With Ride Along 2 hitting theaters this week, The Movie Mensch thought it was a good time to look back at the Hollywood institution that is the comedy sequel. What makes a good one? Does Ride Along 2 make the grade? Well, for that you will have to wait until our review of the Kevin Hart and Ice Cube movie goes live on January 15.
But for now, we present to you the comedy sequels that did their job exceedingly well, something that is so hard to do. If you think about it, there’s a finite amount of comedies that are beloved. So to achieve greatness twice with a sequel is almost a thankless task.
Well, thank goodness these films didn’t stop before they started, because they are our Top 10 Comedy Sequels of All Time.
10. Wayne’s World 2
Wayne’s World 2 did what most sequels are supposed to do, they upped the ante. The stakes were higher. The laughs were fresher and the stage, well, it was bigger.
It had to be, seeing Wayne and Garth were holding a festival concert in their hometown of Aurora, Illinois, known as Waynestock. It was great to see our favorite rock n’ roll fans meet their idols, including Steven Tyler from Aerosmith in a comedy sequel that was definitely “worthy.”
9. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
With spy movies being the butt of the jokes of the first Austin Powers, it seemed an easy fit to make a sequel for Mike Myers and his good and bad characters of the title character and Dr. Evil.
Spy movies, like James Bond, which Myers was lampooning the most, have been doing it for decades. This time out, he got American Heather Graham to be the love interest and he went back to the swinging ’60s, which allowed all sorts of humor to, um… rise.
8. Shanghai Knights
There was something truly magical about the chemistry of Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in Shanghai Noon. The question of whether that chemistry would translate in a sequel or simply be a lightning-in-a-bottle situation was answered with the arrival of the delightful Shanghai Knights.
Our favorite Old West duo headed to merry ole England in the second film in the series and did something that too many sequels forget to do — it kept it fun. Heck, that’s what we adored so much about the first film! It’s hard to resist the charm of Shanghai Knights and many a current comedy sequel should learn from that.
7. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
It may have taken years to give fans of Anchorman the sequel they had been longing for, but Adam McKay and Will Ferrell once again joined forces and had us laughing at the most clueless, yet determined, news anchor seen in cinema with Anchorman 2.
Where the first film was a clear parody of the changing landscape of local news with female anchors gaining ground and proving themselves in the previously male dominated world, the sequel took the action to New York City and found our most hilarious news team trying their hand at cable news. McKay’s pointed hilarity tackled the 24 hour news cycle and how that would eventually influence our society as a whole. See, shades of his ability to enlighten and entertain (a la The Big Short) were evident even in this comedy follow-up.
6. Muppets Most Wanted
The Muppets didn’t set fire to the box office like Jason Segel and company hoped, but that was no reason to shy away from a sequel! Kermit and the gang came back and this time, brilliantly, filmmakers created a doppelganger for our favorite It Ain’t Easy Being Green singer who is an international criminal of the highest order.
Kermit is mistaken for said criminal, the baddie takes over The Muppets’ traveling tour in order to accomplish his criminal dreams and audiences have a sequel to the first reboot that, dare we say, is much better than the first. Adding Ricky Gervais to the cast was just one example of how the brilliance factor went up in the second modern Muppets film.
5. Addams Family Values
Speaking of comedy sequels that were better than the first, Addams Family Values was leagues better and much more focused than The Addams Family.
Addams Family Values felt wildly original and truly took on how adding a new member to the family, any family – but especially a supernaturally haunted family like the Addams – is ripe for comedy, societal commentary and character growth. Those were all things slightly or wholeheartedly missing from the original.
4. Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
Dude! Bill & Ted came back and even brought Death himself along for the ride and not only traveled through time, but through space as well. Station!
Evil robot versions of our clueless heroes! An epic battle of the bands! Sounds like all the sequel up the ante boxes were checked, and what made the film terrific is, believe it or not, it stands the test of time. That is not something that can be said for all comedies, sequels or otherwise.
3. Get Him to the Greek
I know what you’re thinking… “Is Get Him to the Greek technically a sequel?” Why yes, yes it is. In fact, it follows the same character Russell Brand played in Forgetting Sarah Marshall in a follow-up film. There you have it – it’s a sequel!
We adore Brand, and especially with him getting a whole movie as Aldous Snow instead of playing a small part (like in Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Get Him to the Greek already has to be considered for this list. Toss in his comedic chemistry with straight man Jonah Hill (soon to be seen in Hail, Caesar!) and Get Him to the Greek has us laughing out loud throughout. What else is fantastic about Get Him to the Greek is Rose Byrne. She announces herself to the world with her role as Jackie Q and her music videos alone are worth the price of admission.
2. 22 Jump Street
22 Jump Street did something truly fabulous with its comedy sequel. It made fun of sequels as a Hollywood entity. And by so doing, it laid out the groundwork for what makes a good sequel and then took it to a whole new level.
Heck, they even did a bit at the end of the film where they named all the potential sequels to 22 Jump Street – all the way to a reboot! Bloody brilliant.
1. A Shot in the Dark
A Shot in the Dark is truly the film that made Peter Sellers Jacques Clouseau. Sure, he played the role of the clueless detective in The Pink Panther, but A Shot in the Dark was truly a Clouseau solo movie and as such, the brilliance of Sellers was on full display.
There is no better comedy sequel in history, and frankly, we cannot think of how one could ever achieve the greatness that is the instant classic A Shot in the Dark.