5 Comedy Movie Remakes That Were Actually Great (& 5 That Just Didn’t Work)

The film industry is filled with sequels and remakes and has been for a long time with no sign of slowing down. Successful comedies have been targeted to be remade to try to find some nostalgia in the enjoyable work while also attempting to update and make the work more modern than it once was.

Remakes are typically looked down upon as it rehashes an already successful work, in most cases, instead of coming up with something new. Even though the remake genre might be thought of as less than, there are some comedy remakes that have taken the original concept and brought new life into the story.

10 Great: Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2017)

This remake and reboot of the original 1995 film starring Robin Williams surprised audiences by keeping the same comedic tone to the adventure while also introducing some new twists.

The original saw the Jumanji board game come to life in their own world, while the 2017 remake saw the four teenagers be sucked into a Jumanji video game and inhabit the character avatars of the game portrayed by Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black.

9 Didn’t Work: Overboard (2018)

This remake of the 1987 film of the same name flips the script and has Eugenio Derbez be the uber-rich amnesiac while Anna Faris takes advantage of him, instead of Kurt Russell taking advantage of Goldie Hawn.

The premise is still creepy despite the roles being switched, and while Russell and Hawn had chemistry and succeeded in giving the plot a comedic tone, Derbez and Faris aren’t successful compared to the original.

8 Great: The Birdcage (1996)

The Birdcage is a remake of a French film from 1978 called La Cage aux Folles meaning the crazy cage in English. Both versions of this comedy were a success, with the remake boasting a 7.1 rating on IMDb and the original with a 7.3 rating.

The plots of both films are pretty similar and the American remake sees Robin Williams and Nathan Lane star with hilarious chemistry between the two.

7 Didn’t Work: Dark Shadows (2012)

Dark Shadows attempted to remake the soap opera show of the same name that ran during the 1960s.

The remake chooses the film genre and tries to bring a more comedic element to the story of a vampire reawakening two centuries later, but the film fails to deliver on laughs and is one of the least successful collaborations between Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.

6 Great: Little Shop Of Horrors (1986)

This iconic comedic horror musical is based on a 1960 film that has a similar plot, but it did not have the musical focus and talents of the Broadway musical and 1986 film.

The 1960s film is a campy and fun horror-comedy and the 1980s film, which has a remake of its own in the works, was a successful and iconic musical that took its plot of a man-eating plant wreaking havoc on a flower shop employee from the original.

5 Didn’t Work: Guess Who (2005)

Guess Who is based on the 1967 film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and the remake is completely devoid of the comedy and messages of the original. The original starred Katharine Houghton as a white woman about to marry a black doctor (Sidney Poitier) and the two are meeting her parents portrayed by Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.

The parents of both have to reckon with their own prejudices of the interracial marriage of their children. The remake instead goes for observational racial humor without any of the depth of the original.

4 Great: 21 Jump Street (2012)

21 Jump Street is a film remake of the 1980s show starring Johnny Depp. The original show had funny moments throughout, but it was more of a serious and dramatic show while the remake, and its equally successful sequel 22 Jump Street, went with a more comedic approach.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum star as two police officers who go undercover as high school students to try to find dealers of a dangerous drug being spread across the campus. The surprising chemistry between the two leads makes the film a hilarious success.

3 Didn’t Work: The Pink Panther (2006)

The original animated comedy and the 1963 film starring Peter Sellers is a witty and fun comedy about a bumbling detective trying his best to solve crimes.

The remake, on the other hand, focuses more on slapstick comedy and jokes about Steve Martin’s French accent that never really bring the laughs and is more of a common denominator children’s movie than an elevated comedy.

2 Great: Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

This comedic heist is a remake of the 1960 film of the same name that starred the Rat Pack musical group including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Dean Martin.

The original was a fun romp that saw the musicians pal around Vegas and all sing throughout, but the remake is just as good with its star-studded cast, including George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt, and stylish and comedic approach.

1 Didn’t Work: Dinner For Schmucks (2010)

Dinner for Schmucks, despite the comedic talents of Paul Rudd and Steve Carell, fails as a witty comedy and instead relies on mean humor. The film sees a group of corporate employees have a dinner and invite the weirdest people they can find and proceed to bully them.

The original French film The Dinner Game had a very similar plot but was more successful as a comedy and less mean-spirited.

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