Weekend Watchlist | Comedies

It’s going to be a rainy weekend in Pittsburgh — again. But you don’t have to let the gloomy weather get you down! Here are some of our favorite comedies to get your spirits up!

Superbad (Hulu) // Patrick Swain, Staff Writer

Many dads make their kids watch raunchy high school comedies like “Risky Business” or “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” when they reach the appropriate age. Someday, my kids will watch “Superbad.”

The film follows the misadventures of two seniors, the abrasive Seth (Jonah Hill) and the awkward Evan (Michael Cera), in pursuit of copious amounts of alcohol to supply Jules’ (Emma Stone) party later that night. To score the booze, their friend Fogell transforms into 25-year-old Hawaiian organ donor McLovin with the help of the world’s fakest ID.

Things turn south when Fogell gets tangled up in a joyride with two dim-witted cops (Seth Rogen and Bill Hader) after a liquor store is allegedly robbed by a gargantuan African Jew in a hoodie. Meanwhile, the others pursue alternate routes, like Seth funneling beer into gasoline canisters in a stranger’s basement while Evan leads a chorus of belligerent cokeheads. A couple bloodstains, sucker punches and heart-to-hearts later, the boys are in the market for a new mattress, concealer and the next chapter of their lives.

“Superbad” takes place two weeks before the protagonists graduate high school, so a year ago I took the liberty of sitting down with all my friends and rewatching it with them one last time. It perfectly encapsulates the blurry transition between adolescence and adulthood — the ecstatic, terrifying sensation of having your whole life ahead of you. Graduating during the pandemic, I didn’t really have a senior year outside of a computer screen. “Superbad” is escapism through comedy — a return to the irreverent innocence of being 18, and for those of us who couldn’t fully experience it, wishful thinking about what could have been. 

Bruce Almighty (Peacock) // Shreya Singh, Staff Writer

There’s usually a moment in your life when everything goes to shit and you have no clue how to make it better. Imagine if you suddenly had the powers of God and you could use them for your own gain. Would there be consequences?

From director ​​Tom Shadyac, “Bruce Almighty” follows Bruce Nolan — played by the eccentric Jim Carrey — who has a string of bad luck on his side. A field reporter for a news channel, he doesn’t get the promotion he wants and then angrily vents on live television about it, which leads to him getting fired. 

Unhappy with the situation, he complains that it’s essentially God’s fault, and before you know it, God (Morgan Freeman) introduces himself to Bruce and offers him his powers for a week. Of course, like any normally selfish human being, Bruce goes on a joyride with these powers and does not realize the consequences of his actions until it’s almost too late. As he grasps the reality of the situation and how power hungry he was, he returns the powers to God and goes back to his normal life trying to fix the problems he caused, including messing up royally with his loyal fiance (Jennifer Aniston).

Carrey, as always, plays into his character’s manic intensity with perfect precision while Aniston definitely holds her own beside him and Freeman, who plays a gentle and patient God. All three actors brought a charm to the movie, creating a trio you didn’t know you needed until you watched them together. 

“Bruce Almighty” is a feel-good movie meant for laughs and greater lessons learned that, perhaps, not everything is about you. This is a movie that I’ll keep coming back to whenever I need a good laugh — or a reminder to get my shit together before I end up as unhinged as Bruce.

Abbott Elementary (Hulu) // Sinead McDevitt, Digital Manager

If you’ve been missing “The Office,” then “Abbott Elementary” is just the fix you need. The mockumentary style show follows a group of teachers at the titular school which, like many schools, is very underfunded and doesn’t really prioritize its students. Enter Janine Teagues (Quinta Brunson), an optimistic second-grade teacher determined to improve the school and help her students. Teagues, along with fellow teachers Barbra Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph) and Jacob Hill (Chris Perfetti) work to improve conditions in the school against corrupt principal Ava Coleman (Janelle James).

“Abbott Elementary” is one of those shows that takes something terrible about real life, then milks it for comedy until it comes back around to being funny. Teachers needing to beg for supplies on social media? Terrible. Coleman exaggerating with an over-the-top sob story for views? Hilarious. “Abbott Elementary” is worth a watch, and a reminder to respect teachers— they go through a lot.