10 great dark comedies

7. Swimming with Sharks (1994)
Dark premise: On the job misery is funny.
While critics often consider Robert Altman’s “The Player” the cream of the crop of this type of Hollywood insider film, this film presents a much more darkly humorous portrait of the inner workings of Hollywood. A young, inexperienced man named Guy (Frank Whaley) takes a job as a producer’s assistant for Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey). He quickly discovers that his boss is not only abusive, but revels in demeaning Guy at every opportunity. Director George Huang’s experience as a personal assistant obviously inspired the film.
Darkest/funniest/most twisted moment: During Guy’s first day, Buddy asks him for a packet of Sweet ‘n Low and Guy gives him Equal. Buddy rips Guy a new one, revealing just how difficult Guy’s professional life is about to become.
Best line: (Buddy to Guy) “You are nothing! If you were in my toilet I wouldn’t bother flushing it. My bathmat means more to me than you!”

6. Withnail & I (1987)
Dark premise: Alcoholism and unemployment are funny.
Though it’s more of a cult classic in Britain, those who love this film anywhere quote lines verbatim. The film follows the escapades of two unemployed actors at the end of the 1960s. With little to do, Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and Marwood (Paul McGann) decide to take a vacation at the country house of Withnail’s gay uncle, Monty (Richard Griffiths). There’s lots of drinking, drugs, self-pity and theatrical self-denial. Most of the film’s humor comes from the contrast between Withnail’s aristocratic sensibilities and the utter pathetic condition of his situation.
Darkest/funniest/most twisted moment: From the moment the two arrive in Monty’s cabin, they realize that they are entirely unprepared for the experience. Their panic hits its apex when Withnail, finally at wit’s end, confronts a local farmer and exclaims, “We’ve gone on holiday by mistake!”
Best line: “I don’t advise a haircut, man. All hairdressers are in the employment of the government. Hairs are your aerials. They pick up signals from the cosmos, and transmit them directly into the brain. This is the reason bald-headed men are uptight.”

5. Harold and Maude (1971)
Dark premise: An unorthodox relationship between a boy and a woman old enough to be his grandmother is funny.
Even if the relationship wasn’t between a teenage boy and a 79-year-old woman, the fact that they meet at a funeral because attending funerals is a hobby they both share would probably be enough to make it a dark comedy. Add to it that Harold (Bud Cort) is obsessed with suicide and regularly stages his own death and you have the basis for a very odd relationship. Maude (Ruth Gordon) is an artist who lives in a railroad car and spends her time freeing trees from the city and replanting them in the forest.
Darkest/funniest/most twisted moment: Harold’s suicide attempts are priceless, but none is better than the one where his mother, attempting to sign Harold up for a dating service, begins answering the questionnaire herself while Harold slowly loads a gun. As she asks and answers her own questions and does so oblivious to anything Harold is doing (or has done in his entire life), Harold first points the gun at her, then turns it on himself and fires, completing one of his most realistic stunts, though hardly getting any reaction from his self-absorbed mother.
Best line: “I would be remiss in my duty if I did not tell you that the idea of intercourse — the act of your firm, young body... commingling with... withered flesh... sagging breasts... and flabby buttocks... makes me want to vomit.”

4. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Dark premise: Murder is funny.
“Kind Hearts and Coronets” has achieved greatness because it combines an aristocratic sensibility both in tone and subject with the murder of an entire family. Because the D’Ascoyne family wronged his mother when she married outside her class, Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price), an unrecognized descendant, plots to kill the entire family so that he may ascend to Duke and inherit the family’s wealth. All the roles of the D’Ascoyne family been played by the brilliant Alec Guinness, who is better known to modern movie fans as Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Darkest/Funniest/Most Twisted Moment: When Lady Agatha D’Ascoyne goes up in a balloon, conveniently close to Louis’ residence, he pulls out a bow and arrow and shoots her down. Watching Guinness as Lady Agatha, hair waving in the wind as the balloon sails over London, is hysterical.
Best line: “The Reverend Lord Henry was not one of those new-fangled parsons who carry the principles of their vocation uncomfortably into private life.”

MORE FROM MOVIE OPINIONS

Test Pattern: Departed stars we still miss

Test Pattern: Departed stars we still miss Test Pattern: Ben Stiller’s second chance The baseball movie All-Stars Brendan Fraser: Invisible action hero Test Pattern: Cage fighting, $1 beer and ... Bruno! Test Pattern: 'WALL-E's' weight problem Movie characters we hate loving and love hating Test Pattern: Buying into Batman hype Test Pattern: Actors worth paying to see Test Pattern: Is Mike Myers the antifunny?   Add Movie opinions headlines to your news reader: