Comedy

Tom Hanks won raves for his Oscar nominated performance (1988, Best Actor) as a twelve year old boy trapped inside a thirty-year-old body in director Penny Marshall's winning comedy. At a carnival, young Josh Baskin (Hanks) wishes he was big - only to awake the next morning and discover he is! With the help of his friend Billy (Jared Rushton), Josh lands a job at a toy company. There, his inner wisdom enables him to successfully predict what children want to buy, making the awestruck, naïve Josh irresistible to a beautiful ladder climbing colleague (Elizabeth Perkins).

The 1988 sequel to one of the most successful movies of all time finds Eddie Murphy reprising his role as Detroit police detective Axel Foley, and once again playing a fish out of water as he tries to solve a series of heists in Beverly Hills that may be connected to the attempted murder of his friend, a Beverly Hills police captain (Ronny Cox). Constructed in a much flashier and faster-paced visual style than the first film, the song still remains the same as Foley tries to keep his job in Detroit while solving crimes for the Beverly Hills cops.

While its sequels were formulaic and safe, the first Beverly Hills Cop set out to explore some uncharted territory, and succeeded. A blend of violent action picture and sharp comedy, the film has an excellent director, Martin Brest (Scent of a Woman), who finds some original perspectives on stock scenes (highway chases, police rousts) and hits a gleeful note with Murphy while skewering L.A. culture. Good support from Judge Reinhold and John Ashton as local cops not used to doing things the Detroit way (Murphy's character hails from the Motor City).

This shaggy-dog fable barely drew fleas when it arrived in the winter of 1986. Now critics refer to it as a winning, offbeat classic. What took 'em so long? Probably the fact that director Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies) and screenwriter Ron Shelton (Bull Durham) were chasing something very elusive: a cockeyed, scatological look at delayed glory. Robin Williams plays Jack Dundee, a meek bank VP in Taft, California, who daily relives the humiliation of a bobbled pass in the game against Bakersfield.

Bestowing Jim Carrey with godlike powers is a ripe recipe for comedy, and Bruce Almighty delivers the laughs that Carrey's mainstream fans prefer. The high-concept premise finds Carrey playing Bruce Nolan, a frustrated Buffalo TV reporter, stuck doing puff-pieces while a lesser colleague (the hilarious Steven Carell) gets the anchor job he covets. Bruce demands an explanation from God, who pays him a visit (in the serene form of Morgan Freeman) and lets Bruce take over while he takes a brief vacation. What does a petty, angry guy do when he's God?

Could you spend $30 million dollars in 30 days and have nothing to show for it? Montgomery Brewster (Richard Prior) is a down-and-out baseball player who discovers that he's the only living relative of an eccentric multi-millionaire. Monty stands to inherit $300 million, but only if he can spend $30 million in a single month without acquiring any assets. If he fails, it's back to zero again. But he can't tell his best friend, catcher Spike Nolan (John Candy), or the accountant keeping track of his expense, Angela Drake (Lonette McKee), the truth… and everything he tries seems to backfire!

After I Spy and before The Cosby Show, Bill Cosby left his own inimitable mark on the arena of stand-up comedy in this live concert showcasing his down-to-earth observations on the rigors and joys of family life. Cosby, using only a microphone and a chair, discusses his take on raising kids and the illogical nature of children and the futility of trying to argue with a child that in the end may be smarter than you.

American Pie takes a hysterical look at the goal of four "unlucky in love" high school friends who make the ultimate pact: lose their virginity by prom night. As they try to manipulate their way into the...hearts of some of their classmates, their plans often backfire with hilarity. Follow the raging hormones of four teenage boys and their girls as they gear up for the most important night of their lives...the prom?

To the horror of prudes everywhere, American Pie 2 is even funnier than its popular predecessor, pushing the R rating with such unabashed ribaldry that you'll either be appalled or surprised by its defiant celebration of the young-adult male libido. Females will be equally shocked or delighted, because like American Pie this appealing, character-based comedy puts the women in control while offering a front-row view of horny guys in all their dubious glory.

Audiences and critics alike are raving about this larger-than-life rock 'n' roll favorite that Roger Ebert calls "one of the best movies of the year!" The guys of Stillwater have the sound, they have the look, and Rolling Stone magazine wants their story. For young reporter William Miller, it's the opportunity of a lifetime as he hits the road with his favorite band and discovers the price of fame, the value of family and the limits of friendship.