Action comedy

Film and TV genre

Action comedy (often listed with a hyphen as action-comedy) is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy.

## Film

[edit]

AllMovie describes action comedy films as those with "fast and furious" action yet being "mostly lighthearted", rarely having death or serious injury.[1] The Script Lab wrote, "[The genre] relies on the characters to bring out the humor, while the action scenes tend to be less intense than in the traditional action movie."[2]

Action comedies often have "fish out of water" themes; for example, using a starring actor's celebrity to contrast the setting, such as how comedian and actor Eddie Murphy's "streetwise, sarcastic persona clashes with conventional police procedures in the Beverly Hills Cop films" in the late twentieth century.[3]

The 1926 film The General starring Buster Keaton may be the first action comedy film.[4] Other early forms of action comedy films were swashbuckler films from the 1930s. Allmovie wrote that its "stars combined wit and one-liners with a thrilling plot and daring stunts". In the 1980s, the genre became commonplace, and buddy cop films emerged as an extension of action comedy films such as Midnight Run (1988) and the Lethal Weapon film series.[1] Other action comedies from the decade included The Blues Brothers (1980) and the films of actor and martial artist Jackie Chan.[5]

In the 1990s, action comedy films "became more violent, with fiery deaths and emphatic shootings increasingly used as punchlines".[1] Rotten Tomatoes wrote that Rush Hour (1998) revitalized the genre's formula and that Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) was a highlight from the decade. In the first two decades of the 21st century, the films Kung Fu Hustle (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), Tropic Thunder (2008), 21 Jump Street (2012), and Bad Boys for Life (2020) were among numerous instances of the genre.[5]

List of action comedy films  Film  | Year  | Ref.

|
|

21 Jump Street | 2012 | [5]
22 Jump Street | 2014 | [5]
48 Hrs. | 1982 | [5]
American Made | 2017 | [5]
Ant-Man | 2015 | [5]
Ant-Man and the Wasp | 2018 | [5]
Bad Boys | 1995 | [6]
Bad Boys for Life | 2020 | [5]
Big Trouble in Little China | 1986 | [5]
Big Momma's House | 2000 | [6]
Beverly Hills Cop | 1984 | [5]
Birds of Prey | 2020 | [5]
Black Dynamite | 2009 | [5]
The Blues Brothers | 1980 | [5]
Deadpool | 2016 | [5]
Deadpool 2 | 2018 | [5]
Despicable Me 2 | 2013 | [5]
Drunken Master II | 1994 | [5]
Free Guy | 2021 | [5]
Game Night | 2018 | [5]
Get Smart | 2008 | [6]
The General | 1926 | [5]
The Gentlemen | 2019 | [5]
Guardians of the Galaxy | 2014 | [5]
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | 2017 | [5]
The Heat | 2013 | [6]
Hobbs & Shaw | 2019 | [7]
Hot Fuzz | 2007 | [5]
If Looks Could Kill | 1991 | [8]
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka | 1988 | [9]
The Interview | 2014 | [6]
Johnny English | 2003 | [6]
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle | 2017 | [6]
Keanu | 2016 | [5]
Kick-Ass | 2010 | [5]
Kingsman: The Secret Service | 2014 | [5]
Kingsman: The Golden Circle | 2014 | [5]
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang | 2005 | [5]
Kung Fu Hustle | 2004 | [5]
Lethal Weapon | 1987 | [5]
Lethal Weapon 2 | 1989 | [5]
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels | 1998 | [5]
Men in Black | 1997 | [5]
Midnight Run | 1988 | [5]
The Nice Guys | 2016 | [5]
The Other Guys | 2010 | [5]
The Paper Tigers | 2020 | [5]
Red | 2010 | [5]
Ride Along | 2014 | [6]
Romancing the Stone | 1984 | [5]
Rumble in the Bronx | 1995 | [5]
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World | 2010 | [5]
Shanghai Noon | 2000 | [5]
Shaolin Soccer | 2001 | [5]
Shaun of the Dead | 2004 | [6]
Shazam! | 2019 | [5]
Something Wild | 1986 | [5]
Spy | 2015 | [5]
The Suicide Squad | 2021 | [5]
Supercop | 1992 | [5]
Team America: World Police | 2004 | [5]
Thor: Ragnarok | 2017 | [5]
Three Kings | 1999 | [5]
Tropic Thunder | 2008 | [5]

## TV series

[edit]

* The A-Team (1983–1987)[10]
* Burn Notice (2007–2013)[11]
* Chuck (2007–2012)[12]
* Doom Patrol (2020–2022)[13]
* The Dukes of Hazzard (1979–1985)[10][14]
* Future Man (2017–2020)[15]
* Kidd Video (1984–1985)[14]
* Knight Rider (1982–1986)[10]
* Lethal Weapon (2016–2019)[15]
* Our Flag Means Death (2022)[16]
* Peacemaker (2022)[17]
* Remington Steele (1982–1987)[18]
* Rush Hour (2016)[19]
* Teenage Bounty Hunters (2020)[20]
* Ultra Violet & Black Scorpion (2022)[21]

## See also

[edit]

* Film portal

* History of film

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Staff. "Action >> Action Comedy". allmovie.com. Allmovie. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
2. ^ Buffam, Noelle (March 12, 2011). "Action". The Script Lab. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
3. ^ Gallagher, Mark (2006). "Restaging Heroic Masculinity". Action Figures: Men, Action Films, and Contemporary Adventure Narratives. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 163\. ISBN 978-1-4039-7723-6.
4. ^ St. James, Emily (December 9, 2009). "The General". The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb Vo, Alex (August 10, 2021). "The 50 Best Action-Comedy Movies, Ranked By Tomatometer". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Calderon, Jenna (September 28, 2020). "The Best Action Comedy Movies of All Time". Men's Health. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
7. ^ Cite error: The named reference `bbfc` was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
8. ^ Baldwin, Daniel (July 29, 2016). "From Grieco With Love: Remembering 'If Looks Could Kill'". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 27, 2023. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
9. ^ "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) - Keenen Ivory Wayans | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
10. ^ a b c Beard, Matthew (October 23, 2003). "'A-Team' is viewers' most-wanted oldie for prime-time revival". The Independent. Archived from the original on December 15, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
11. ^ Staff (March 14, 2010). "Action Comedy TV: Showrunner Matt Nix". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
12. ^ Proulx, Mike; Shepatin, Stacey (2012). Social TV: How Marketers Can Reach and Engage Audiences by Connecting Television to the Web, Social Media, and Mobile. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-23965-0.
13. ^ Butler, Karen (October 10, 2022). "Season 4 of 'Doom Patrol' to premiere on Dec. 8". upi.com. UPI. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
14. ^ a b Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-0374-6.
15. ^ a b "Action Comedy". hulu.com. Hulu. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
16. ^ Shachat, Sarah (March 12, 2022). "How 'Our Flag Means Death' Built a Realistic but Farcical Pirate Ship". IndieWire. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
17. ^ Truitt, Brian (January 13, 2022). "How HBO Max's 'Peacemaker' became a hair metal superhero spin on the ensemble comedy". USA Today. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
18. ^ Taylor, Larry (2018). "Nomads". John McTiernan: The Rise and Fall of an Action Movie Icon. McFarland. p. 17\. ISBN 978-1-4766-3233-9.
19. ^ Swift, Andy (September 30, 2014). "Rush Hour TV Series In the Works for CBS from Bill Lawrence, Brett Ratner". TVLine. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
20. ^ Nemetz, Dave (July 30, 2020). "Teenage Bounty Hunters Trailer: High School Girls Kick Ass After Class in Netflix's Edgy Action Comedy". TVLine. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
21. ^ "Breaking News - J.R. Villarreal Cast in Disney Channel's Superhero Action Comedy, Ultra Violet & Black Scorpion". www.thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved December 5, 2023.

## Further reading

[edit]

* King, Cynthia M. (2009). "Comedy in Action". In Kendrick, James (ed.). A Companion to the Action Film. Wiley. pp. 140–164. ISBN 978-1-119-10076-8.

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