It’s Official - Movie Comedies Are DEAD

The fact that comedy can't be consistently relied upon to deliver sizable office hits has left the genre feeling more stale and afraid of risk than ever before. 

For the few comedies that are actually still being sent to cinemas, they either need to be tethered to another genre or they have to play as broadly and as inoffensively as possible, ensuring they can appeal to the largest audience imaginable.

The result is more often than not bland fare like Anyone But You, while more adventurous, out-there comedies - including the recent likes of Bros, Bottoms, and Joy Ride - get a cursory, poorly marketed theatrical release before being swiftly kicked onto streaming.

As for truly edgy, boundary-pushing comedies? Forget about it. It's tough to imagine films like Heathers, Happiness, or even American Pie getting greenlit today, and even if they did, they'd almost certainly get unceremoniously dumped on a streaming platform.

While the 80s, 90s, and 00s delivered so many classic comedies that captured a slice of the cultural zeitgeist, there's a depressing lack of it these days, because studios are generally afraid to bankroll anything beyond the most personality-devoid, basic assembly genre offerings.