Craig Roberts) with muscular dystrophy. Naturally, lessons are learned, but it’s also a prime example of the affability that’s made Rudd one of the more pleasant screen actors of the past two decades. The film is based on author Jonathan Evison’s 2012 book The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving.

En route to turning Thor into the comedic lunkhead he was always meant to be in Ragnarok, writer-director Taika Waititi crafted this sweetly irreverent story about a Tupac-obsessed orphan (Julian Dennison) who teams up with his reluctant foster father (Sam Neill) to evade the cops after an overzealous child welfare worker (Rachel House) decides he is in imminent danger. Waititi’s idiosyncratic humor and irresistible sentimentality are both vividly on display in this affecting, woefully under-appreciated comedy that’s based on the 2005 book Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump.

Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill headline this absurd riff on the 21 Jump Street television series, with the two going undercover at a high school to bust a drug ring controlled by evil Dave Franco. Brad Pitt and Vince Vaughn are among the then-unknown actors who appeared on the original show, but you’ll have to watch the feature for the big star cameo.

This charming adaptation of the popular ursine launched a franchise. Colin Firth was originally cast as the voice of Paddington before he mutually parted ways with the production; Ben Whishaw replaced him.

Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence are two criminals who spend virtually their entire lives with each other and behind bars. Murphy and Lawrence previously worked together on 1992’s Boomerang.

The minds behind 2019’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse have another winningly irreverent animated film on tap. The slightly dysfunctional Mitchell family has to contend with technology gone awry—but to save the human race, they’ll have to interrupt their vacation. The movie was such a critical hit that Netflix decided to offer it as a limited theatrical release six months after it began streaming.

A version of this story ran in 2020; it has been updated for 2023.