Best Buddy Comedy Movies on Criterion Channel

Every buddy comedy movie streaming on Criterion Channel in the US right now — 23 films ranked by rating, checked against Criterion Channel’s live catalog.

Updated July 2026 · Availability refreshed from Criterion Channel US

1

Il Sorpasso (1962)

IMDb 8.2 Letterboxd 4.3 1h 45m

Directed by Dino Risi

✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe open-road dynamic perfectly captures how contrasting personalities—shy versus uninhibited—generate comedy through genuine collision rather than manufactured conflict.

Roberto, a shy law student in Rome, meets Bruno, a forty-year-old exuberant, capricious man, who takes him for a drive through the Roman and Tuscany countries in the summer. When their journey starts to blend into their daily lives though, the pair’s newfound friendship is tested.

2

Safety Last! (1923)

IMDb 8.1 🍅 97% Letterboxd 4.1 1h 13m

Directed by Fred C. Newmeyer

✦ MovieMuse AI takeSilent slapstick perfected the genre's physical comedy foundation; Keaton's deadpan vulnerability transforms stunt peril into relatable buddy tension.

When a store clerk organizes a contest to climb the outside of a tall building, circumstances force him to make the perilous climb himself.

3

Chungking Express (1994)

IMDb 7.9 🍅 89% Letterboxd 4.3 1h 43m

Directed by Wong Kar-Wai

✦ MovieMuse AI takeQuirky parallel narratives establish the buddy dynamic through romantic miscommunication rather than forced bonding—Wong Kar-wai's visual poetry deepens male camaraderie.

Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal server at a late-night restaurant.

4

Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)

IMDb 7.8 🍅 96% Letterboxd 4.0 1h 10m

Directed by Charles Reisner

✦ MovieMuse AI takeKeaton's physical comedy exploits the clash between refined manners and working-class brutality, making father-son antagonism the engine of slapstick invention.

The just-out-of-college, effete son of a no-nonsense steamboat captain comes to visit his father whom he's not seen since he was a child.

5

Nebraska (2013)

IMDb 7.7 🍅 90% Letterboxd 4.0 1h 55m

Directed by Alexander Payne

✦ MovieMuse AI takeBlack-and-white restraint amplifies the silent resentment between father and son, letting pauses do the comic heavy lifting.

An aging, booze-addled father takes a trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim what he believes to be a million-dollar sweepstakes prize.

6

Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947)

IMDb 7.7 🍅 100% Letterboxd 3.9 1h 12m

Directed by Yasujirō Ozu

✦ MovieMuse AI takeOzu's restraint transforms the reluctant-caretaker premise into something deeper: comedy emerges from understated cultural friction and emotional guardedness.

An errant salaryman's son gets lost until a man from the Tokyo tenements brings him to vendor Tane, who's reluctant to let the kid board.

7

A Dog's Life (1918)

IMDb 7.6 Letterboxd 3.8 0h 34m

Directed by Charlie Chaplin

✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe Tramp and dog bond transcends speech, establishing wordless comedic partnership as pure physical trust and survival-driven loyalty.

The Tramp and his dog companion struggle to survive in the inner city.

8

Withnail & I (1987)

IMDb 7.5 🍅 84% Letterboxd 4.0 1h 48m

Directed by Bruce Robinson

✦ MovieMuse AI takeWithnail's vicious wit constantly punctures Marwood's desperation; their codependent bickering defines British buddy comedy's acerbic, class-conscious formula.

Two out-of-work actors -- the anxious, luckless Marwood and his acerbic, alcoholic friend, Withnail -- spend their days drifting between their squalid flat, the unemployment office and the pub. When they take a holiday "by mistake" at the country house of Withnail's flamboyantly gay uncle, Monty, they encounter the unpleasant side of the English countryside: tedium, terrifying locals and torrential rain.

9

Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

IMDb 7.4 🍅 100% Letterboxd 3.9 1h 30m

Directed by Jim Jarmusch

✦ MovieMuse AI takeMinimalist dialogue and awkward silences create chemistry through emotional distance; indie buddy films prove connection requires no grand gestures.

New York layabout Willie forms an unexpected bond with his young Hungarian cousin Eva when she pays him a surprise visit. Later, Eva moves in with their aunt in Cleveland, and Willie takes his best friend Eddie to see her—a visit that culminates in a strange, eventful trip to Florida.

10

A Monkey in Winter (1962)

IMDb 7.4 Letterboxd 3.9 1h 45m

Directed by Henri Verneuil

✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe film mines buddy chemistry from moral temptation itself—one man's sobriety vow constantly tested by a charismatic enabler creates sustained comedic tension.

During World War II, an innkeeper vows to abstain from alcohol for the sake of his family. Years later, as they thrive in Normandy, his resolve is tested by a charming advertising professional who loves to drink.

11

We're No Angels (1955)

IMDb 7.4 Letterboxd 3.6 1h 46m

Directed by Michael Curtiz

✦ MovieMuse AI takeThree escaped convicts' unexpected decency toward a struggling family creates comedy through contrast between criminal appearance and authentic kindness.

Three convicts escape from prison on Devil's Island just before Christmas and arrive at a nearby French colonial town. They go to the store of the Ducotels, the only store that gives supplies on credit. They initially intend to take advantage of them but have a change of heart after they find the family is in financial troubles.

12

The Other Side of Hope (2017)

IMDb 7.2 🍅 92% Letterboxd 3.8 1h 41m

Directed by Aki Kaurismäki

✦ MovieMuse AI takeAki Kaurismäki's deadpan aesthetic finds absurdist humor in cross-cultural misunderstanding and the quiet dignity both men maintain despite everything.

A restaurateur befriends a Syrian refugee who has recently arrived in Finland.

13

Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)

IMDb 7.2 🍅 100% Letterboxd 3.7 1h 24m

Directed by Jean Renoir

✦ MovieMuse AI takeRenoir's anarchic tramp subverts bourgeois hospitality itself; the rescuer-rescued dynamic inverts into hilarious class chaos and social disruption.

Michel Simon gives one of the most memorable performances in screen history as Boudu, a Parisian tramp who takes a suicidal plunge into the Seine and is rescued by a well-to-do bookseller, Edouard Lestingois. The Lestingois family decides to take in the irrepressible bum, and he shows his gratitude by shaking the household to its foundations. With Boudu Saved from Drowning, legendary director Jean Renoir takes advantage of a host of Parisian locations and the anarchic charms of his lead actor to create an effervescent satire of the bourgeoisie.

14

School for Postmen (1946)

IMDb 7.2 Letterboxd 3.6 0h 16m

Directed by Jacques Tati

✦ MovieMuse AI takeTati's postman obsesses over productivity in ways that generate comedy from pure bureaucratic absurdity—the buddy is the system itself.

Jacques Tati plays a French postman adamant to prove he can be just as fast as American postmen at delivering mail.

15

Go West (1925)

IMDb 7.1 🍅 100% Letterboxd 3.7 1h 8m

Directed by Buster Keaton

✦ MovieMuse AI takeBuster Keaton's deadpan persistence through cattle-herding catastrophes creates comedy from one man's unwavering competence amid environmental pandemonium.

With little luck at keeping a job in the city a New Yorker tries work in the country and eventually finds his way leading a herd of cattle to the West Coast.

16

The Young Master (1980)

IMDb 7.0 Letterboxd 3.6 1h 47m

Directed by Jackie Chan

✦ MovieMuse AI takeChan's solo-hero narrative structure contrasts with genuine buddy moments, showing how one character's persistence can create partnership through circumstance.

Youthful martial arts master Lung is searching for his missing brother, when he is mistaken for a criminal on the run. He must prove his innocence by solving the case himself, while local lawmen and merciless mercenaries are hot on his trail.

17

Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989)

IMDb 7.0 🍅 100% Letterboxd 3.8 1h 19m

Directed by Aki Kaurismäki

✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe band-as-buddy-unit dynamic allows cross-cultural friction to explode through both language barriers and the absurdity of exporting Soviet rock.

The Leningrad Cowboys, a group of Siberian musicians, and their manager, travel to America seeking fame and fortune. As they cross the country, trying to get to a wedding in Mexico, they are followed by the village idiot, who wishes to join the band.

18

Repo Man (1984)

IMDb 6.8 🍅 93% Letterboxd 3.7 1h 32m

Directed by Alex Cox

✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe mentor-student friction between cynical repo man and idealistic punk generates dark comedy through generational culture clash and automotive absurdism.

A down and out young punk gets a job working with a seasoned repo man, but what awaits him in his new career is a series of outlandish adventures revolving around aliens, the CIA, and a most wanted '64 Chevy.

19

Maine-Ocean Express (1986)

IMDb 6.8 Letterboxd 3.8 2h 16m

Directed by Jacques Rozier

✦ MovieMuse AI takeTwo ticket inspectors' rigid professionalism collides with passenger chaos on a moving train—the confined space weaponizes their incompatibility.

"Maine-Ocean" is the name of a train that rides from Paris to Saint-Nazaire (near the ocean). In that train, Dejanira, a Brazilian, has a brush with the two ticket inspectors. Mimi, another traveler and also a lawyer, helps her. The four of them will meet together later and live a few shifted adventures with a strange-speaking sailor (Mimi's client).

20

The Rickshaw Man (1958)

1h 43m

Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki

✦ MovieMuse AI takeKinoshita grounds buddy comedy in post-war economic desperation, where helping others becomes both genuinely touching and subtly comedic.

A poor rickshaw driver finds himself helping a young woman and her son after the woman's husband dies suddenly.

21

My Lucky Stars (1985)

IMDb 6.3 Letterboxd 3.1 1h 36m

Directed by Sammo Hung Kam-Bo

✦ MovieMuse AI takeJackie Chan's physical brilliance transforms the cop-partnership formula into vehicular and architectural mayhem that transcends dialogue.

Two Hong Kong cops are sent to Tokyo to catch an ex-cop who stole a large amount of money in diamonds. After one is captured by the Ninja-gang protecting the rogue cop, the other one gets his old Orphanage gang, dubbed the "Five Lucky Stars," to help him. They don't like this much, but they do it.

22

We're No Angels (1989)

IMDb 6.1 🍅 48% Letterboxd 3.0 1h 46m

Directed by Neil Jordan

✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe priests disguise creates inherent dramatic irony—their criminal incompetence constantly threatens exposure, making every moment both suspenseful and farcical.

Two escaped cons' only prayer to escape is to pass themselves off as priests and pass by the police blockade at the border into the safety of Canada.

23

Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses (1994)

IMDb 5.6 Letterboxd 3.1 1h 34m

Directed by Aki Kaurismäki

✦ MovieMuse AI takeThe band returns home as failed celebrities; comedy emerges from their delusional persistence and the village's indifference to their supposed success.

After years of fame and misfortune in Mexico, the members of the Leningrad Cowboys decide to return to their native village. Their former manager Vladimir, who now calls himself Moses lead them on their way home.