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Laughter truly is the best medicine, whether you’re actually under the weather or just gravitate toward parodies, romantic comedies or slapstick humor to melt away life’s stresses. Luckily, we have a prescription for some new comedy movies guaranteed to cure whatever ails you. Maybe classic family movies with a dash of humor are your jam? Or maybe you prefer the perfect combination of hysterical comedy and superhero action movie? No matter your preference, 2023 is chock-full of funny movies both in theaters and on streaming services, including the much-anticipated Barbie, You People and a Book Club sequel, as well as funny kids movies.
With so many good movies releasing this year, it’s hard to keep track of when and where to watch, so we’ve assembled the need-to-know info about some of the most anticipated comedy movies coming to theaters, as well as comedies on Netflix, Prime Video and other streaming services. Here are the new comedy movies you won’t want to miss in 2023.
House Party
via housepartymovie.com
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: Jan. 13, 2023
Starring: Tosin Cole, Jacob Latimore
House Party is a remake of the classic ’90s movie, which starred hip-hop duo Kid ‘n Play. In the new version, broke best friends and aspiring club promoters Damon (Cole) and Kevin (Latimore) need to make some money, and fast. After getting fired from their last gig as house cleaners, they decide to throw an exclusive party at a mansion they just cleaned, which belongs to NBA superstar LeBron James. James, who produced the film, makes an appearance, as do dozens of other celebs, including Snoop Dogg and Lil Wayne.
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Shotgun Wedding
Via Amazon.com
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
Release date: Jan. 27, 2023
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel
For years, Jennifer Lopez has owned a very specific film genre: rom-coms about marriage. From Marry Me and The Wedding Planner to Monster-in-Law, she’s played brides who have to deal with all sorts of shenanigans in the lead-up to their nuptials. Amazon Prime Video’s Shotgun Wedding adds “hijacked marriage ceremony” to that list. In the film, Lopez and Duhamel play a couple whose destination wedding gets hijacked by a group of pirates, and the families of the bride and groom are all taken hostage. What makes this film one of the biggest new comedy movies of the year is the incredible supporting cast, which includes Cheech Marin, D’Arcy Carden, Lenny Kravitz and recent Golden Globe winner Jennifer Coolidge.
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You People
Via Netflix.com
Where to watch: Netflix
Release date: Jan. 27, 2023
Starring: Jonah Hill, Lauren London, Eddie Murphy, David Duchovny, Nia Long, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
One of the most anticipated new comedies on Netflix is You People, written and directed by black-ish creator Kenya Barris. The stacked cast includes Hill (whose past flicks feature some of the most recited funny movie quotes of all time) and London. The two play an interracial couple navigating new love as well as family, cultural and racial dynamics. Their marriage plans are getting derailed by their respective families—Long and Murphy playing the role of protective parents over their headstrong Black daughter who’s dating a socially awkward white hipster, while Louis-Dreyfus and Duchovny play his woke Jewish parents.
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80 for Brady
Via 80forbrady.com
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: Feb. 3, 2023
Starring: Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda, Sally Field
Just in time for the Superbowl, 80 for Brady is a comedy about four longtime friends who share a common love for quarterback Tom Brady. Based on a true story, the film follows Hollywood royalty Tomlin, Moreno, Fonda and Field (legendary actresses in some of the most timeless, classic movies), who play New England Patriots fans who will go to any length and travel any distance just to see their hero play in the Superbowl. Brady himself, as well as his former teammate Rob Gronkowski, appear in the film.
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Your Place or Mine
Via Netflix.com
Where to watch: Netflix
Release date: Feb. 10, 2023
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Ashton Kutcher, Zoë Chao
If a patron saint of romantic comedy movies existed, Witherspoon might be it. In Your Place or Mine, she stars as Debbie, a single L.A. mom who decides to do a house swap with her longtime New Yorker best friend, Peter, played by that other rom-com mainstay Kutcher. While their lives are drastically different, there may be some lingering romantic feelings, and they may just find out that opposites really do attract. The film arrives just in time for Valentine’s Day.
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Magic Mike’s Last Dance
Via Magicmikeslastdancemovie.com
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: Feb. 10, 2023
Starring: Channing Tatum, Salma Hayak
Gird your loins! The final film in the Magic Mike comedy-drama franchise, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, will be out in February. The first Magic Mike film starred Tatum as a stripper named Mike Lane and was loosely based on the actor’s own experiences as a dancer in Florida. His resume runs the gamut (from slapstick comedies and action flicks to tearjerker films and dance movies), and Tatum will reprise his role for the third film, joined by Salma Hayek, Caitlin Gerard and Gavin Spokes. Director Steven Soderbergh, who helmed 2012’s Magic Mike but not its 2015 sequel, Magic Mike XXL, returns as director for this one.
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Cocaine Bear
Via Cocainebear.movie
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: Feb. 24, 2023
Starring: Ray Liotta, Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr.
Judging from the name alone, Cocaine Bear seems destined to become a cult classic, and we have high hopes for this one. It’s directed by Elizabeth Banks and based on a real story of a black bear that ingested too much cocaine. The film ran with the scary movie inspiration, turning the bear loose in a Georgia town where it terrorizes the locals and goes on a murderous rampage. The oddball cast of characters includes cops, criminals, tourists and teens—and Liotta’s final performance.
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Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Via Dc.com
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: March 17, 2023
Starring: Zachary Levi, Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, Grace Caroline Currey
Levi is back as Shazam, the superhero who doesn’t quite know what to do with his powers. In the new action comedy sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Levi’s character is the adult superhero alter-ego of Billy Batson, the teen who can transform into a superhero by saying the word “Shazam!” In the new film, Mirren, star of one of the best royal movies of all time, The Queen, trades in her crown to play the villainous demi-god Hespera, a daughter of Atlas. Liu and Rachel Zegler play her sisters, Kalypso and Anthea, who help Hespera wreak havoc.
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The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Via Thesupermariobros.movie
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: April 7, 2023
Starring: Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy
There have already been a few movies based on the video games, but The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the first of them to be rendered using computer animation. The movie stars Pratt as Mario, Day as his brother Luigi, Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach and Black as Bowser, the fire-breathing Koopa attempting to take over Mushroom Kingdom. Vying for its spot as one of the best animated movies of the year, it’s also chock-full of comedians rounding out the smaller roles, including Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen and Saturday Night Live alum Fred Armisen. It’s clear that there will be plenty of laughs as the plumbers-turned-heroes evade Koopalings and save the kingdom.
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Renfield
Via Renfieldmovie.com
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: April 14, 2023
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina
Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Menu) stars as Renfield, the loyal, tortured assistant to Dracula (Cage). After hundreds of years working for the bloodthirsty vampire, he’s ready to break away from the master he has served dutifully and live his own life. In Renfield, Cage is at his most over-the-top as Dracula, playing up the role of campy vamp for big laughs. With its thrills, jokes and adventure, it’s bound to be one of the best new comedies of the year.
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Via Marvel.com
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: May 5, 2023
Starring: Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Zoe Saldana
The Guardians of the Galaxy films are an amalgam of action, comedy and adventure, plus they can lay claim to having some of the best movie soundtracks of the past few years, thanks to the 1970s rock classics they feature. The third film in the series marks the return of Pratt as Star-Lord, Bautista as Drax, Gillan as Nebula and Saldana as Gamora (if you’ll recall, time travel brought Gamora back to life after Thanos sacrificed her in The Avengers: End Game). The films in this franchise are widely considered to be some of the funniest in the Marvel world, and while many of the plot points of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 remain under wraps, anything writer-director James Gunn makes is sure to have plenty of laughs.
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Strays
rd.com, Getty Images
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: June 9, 2023
Starring: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Will Forte, Isla Fisher
With a cast this humorous, there’s no doubt that Strays is going to be one of the best new comedies of 2023. With its R rating, the live-acton/CGI hybrid dog movie is decidedly not for kids. In it, an abandoned dog (voiced by Ferrell) teams up with a group of other dogs (including one voiced by Foxx) to get revenge on his former owner (played by Forte).
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Book Club: The Next Chapter
Via Focusfeatures.com
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: May 12, 2023
Starring: Mary Steenburgen, Candice Bergen, Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda
Book Club: The Next Chapter is one of the many sequels on our list of new comedies of the year, following the 2018 hit about older friends who rediscover the joys of sex after reading Fifty Shades of Grey (one of the most popular book-to-movie adaptations of the past decade). We couldn’t be more thrilled to watch the reunion of Steenburgen, Bergen, Keaton and Fonda, who take their book club to Italy for a European romp that soon goes off the rails. You can also expect to see Don Johnson, Andy Garcia and Craig T. Nelson on screen.
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Asteroid City
rd.com, Getty Images
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: June 16, 2023
Starring: Tom Hanks, Jason Schwartzman, Ed Norton, Tilda Swinton, Margot Robbie
Asteroid City is the latest film from director Wes Anderson, and it brings together one of the most impressive casts he has ever assembled. Billed as a romantic comedy-drama, it features Anderson’s longtime collaborators, including Schwartzman, Norton and Swinton, as well as Scarlett Johansson and Bryan Cranston. Set in 1955, Asteroid City follows a catastrophic event that occurs while a large group has gathered in the desert for a Junior Stargazers convention.
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Elemental
Via Disney.com
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: June 16, 2023
Starring: Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie
In the newest Disney Pixar film, Elemental, a fiery young woman named Ember (Lewis) befriends a fun, lighthearted guy named Wade (Athie). Although they’re quite literally opposites, they form a friendship that challenges each of their assumptions about the world. Many of Pixar’s films manage to combine humor and heart, teetering on the edge of comedy and a sad movie that pulls at the heartstrings, and Elemental definitely looks like it will span a full spectrum of emotions.
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Barbie the Movie
via mattel.com
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: July 21, 2023
Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling
There are plenty of things you never new about Barbie, the wildly popular doll. But luckily, you’ll no longer have to wonder which actress is best suited for the role. Director Greta Gerwig co-wrote the script for the new Barbie movie with her partner, director and screenwriter Noah Baumbach, and the hype for it has been pretty huge. The film stars Robbie as the title character and Gosling as Ken, but details about the plot are still thin. All you have to know is that it also co-stars Will Ferrell, Kate McKinnon and Issa Rae, and with a pedigree like that, it’s a shoo-in to be one of the year’s best new comedy movies.
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Trolls 3
rd.com, Getty Images
Where to watch: Netflix
Release date: Nov. 17, 2023
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake
If you’ve already watched all the best ’90s kids movies and you’re looking for a new family comedy, Poppy (Kendrick) and Branch (Timberlake) are back for yet another installment of the successful Trolls franchise. While it has yet to be announced who else will be joining the cast, Trolls 3, which is tentatively titled Trolls Band Together, sees Poppy and Branch going on an epic adventure along with some new friends.
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Haunted Mansion
Via Disneyparks.disney.go.com
Where to watch: In theaters
Release date: August 11, 2023
Starring: Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson
No, you’re not remembering wrong—there was already a Disney film called The Haunted Mansion, which came out in 2003 and starred Eddie Murphy. But this new Disney movie, Haunted Mansion, is a fresh take on the concept. The film stars Dawson as a woman who moves into a New Orleans mansion that’s full of spirits, along with her son. The film co-stars Wilson as a priest who tries to help exorcise the demons; LaKeith Stanfield as a paranormal expert; and Jared Leto and Jamie Lee Curtis as two of the ghosts who haunt the home. It’s the perfect movie to watch around Halloween, and Disney lovers will recognize Curtis’s character, Madame Leota, as the psychic whose face appears inside the crystal ball during the Haunted Mansion rides at Disney World and Disneyland.
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A Family Affair
via Netflix.com
Where to watch: Netflix
Release date: Nov. 17, 2023
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Joey King
In the upcoming romantic comedy A Family Affair, Joey King plays a young woman who unexpectedly and rather embarrassingly walks in on her mother (Kidman) and her former boss (Efron) during an intimate moment together. This obviously complicates things for all of them, and they spend the rest of the film dealing with the consequences. The movie is the second time Kidman and Efron have worked together; they also starred in the 2012 Lee Daniels film The Paperboy.
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Murder Mystery 2
rd.com, Getty Images
Where to watch: Netflix
Release date: 2023
Starring: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston
Sandler has turned in some of the best dramatic performances of his life in the past few years, with films like Uncut Gems and Hustle (the latter being one of the best Netflix movies of the year in 2022). But in Murder Mystery 2, he returns to his comedy roots, alongside Aniston. In the original, the pair played Nick and Audrey Spitz, a married couple who become unwittingly entangled in a murder investigation. Now, after deciding to lean into their new calling by opening a private investigation firm, their services are needed when a friend is kidnapped at his own wedding.
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Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Via Netflix.com
Where to watch: Netflix
Release date: 2023
Starring: Thandiwe Newton, Zachary Levi
It’s been more than 20 years since Chicken Run came out, and in that time, the film has become a beloved kids classic. The original stop-motion animated feature came out in 2000 and featured an all-star cast of British actors, including Imelda Staunton, Miranda Richardson and Julia Sawalha as a group of chickens inspired by an American rooster named Rocky (Mel Gibson) to escape their farm. In Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, the film’s original characters, Ginger and Rocky, are now played by Newton and Levi, and they’re joined by The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey and Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed for yet another fowl-filled adventure.
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