Favourite Flops: Comedy

A while ago,  looked at some of the greatest musical flops. Now it’s time for the comedy genre. These films may not be masterpieces and have all lost out at the box office – but they’re great fun!

A Bunch of Amateurs
Budget: Smaaaaaaall
Gross: Smaaaaaaall

Burt Reynolds stars as a fading Hollywood star who unwittingly takes the lead role in a small English village’s production of King Lear. The film received an extremely limited cinematic run in the UK, but was chosen for 2008’s Royal Performance. It’s extremely low-key but very entertaining with an excellent cast of  British thesps including Sir Derek Jacobi, Imelda Staunton and Samantha Bond. It’s wonderful to see a more comic side to these stars and Burt Reynolds is excellent as the A-Lister taken out of his comfort zone.

MacGruber
Budget: $10 Million
Gross: $9 Million

Now slightly more in your face than the previous entry, MacGruber is the first feature film (and most likely the    only) of the popular SNL character of the same name. The homages to 80s action/adventure TV combined with some crude humour and a hilarious cast (featuring Will Forte, Kristin Wiig, Powers Boothe, Val Kilmer and Ryan Phillippe). There’s also some disturbing sexual encounters with MacGruber’s dead wife.

The Producers (2005)
Budget: $45 Million
Gross: $39 Million


I love the original 1968 Mel Brooks film but this is just as good. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick make some of the lines from the original film feel completely new, in this camp musical masterpiece. The musical numbers are excellent including ‘We Can Do It’, ‘Keep it Gay’ and ”Springtime For Hitler’ and it’s a wonderful chance for people who missed the stage musical to embrace it.

Man of the House
Budget: $40 Million
Gross: $19 Million


Tommy Lee Jones + Cheerleaders = Yes Please. This is such a bizarre film – Tommy Lee Jones plays his traditional role but seems to have been transported into a low-grade comedy. I’ve not watched it in about five years but I remember being incredibly amused at this trashy nonsense.

The Out-of-Towners (1999)
Budget: $75 Million
Gross: $52 Million

Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn are one of my favourite all time comedy pairings. They’ve given us the fabulous HouseSitter and in my opinion, the superior The Out-of-Towners. This remake follows a couple facing a day of horrendous bad luck in New York City. Both stars have great chemistry and I really wish they’d pair up again. You also get to see John Cleese in drag dancing to Donna Summer’s Bad Girls.

A Dirty Shame
Budget: $15 Million
Gross: $2 Million

It pains me to type these figures out – A Dirty Shame is an entertaining film and should really only be for John Waters fans – it’s not for the mainstream (which you can clearly see from the plot – It follows a town of people becoming sex addicts). It’s fabulous John Waters with fun performances from regulars Ricki Lake, Mink Stole, Patricia Hearst etc. who are joined by newbies Johnny Knoxville, Tracey Ullman and Selma Blair. Also A  Dirty Shame is one of the few films to discuss bears and everyone should know about bears. Click here for the bear necessities. 

Town and Country
Budget: $90 Million
Gross: $6 Million

I have no idea why Town and Country flopped so miserably at the BO. It’s a fun film with a strong cast. And contains one of Charlton Heston’s greatest performances – click here to see.

My Fellow Americans
Budget: $22 Million
Gross: $20 Million

Anything Jack Lemmon does is okay in my book. Here we see two rival Presidential Candidates framed by the current President and go on the run after being hunted down by the CIA. Fans of the Lemmon/Matthau collaborations will enjoy this and it sticks to pretty much the same formula. James Garner is a good replacement for Walter Matthau and has great on screen chemistry with Lemmon.

Dracula: Dead and Loving It/ 2001: A Space Travesty/ Wrongfully Accused
Budgets: Various Amounts
Gross: All low.

Leslie Nielsen is awesome, that is why these should be seen.