The Five Overlooked Comedies to Watch on Hulu Right Now

5

High Fidelity

Maybe they should remake every John Cusack movie but with Zoë Kravitz in the lead, because the 2020 High Fidelity series is a goddamn delight. The show works as both an update of the original Nick Hornby novel and a reworking of the 2000 movie, featuring specific nods to the Cusack version (which famously featured Kravitz’s mom). Also great: Da’Vine Joy Randolph in the Jack Black spot. It’s a pop-cultural travesty that this show was canceled after 10 episodes while NCIS just entered its 4,734th season.

4

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo star as best friends who journey from Soft Rock, Nebraska to the Earthbound paradise that is Vista Del Mar, Florida. It’s the kind of goofy, original comedy movie that Hollywood has been sorely lacking lately, and while people watched it when it came out last year, it seems to have dropped off the pop-culture radar since then. We need more of this duo, as there are so many places that Barb and Star could visit next — and other beaches where Jamie Dornan could tear his shirt off Hulk Hogan-style while belting out a power ballad.

3

Misfits

A group of young offenders are suddenly given random powers during a freak storm in this extremely dark comedy that first aired in the U.K. back in 2009. While we’ve obviously been inundated with superhero content in the last decade, Misfits remains one of the more unique takes on the genre. 

2

The Way Way Back

Following their Oscar win for co-writing The Descendants, Jim Rash and Nat Faxon wrote and directed this unsung coming-of-age movie about a teenage boy who escapes a cringeworthy summer vacation with his mom’s new boyfriend (Steve Carell) by taking a job at a nearby water park run by Sam Rockwell and Maya Rudolph. Also, it’s the rare movie that lets Carell play a full-on scumbag. And if Rockwell doesn’t make you cry, odds are you were manufactured by SkyNet. 

1

The Last Man on Earth

If you watched a few episodes of this Will Forte-starring show when it first came out, then promptly bailed, do yourself a favor and give it another shot. What started out as a mostly joyless story about a horny egomaniac eventually became a surprisingly emotional series about love, loss and forging human connections in a depressing wasteland. It consistently finds new ways to be hilarious — you will never hear “Falling Slowly” the same way again — while easily being the best show about the apocalypse since the evening news.

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