Friday, September 23, 2011

Fast Five Friday: Funny Women

For last week's Fast Five, I chose my favorite comedies. It was pointed out, and fairly I think, that my choices are male-centric. I have written about my own bias before, particularly as it applies to my reading habits. I am not about to argue that my taste in comedy is devoid of bias. It is unintentional, but it's hard to deny it's there. The stuff that makes me laugh, makes me laugh, what can I say. That being said, there are many hilarious women in movies these days, so this week's FFF is for the ladies.

5) Kristen Wiig: The only reason I have Wiig at #5 is because I haven't seen Bridesmaids yet. Not because I don't want to. Meg and I prefer to watch most movies at home these days, so we decided to wait. We're going to watch it tomorrow night, and I have no doubt I'll love it. With the success of Bridesmaids, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of Wiig on the big screen. She's probably my favorite SNL player of all-time, so I look forward to many more funny movies from her.

4) Holly Hunter: I loved Hunter in Broadcast News, and of course, Raising Arizona. I love movies about families, usually dysfunctional, coming together for holiday hijinks. Hunter stars in one of the very best, Jodie Foster's Home for the Holidays. Hunter is understated and hilarious.

3) Jane Lynch: So far Lynch has been relegated to fairly small roles in the movies. No matter how small the role, she always manages to steal the show. She is hilarious in Role Models and Talledega Nights, and mind-numbingly funny in 40-Year-Old Virgin. With the success of Glee (which I've never watched), I'm hoping to see Lynch in bigger roles in the movies. By the way, you really might want to google her and Bill Maher reading Anthony Wiener's emails.

2) Frances McDormand: McDormand is married to one of the Coen brothers, and she's been in many of their movies. She's always great, but her crowning glory is Fargo. Marge Gunderson is one of the great female characters, period. Minnesotans will try to tell you the accent is exaggerated, but I lived in Minnesota for 8 years, and let me tell ya, she nailed it.

1) Tina Fey: I thoroughly enjoyed both of Fey's major star turns in Baby Mama and Date Night. She wrote the screenplay for Mean Girls, a wickedly funny take on the modern female high school experience. I know Fey has the whole 30 Rock thing going, but I really hope she keeps cranking out the movies.

There you have it, five seriously funny women. As always, let me know what you think of the choices, and let us know which women and movies tickle your funny bone.

8 comments:

  1. I like all you picks but I will say while I find all of those ladies funny and the movies you mentioned likewise...funny, funny, funny. My all time favorite was Fargo. Maybe it was the time and the place but I lived in Nebraska when that movie came out and some of our friends were from Fargo and Bismark. It was even funnier because we all recognized location shots in the movie. Marge Gunderson's deadpan character was hysterical.

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  2. Be prepared to move Kristen Wiig up on your list after tomorrow night ... Jane Lynch is HILARIOUS ... did you see Best in Show???

    Tina Fey is a well-deserved #1 ...

    Best;
    PMT

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  3. Great choices. I'd put Jane Lynch at the top of my list. She's fabulous!

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  4. Cheryl: Agreed, Marge rules.

    PM: You're absolutely right, she's great in Best in Show.

    Mary: She's hosting awards shows, she's on TV, she's in the movies, this is definitely her time.

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  5. Great list. I might add Leslie Mann too.

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  6. Agree with you on Frances McDormand - she was hilarious in Fargo. I first remember seeing her in Darkman and she was quite pretty as well.

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  7. Great list. I agree with you. I also like Tina Fey.

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