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A Treasure Trove Of Crazy Absurd Comedies Just For You

Image by L.E. Wilson from RedBubble based on work by Edvard Munch and Prawny on Pixabay

Life’s too short to be serious!

It turns out that the idea of looking at life through a humor lens is a long-established philosophy. The movies The Last Laugh (2016), a serious documentary about the controversial topic of gallows humor/dark comedy, and Wayne’s World (1992), a silly lighthearted juvenile farce, both point in this direction—as does a famous quote from the 17th century:

Life is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel.

― Jean Racine

These two disparate, seemingly contrasting movies together demonstrate and prove the observations made by the French playwright Jean Racine and by one of the world’s most famous comedians, Charlie Chaplin:

Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.

In other words, life is a comedy for those who think long-term, or as comedian Steve Allen put it, “Tragedy plus time equals comedy,” which really comes to mean that we can and do laugh equally and freely at death and at life, at experience and at youth, at the somber and the fluff, at the politician and the clown—but I repeat myself.

Or more to the point, have you noticed that life is absurd? This, of course, is the inevitable conclusion that the renowned 19th century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard made when like Racine, Chaplin, and Allen—eggheads all—he found the comedy in our existence:

I saw that the meaning of life was to secure a livelihood, and that its goal was to attain a high position; that love’s rich dream was marriage with an heiress; that friendship’s blessing was help in financial difficulties; that wisdom was what the majority assumed it to be; that enthusiasm consisted in making a speech; that it was courage to risk the loss of ten dollars; that kindness consisted in saying, “You are welcome,” at the dinner table; that piety consisted in going to communion once a year. This I saw, and I laughed.

Oomph! In this spirit then, here are some absurd comedies and the life lessons you could learn from them to help you and your noggin decide once and for all that life is a comedy after all—or at least that it’s better to laugh oodles than to cry gaggles:

• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) 

  • Life Lesson: “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

    — Robert Burns

    • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

• High Anxiety (1977)

  • Life Lesson: Figure out what you really are afraid of.

    • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

• Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)

  • Life Lesson: Do not follow others blindly and accidentally join a cult.

    • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1980)

  • Life Lesson: Know the basics.

    • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

• Airplane! (1980)

  • Life Lesson: Don’t let fear paralyze you.

    • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

• Johnny Dangerously (1984)

  • Life Lesson: If you want to, you can change the course of your life.

    • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

• Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

  • Life Lesson: Don’t let anyone stop you from achieving your dreams.

    • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

• Wayne’s World (1992)

  • Life Lesson: Be optimistic: You’ll find better solutions.

    • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

• Dirty Work (1998)

  • Life Lesson: It’s not revenge when you stand up for yourself, especially if it also helps others.

    • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

• Stuck on You (2003)

  • Life Lesson: Find what you love to do most—and do it.

    • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

• Shaun of the Dead (2004)

  • Life Lesson: Work to reach your potential: have a plan, be strong, don’t give up.

    • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

• Tropic Thunder (2008)

  • Life Lesson: Know who you are.

    • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

• What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

  • Life Lesson: You can befriend your enemies.

    • 🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)

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The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.

― E. E. Cummings

Of course, don’t let the idea that life is absurd drive you into an existential crisis. The fact is that there is meaning to be had in focusing on the comedy in life, which may allow us to reach the level of enlightenment that Kierkegaard found when he wrote, “I opened my eyes and beheld reality, at which I began to laugh, and since then, I have not stopped laughing.”

May the same be true for you.

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.

― William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

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Visit the moviewise catalogue—a searchable database of one sentence movie summaries, movie quotes, and movie wisdom—for movie recommendations.

Also visit the moviewise store. Get a t-shirt, bag, or pillow with your favorite #LifeLesson from a movie. Reply to this or leave a comment below to make a request.

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