10 Best ‘90s Comedies, Ranked By Box Office
By Published May 4, 2026, 6:31 PM EDT Dalton is a freelance writer, novelist, and filmmaker from Orlando Florida. He currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and pursues writing full-time. He is an avid reader, film buff, and amateur historian who also publishes novels on the side. Dalton graduated from the University of Central Florida with a BFA in Film and he often applies his industry-specific knowledge when writing about film and television. Along with his blog, Dalton's critical essays on film have been published in various places online. Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap
The 1990s was a golden age for movies, but how do the funniest flicks of the '90s stack up in terms of box office gross? Many of the greatest comedies of all time came out between 1990 and 1999, and the genre exploded in variety and popularity thanks to an influx of independent films and the proliferation of video stores.
Instead of a comedy monoculture, the 1990s offered so many humorous choices for moviegoers. Nevertheless, many of the most successful films of the period were comedies. Huge stars like Jim Carrey and Robin Williams pumped out hit after hit, and box office grosses shot through the roof. Meanwhile, some films pulled in less money from theaters but were smash-hits on tape.
Mainstream Hollywood produced most of the defining comedies of the '90s, but other definitive films . Indie films perfectly captured the disaffected attitude of 1990s youth culture, and had their finger on the pulse of the era. Whether on a large or small scale, comedy was the thing during the '90s.
This is a list of the best comedy movies of the 1990s, but they aren't ranked based on quality or laughs. Instead, this list sorts them based on their box office gross. It doesn't take into account video rentals or sales, and a movie's position on the list isn't a critique of its overall quality. Many '90s classics were box office bombs, thus they'll fall to the bottom of the list. Regardless, these 10 comedies still deliver laughs well into the 2020s.
10 Waiting For Guffman (1996) - $2.9 Million
Though all of Christopher Guest's mockumentary movies are now considered comedy classics, Waiting for Guffman was not a box office success. The denizens of a small Missouri town prepare a musical to honor their history, and they pin their hopes and dreams on the performance. With a largely improvised script, each awkward moment is hilariously real.
The mockumentary format is put to perfect use, and the characters are all slightly exaggerated versions of small town archetypes. The movie made less than its $4 million production budget, thus making it a certified bomb. However, it is widely celebrated as some of the best work from the late Catherine O'Hara as well as the rest of the brilliant ensemble cast.
9 Clerks (1994) - $3.3 Million
The box office performance of Clerks doesn't tell the whole story, and Kevin Smith's legendary indie flick found great success on home video too. spends the day working at a convenience store, meeting weird customers and finding ways to avoid his responsibilities. Shot on a less-than-shoestring budget, Clerks gets by on its irreverent humor and abundant heart.
What Smith found in his lens is the ultimate summation of the Gen X experience. Every line of dialogue is dripping with cynical sarcasm, and the aimlessness of the characters makes for some truly hilarious moments. Even after a $200 thousand investment from Miramax, Clerks' meager $3.3 million box office gross means it made a considerable amount of money.
8 Office Space (1999) - $10 Million
In mainstream '90s culture, an office job was a fate worse than death, and Office Space perfectly encapsulates that attitude about work culture. A botched hypnotism causes a disaffected office worker to forget all his cares, and it leads to unexpected success. The film was written and directed by Mike Judge, whose other works include Beavis and Butt-Head and Idiocracy.
Even decades later, the film is still a funny source of laughs for modern workers stuck in a similar predicament. Though the details have changed, the ideas behind Office Space remain just as important today. Theatrically, the movie was a box office bomb, but it made up for it on home video. Money aside, Office Space left an indelible mark on popular culture, something few movies can claim.
7 Rushmore (1998) - $17 Million
Wes Anderson's second feature film is arguably where he came into his own, and Rushmore is the funniest film in . A precocious boarding school student quibbles with his newfound friend, a lonely industrialist, when they both vie for the attention of a teacher. Rushmore has just the right amount of quirkiness to strike a fine balance.
It's stylish and slick, but also feels down-to-earth. All the characters are relatable in their own way, and there is a small tear in every laugh. Rushmore is one of the best '90s comedies because it is one of the best movies of the decade, regardless of its genre. It never got a huge theatrical release, so its $17 million box office probably wasn't enough to cover its costs when additional expenses are considered.
6 Friday (1995) - $28 Million
Made for a measly $3 million, Friday was a bona fide box office smash when it released in 1995. Craig has just been fired from his job on the same day his rent is due, and he runs across all the crazy characters in his neighborhood over the course of one day. Friday is a direct counter to the bleak "hood" movies of the '90s, and shows another side of urban life.
Ice Cube and Chris Tucker are a match made in comedy heaven, and the film's leisurely pace makes it a perfect movie to watch over and over again. Black comedy was on the rise in the '90s mainstream, and films like Friday are a big reason why. Since then, it has taken its place among the '90s classics, and is still quoted to this day. It's box office success led to sequels as well.
5 The Big Lebowski (1998) - $48 Million
The Big Lebowski isn't just a quintessential '90s comedy, but one of . When a slacker is mistaken for a wealthy businessman, he goes to great lengths to recover his stolen property. The brilliance of the Coen brothers film is that it deftly spoofs the detective stories of the past, but replaces hard-boiled gumshoes with an aging hippie and his weird bowling buddies.
A cult has sprung up around the box office disappointment, and the film has far outgrown its $48 million theatrical gross. Nearly every moment is quotable, and it's the perfect melding of strong cinema with even stronger laughs. Every rewatch uncovers something new to laugh at, and The Big Lebowski is a richly layered comedy experience.
4 My Cousin Vinny (1992) - $64 Million
It made a ton of money at the box office and even won an Oscar, but that isn't why My Cousin Vinny is still so beloved today. When two big city youths get arrested in the rural South for a crime they didn't commit, they call on an unseasoned attorney to help them out. The clash of cultures is where most of the humor derives from, but it's also a hilarious character study.
Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei steal the show, and their scenes together help cement the movie as a classic. The fact that it's mostly accurate to the legal process makes it ever funnier, especially since most movies don't bother. It's near the top of the small courtroom comedy subgenre, largely because it's so much more than a silly procedural.
3 Groundhog Day (1993) - $71 Million
There are a handful of '90s comedies that transcend the genre, and Groundhog Day is near the top of that exclusive list. A cranky weatherman finds himself where he must repeat the same day over and over while improving himself each time. Bill Murray was born to play the lead role, and the film's abundant dramedy shows off the best of what he can do as an actor.
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Instead of merely playing its concept just for laughs, Groundhog Day is surprisingly heartfelt. This makes the comedy and romance even more rewarding, and it's a well-rounded piece of cinema. It's $71 million makes it a modest success at the box office, though its reputation has grown much larger than its financial hits and misses.
2 Wayne's World (1992) - $183 Million
Successfully jumping from an SNL sketch to the big screen, Wayne's World is a comedy that only works because it came out in the 1990s. Wayne and Garth host a popular public access TV show, and when a producer wants to take them to the big time, they must fight to save their show. Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey reprise their roles from the original sketch.
With its cutaway gags and absurd sense of humor, Wayne's World uses an all-of-the-above approach to its comedy. The intersection of television, music, and popular culture perfectly embodies the zeitgeist of the decade, and it has an intentionally low-brow mentality. Grossing nearly $200 million, Wayne's World cracked the box office top-10 for 1992.
1 Dumb And Dumber (1994) - $247 Million
Dumb and Dumber dares to be stupid, and in its own way, is a brilliant piece of satire. Harry and Lloyd are two dim-witted friends who travel to Colorado to return a suitcase full of money, unaware that it's connected to crime. The laughs come from just how poorly the lovable pair understand their surroundings and what's happening to them.
Making nearly $250 million, Dumb and Dumber continued Jim Carrey's amazing stretch of box office success. The appeal of the film is its low-brow antics, but there's also a clever wink and nod from the filmmakers. It subtly spoofs the very obvious shift toward anti-intellectualism in mainstream culture. Putting that aside, Dumb and Dumber is simply one funny comedy.
Sources: The Guardian, Box Office Mojo
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