Best Comedy Movies of 2026 So Far, Ranked: Top 6 — A Cannes Breakout Beats Pixar, a Shelved Coyote Movie and a McDonagh Farce

Louis Paxton's debut feature won the NEXT Innovator Award at Sundance, and it is the quietest, strangest film here. Domhnall Gleeson plays a man living alone on a tiny Scottish island whose peace is disturbed by a council eviction notice and the arrival of a new neighbour, with Gayle Rankin, Grant O'Rourke, Michelle Gomez and John Hannah in support. The poster's tagline says it all: Welcome to Ask Isle, population one too many.

Critics have embraced it warmly (95% on Rotten Tomatoes), though Metacritic's 62 shows a few holdouts who wanted more plot. It lands at the bottom of this list because its charm is gentler and its jokes smaller than the rest, but if you want a cosy, oddball British comedy this is the one to find. It reached UK cinemas on September 4, 2026. It is a slow burn rather than a laugh-a-minute, and the humour comes from deadpan Scottish understatement, small-town pettiness and Gleeson's gift for playing a man who is politely at war with the world. Our full take is in our Incomer review.

Pixar's first original of the year is a bright, quick-witted animated comedy directed by Daniel Chong. Piper Curda voices Mabel, an animal-loving college student who transfers her consciousness into a robotic beaver to talk to wildlife and save their habitat, and accidentally starts an animal uprising. Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy and Dave Franco round out the voice cast.

Rotten Tomatoes reports 94% of 234 reviews positive, and its consensus calls it possibly the funniest film in the Pixar canon. Audiences gave it an A CinemaScore, and it opened to $46.3 million in the US and Canada, the biggest start for an original Pixar film since Coco. It sits fifth only because the four films above it scored higher with us across the board. Its best sequences play the animal-world politics for pure comic invention, and the film earns its emotional beats without leaning on them. It is a family comedy that adults enjoy just as much.

Martin McDonagh reunites with his Seven Psychopaths star Sam Rockwell, who plays a CIA agent partnered with John Malkovich's Chris. In 1973, days before the Chilean coup, the pair are sent to Easter Island on an assignment that drags up their darkest pasts. Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Parker Posey also appear. Malkovich won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor when the film premiered in competition at Venice in September.

It is a black comedy with a political thriller at its core, and critics rate it 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and 78 on Metacritic, with an 8.1 on IMDb that is the second-highest of any film on this list. Searchlight released it widely on November 6. The jokes are mean and the dialogue is rhythmic, and it holds the number four slot on a tiebreaker with Hoppers because audiences have rated it higher. Expect a brisk 118 minutes, plenty of quotable insults, and a Rockwell and Malkovich double act that critics keep calling the best odd couple of the year.

The film that nearly never existed: Warner Bros. shelved the finished picture in 2023 as a tax write-off, then public backlash and a sale to Ketchup Entertainment brought it to cinemas in August 2026. Directed by Dave Green from a script by Samy Burch (story by James Gunn, Jeremy Slater and Burch), it mixes live action and animation as Wile E. Coyote hires a down-on-his-luck lawyer (Will Forte) to sue the Acme Corporation for its faulty products. Lana Condor and John Cena co-star.

Critics were nearly unanimous: 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, 77 on Metacritic and a 7.4 on IMDb. It works because it treats the old Looney Tunes slapstick with real affection while giving the coyote an actual case to argue. At 103 minutes it never overstays, and it is the easiest recommendation on this list for a mixed family audience.

Olivia Wilde directs and stars alongside Seth Rogen as a bickering married couple who host their new neighbours (Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton) for what should be a low-key dinner. It is an English-language remake of the Spanish film The People Upstairs, and A24 won a bidding war for it after its Sundance premiere. Over one evening, small talk curdles into a chamber piece about jealousy, desire and the long grind of marriage.

A 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 82 on Metacritic make it the most critically admired comedy of the summer, and the four-person cast is the reason. It gets the most out of Rogen's dry timing and Cruz's glamour, and it finishes in 107 minutes. It was released on June 26. The talk is quick, the staging is theatrical, and the final act pays off every grudge it sets up. Only one comedy this year beat it with both critics and audiences.

Jordan Firstman writes, directs and stars in his feature debut as Peter, a washed-up New York party promoter who is forced to raise his 10-year-old son, played by Reggie Absolom. Cara Delevingne, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Colleen Camp and Diego Calva are in the cast. It premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in May, where it was nominated for the Caméra d'Or and the Queer Palm, and A24 released it in the US on November 6.

The numbers are remarkable: 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 85 on Metacritic and an 8.2 on IMDb, the best set of scores of any comedy we have rated this year. It is a sweet, scrappy film that begins as a nightlife satire and ends as a surprisingly tender parenting story. That is why it takes first place with our FilmRated score of 90. Read the full Club Kid review for our verdict.