We might often think that movies based on true stories must be super-serious dramas and biopics, but that isn’t always the case. In fact, some of the greatest comedies of our time are either borrowed from a true story or start with the seed of an idea based on something that really happened. From romantic comedies to funny action movies to dramedies, plenty of hilarious movies started out with a real-life situation.
As they say, sometimes it’s funny because it’s true.
Let’s look at some of the best funny and true (or truthy) movies of the last 80 years or so, from the recent ones like Tag and The Big Sick to some real classics like Arsenic and Old Lace and Good Morning, Vietnam.
‘Tag’
The summer comedy Tag opened this weekend, with an all-star cast that includes Ed Helms, Isla Fisher, Jeremy Renner, Annabelle Wallis, John Hamm and Hannibal Buress. The movie, which is about a cross-country, no-holds-barred game of tag played by adults, sounds like a wacky plot line that could only be born in the heads of comedy writers. In reality, though, the story is based in truth: For almost 30 years, a group of 10 men from Spokane, Washington, have been tagging each other throughout their lives.
How wild is their ongoing game of tag? Someone even tagged someone else during their father's funeral. It's all in fun, though. The man's father loved that his son still played tag with his friends and would have gotten a huge kick out of it.
‘Masterminds’
Blockbuster movies about bank heists are usually high dramas, but 2016's Masterminds, starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson and Kristen Wiig, was a comedy about the second largest bank robbery in U.S. history (at the time). Based on the life and actions of David Ghantt, the story of Masterminds follows the driver of an armored car as he steals millions and then tries to get away with it — all while making some pretty hilarious mistakes along the way.
Unfortunately, both the real-life event and the movie flopped. Basically everyone involved in the crime was convicted and jailed, and the movie has a 34% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It didn't make nearly as much at the box office as Ghantt made in the movie.
’50 First Dates’
The plot of 50 First Dates seems totally unbelievable: A man (Adam Sandler) meets the girl of his dreams (Drew Barrymore), but he has trouble wooing her because she has a rare form of amnesia that makes it impossible for her to form new memories. It makes for a great plot for a romantic comedy, but could it be real?
While the storyline is fictional, Barrymore's character is based on a real person, Michelle Philpots of England, who has anterograde amnesia caused by two traumatic brain injuries. Philpots' memories end in 1994, the time of her car accident, and she relies on notes and her husband to function in a world where she cannot remember what's going on, sometimes less than a minute later.
‘Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates’
This 2016 film is actually based on, of all things, a real Craigslist ad. When two single brothers had to find dates for their sister's wedding, they took to the internet to find the perfect matches. But when their post went viral, they got in too deep as they tried to navigate through hordes of women — and the wedding, of course, was over the top.
The movie keeps the basic plot but otherwise strays pretty far from the true tale. Still, it's fun to watch Zac Efron and Adam Devine bro down in this comedic jaunt.
‘It Could Happen to You’
It Could Happen to You actually did happen to two people in real life. This 1994 film starring Nicholas Cage and Bridget Fonda is based on police officer Robert Cunningham and waitress Phyllis Penzo. The story is pretty magical: Cunningham was eating at a diner one day and asked the waitress to split a lottery ticket in lieu of a tip. Surprisingly, the ticket's a winner, and Cunningham and Penzo are both suddenly rich.
Like many of the other movies on this list, the truth stops at the premise. In real life, both Cunningham and Penzo are happily married to other people, and there was never any romance between them. They also spent their winnings differently. Instead of buying the restaurant where she worked, the real Penzo bought a house and a car and spent money on traveling to see family.
‘Good Morning, Vietnam’
Now we're going way back to one of the first comedies based on true stories: Good Morning, Vietnam. The 1987 comedy drama, Robin Williams' first major break into movies, was loosely based on the life of United States Air Force sergeant and radio personality Adrian Cronauer. Cronauer, portrayed by Williams in the wildly successful movie, is a radio DJ in Saigon in 1965. He uses his talents to keep the troops' morale up, even if it puts his career at risk with the higher-ups.
Beyond that, many of the events in the movie aren't true-to-life. For example, the bombing of the restaurant in the movie did happen, but Cronauer only saw it from afar. That doesn't mean we can't still love the film and appreciate the true story behind it.
‘Ed Wood’
Before The Disaster Artist was even a twinkle in anyone's eye, Ed Wood was lighting up the silver screen in 1994 with its own story of a Hollywood movie director who was less than awesome. As you might guess, this early Tim Burton flick focuses on the career of Ed Wood, a director during the height of corny monster movies in the 1950s. Shot as if to parody Wood's poor directing choices in every way (for starters, it's in black and white), this comedy-drama is one of the best offerings from both Burton and a young Johnny Depp.
‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind’
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is based on the "unauthorized autobiography" of Chuck Barris, a famous game show host and producer who claimed to also have been a CIA operative who killed more than 30 people during his work for the organization in the '60s and '70s. It doesn't sound like much of a comedy, but in 2002, director George Clooney made it into one, starring Sam Rockwell and Drew Barrymore.
The weirdest thing about this comedy/true story adaption? No one is really sure whether Barris is telling the truth, though many of his close friends think that what he wrote in his book really did happen.
‘The Big Sick’
One of the most successful romantic comedies of 2017, The Big Sick isn't just inspired by a true story, it's very close to the real thing — and it stars the real-life Kumail Nanjiani. The movie is about the comedian's experience falling in love with his now-wife, Emily V. Gordon, who is put into an induced coma after falling ill. Nanjiani and Gordon, who are now happy and successful in Hollywood, wrote the movie together. It even got a best original screenplay nomination at the Oscars.
‘The Disaster Artist’
Here's a comedy for you: It's a truth-based movie based on a truth-based book about a fictional movie. Got it? This 2017 film follows the making of The Room, widely considered one of the worst movies ever made. The story follows Tommy Wiseau (played by James Franco), who has a dream of making it in Hollywood. Oddball Wiseau writes, directs, produces and stars in his film, which is — you guessed it — a disaster from start to finish, and it lives on in perplexing infamy.
The Disaster Artist was released to critical acclaim and was nominated for best adapted screenplay at the Oscars. It also makes us laugh a lot.
‘Arsenic and Old Lace’
This comedy is absolutely not based on a funny story. Arsenic and Old Lace was originally a comedic play penned by Joseph Kesselring in 1939. It's about a drama teacher who finds out his aunts are actually murderers, and hilarity ensues. The story was adapted into a film starring Cary Grant in 1944 that was also a comedy.
But in real life, the story is much grimmer. It's based on serial killer Amy Archer-Gilligan, who murdered two husbands and an unknown number of residents at the retirement home she owned. Her method of killing? Poison, which she claimed she used to kill rats.
In the play and the movie, Archer-Gilligan was transformed into two women, the aunts, and the darkly humorous tone of the story made it a huge success.
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