News & Opinion

The joyful visuality of Man vs Bee – and Mr. Bean reincarnated
The UK comic acts opposite a CGI bee, almost harkening back to the days of silent era physical comedy.


The top 20 comedy movies to watch on Netflix
An updated list of the very best in Netflix crackups.


Spotlight on Maya Rudolph: fearlessly funny and capable of heartfelt drama
The SNL alum will play an ultrarich divorcee in her newest Apple TV+ series—a sadly rare lead role.


Official trailer and NZ release date for the new season of What We Do in the Shadows
The crew are back and joined by a freakish baby-thing with a man-sized head.


How to watch Issa Rae and City Girls’ comedy series Rap Sh!t in Aotearoa
Issa Rae, star and co-creator of Insecure, produces the series with hip-hop duo City Girls.


God’s Favourite Idiot only allows Melissa McCarthy to use about half her talent
This comedy is unwilling to push Melissa McCarthy into where she’s best: the world of the jagged and imperfect.


Brutal British comedy genius Julia Davis tells us about subtitling Nude Tuesday
“I imagine it’s not going to be for everyone, my subtitles,” the brilliantly bleak comedian tells us.


Bawdy absurdist comedy Nude Tuesday is silly, raucous and sometimes surprisingly moving
“Where to start with Nude Tuesday? To say the film is audacious would be an understatement.”


Adam Sandler’s Hustle pairs gorgeously captured b-ball scenes with a taut, funny script
“Adam Sandler loves basketball and he loves making movies, so you quite simply will not believe what happens next.”


Retrospective: Tucker and Dale Vs Evil flips the horror script by making our preconceptions the villain
Death has a sense of humour in the 2011 horror comedy, where hillbilly murderer tropes get subverted.


How to Please a Woman finds comedy and drama in cleaning with benefits
Sally Phillips leads a new comedy as a wife on a journey of sexual and entrepreneurial self-discovery.


Retrospective: Sam Raimi’s playful, nasty, uncompromising horror Drag Me to Hell
There’s a sense that Raimi’s satisfying himself first, and the film is all the more awesome for it.


Jackie van Beek and Jemaine Clement bare it all in the Nude Tuesday trailer
Jackie van Beek, Damon Herriman, and Jemaine Clement bare it all for love in this nonsensical comedy.


Nicolas Cage plays Nicolas F**king Cage in the zestily entertaining The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Nic Cage meets his biggest fan and plays himself AND becomes a government agent in a film that’s catnip for Cage completists.


Russian Doll returns with a satisfyingly bonkers second season
Natasha Lyonne continues to be terrifyingly cool as she does the time warp again.


Win a double pass to The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
We have an unbearable weight of massive tickets to give away to the ultimate Nicolas Cage film.


Bullock and Tatum’s comedy talents make The Lost City worth a visit
The script isn’t especially clever, but who cares when you can watch leeches suck Tatum’s butt?


Is Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People stranger than fiction, or weirder than history?
Before he was President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky played the President in a comedy series that bizarrely pre-empted his political career.


Judd Apatow’s Netflix comedy The Bubble barely musters a handful of decent gags
“Releasing it on April Fool’s Day only added to the sense that I’d been had.”


After a long break, Atlanta takes just two eps to remind us why it’s one of the best
The first two episodes of season 3 do a great job of encapsulating Atlanta’s strengths.


Retrospective: You’re the Worst is the best comedy series you’ve probably never seen
The wonderfully acerbic show that flipped the rom-com on its head for five glorious seasons.


Human Resources is even more filthy, funny and thoughtful than Big Mouth
Meet a new gang of metaphysical sex beasts, including Hugh Jackman’s three-dicked angel. Yep.
