Just because a movie has laughs doesn’t mean it’salllaughs. A good movie needs a memorable antagonist, and there are some comedic films out there really swing for the fences when it comes to villainy. Of course, this ends up making their inevitable comeuppance all the more satisfying.
From Steven Spielberg-produced classics to modern political satires, these are the comedies that feature a villain who could be called intense on a good day. They don’t necessarily have to bejustcomedies, some are genre-blenders, but all of these movies have an antagonist that’s intimidating to both children and adults.
10Mama Fratelli in The Goonies (1985)
Richard Donner’sThe Gooniesis one of the most Steven Spielberg movies to not actually be directed by Spielberg, though it did have the blockbuster master in a producer role. And, like the shady government figures inE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the trifecta of Jake, Francis, and Mama Fratelli are intimidating regardless of the viewer’s age.
For one, Joe Pantoliano and Robert Davi are great with villainous roles, e.g. Pantoliano inThe Matrixand Davi inLicence to Kill, and their work inThe Gooniesis no exception. But it’s Anne Ramsey who steals the show as the matriarch of the criminal family. They’re not very nice people, but they sure are perfect villains for a treasure-hunting movie.
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9Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
A pioneer inmixing animation with live action, Robert Zemeckis’Who Framed Roger Rabbitis a classic with multi-demographic appeal. It also features Christopher Lloyd in his best role outside ofBack to the FutureorTaxi.
Judge Doom is the most feared presence in Toontown, especially by the murder-accused Roger Rabbit, and it turns out the reason he wants the titular character so badly isn’t to dish out justice and earn his paycheck. Instead, not only is Doom himself the man behind the murder, he’s no man at all. Instead, he’s a Toon, and this reveal scene could very well hold the title for scariest in a family-skewing film. With a screeching voice and shoes that let him hop across a room, the Toon beneath Judge Doom is the giddy type of evil.
8Beetlejuice in Beetlejuice (1988)
If ever there were a Tim Burton film that felt like a snapshot of his brain, it’sBeetlejuice. The titular character is a wacky, unique creation that seemingly only Burton and Michael Keaton could bring to life, but he’s not the only spooky thing in the movie, as there are also shrunken heads and sandworms.
But Beetlejuice is just an outright creep. The way he attempts to groom Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz is as big a sign as one can get, and that’s not the right sort to hang around. He’s a swindler, a con artist out to screw over newly out-of-their-element undead people and sandworm his way into their lives.
7Harry and Zinnia Wormwood in Matilda (1996)
Almost certainly the best movie Danny DeVito ever directed,Matildais Roald Dahl adapted correctly. It’s also a film loaded with legitimately frightening antagonists, most famously Pam Ferris' mean-spirited teacher Miss Trunchbull.
But the bigger monsters are arguably DeVito and his real-life wife Rhea Perlman as Matilda’s parents: Harry and Zinnia Wormwood. Harry is a used car salesman whose lot isn’t filled with used cars so much as broken cars partially made of stolen parts. Zinnia, meanwhile, is a look-obsessed television aficionado with an abusive personality and not a care in the world. They’re like Petunia and Vernon Dursley, but if Harry Potter was their actual flesh-and-blood child. That’s pretty cold.
6Jacobim Mugatu in Zoolander (2001)
One of the aughts' funniest films,Zoolanderplayed a major part in makingWill Ferrell a film star. But his role inZoolanderis in more of a supporting capacity, which is ultimately a good thing. His failed fashion designer Mugatu is so extreme he’s best in small doses. But, if dished out in small doses (As the firstZoolanderdoes), that extremity is profoundly hilarious.
But Mugatu’s also unstable. His braggadocious, angry rant about having created the piano key necktie betrays feelings of resentment both with himself and the world around him. So he’s not the type of person who should have access to a lot of power or wealth, much less the ability to hypnotize people into becoming loyal assassins.
5Kim Jong-il in Team America: World Police (2004)
FromSouth Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone came the hard-RTeam America: World Police, and it’s hysterical. But it’s also definitively not for everyone, and it was far from being Kim Jong-il’s favorite movie. In fact, he’s shown to be a cockroach from outer space as if he were one of the villains inGodzilla vs. Gigan.
But, like the real Jong-il and Kim Jong-un, the movie’s glasses-wearing, singing puppet is also a ruthless dictator. Whenever he’s on-screen, any puppets standing around him don’t feel safe, regardless of allegiance. This is particularly true when there’s a shark tank behind his desk.
4Simon Skinner in Hot Fuzz (2007)
The second installment ofEdgar Wright’s Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy,Hot Fuzz, is just about as solid as the film that preceded it:Shaun of the Dead. It also has a more memorable villain, but it’s easy to top the undead in the personality department.
Specifically, there’s the Neighbourhood Watch Alliance (NWA) and its leader, Inspector Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent). They seek to keep their town “clean” so as to win the “Village of the Year” award. But Butterman isn’t the creepiest member of the misguided peace-seeking gang, it’s James Bond actor Timothy Dalton’s grocery store owner Simon Skinner. With a nasty smirk and soul-piercing eyes, he’s a suspect from the moment he enters the frame, but the movie consistently throws curveballs at the audience to try to throw them off his scent. But he’s part of it, him and his massive employee “Lurch” (Game of Thrones' Rory McCann).
3Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder (2008)
Ben Stiller’sTropic Thunderis one of the great entertainment industry-skewing satires, yet even given its relatively recent production date, there’s little chance it could be made the same now. But the cast sure does have fun, including Tom Cruise as rageaholic studio executive Les Grossman.
Grossman isn’t technically the film’s villain, but he’s the last guy you’d want to be in a room with. Logical, considering he was primarily based on now-disgraced film producers Scott Rudin and Harvey Weinstein. With that being said, Grossman has his upsides. For one, he’s a wonderful dancer. Two, he’s very eloquent, even if it is while he’s telling you to have intercourse with your own face. At the very least, this is the closest Cruise has come to playing a villain outside of Michael Mann’s dark and phenomenalCollateral.
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2Harry in In Bruges (2008)
Martin McDonagh’sIn Brugessignaled the arrival of one of cinema’s new great directors, and this is at least partially due to how the characters are written. Everything in the film has a payoff, including Harry Waters' (Ralph Fiennes) promise that, were he to accidentally kill a child the way Colin Farrell’s Ray had, he’d take his own life.
One ofFarrell’s best moviesjust as it’s one of Brendan Gleeson’s,In Brugesis about as devastating as a comedy can get, but that’s just another card in its deck, not a tonal distraction. And, like in theHarry Potterfranchise, Fiennes is about as spot-on a villain casting as a studio or filmmaker can get. The appeal to his assassin master Waters is an often-collected (but notalways-collected), well-dressed everyman nature, which makes each one of his scenes constantly force the audience to triple-guess what he’s thinking or what he’s going to do.
1Kim Jong-un in The Interview (2014)
One of the most controversial films to come out of the studio system in quite some time, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen’s rather innocuousThe Interviewnonetheless attracted the ire of Kim Jong-un, but that was always going to happen. Speaking of Jong-un, Randall Park is phenomenal in the role, selling the script’s bonding moments with James Franco’s David Skylark just as well as the intimidation factor.
And, like his father before him (even the one seen inTeam America: World Police), this Jong-un is a sadistic, pop-culture-savvy dictator who has no qualms about abusing his power. The film does a great job of setting up an organically developing friendship, one upon which Jong-un can angrily turn his back on a dime. And that’s precisely what he does (and what he’s known to do in real life, violently, including to his own family members). But, unlike in reality, the movie’s version of Jong-un gets met by a missile while hanging his head out the side of a helicopter. Of course, while Katy Perry’s “Firework” blares over the film’s soundtrack.
