I stumbled across a blog post by Miranda on Cinematic Passions where she wrote about Entertainment Weekly’s article on the 25 funniest actresses in Hollywood. When I looked at the article there I realized that I only new about 2 out of the 25. So, now I am making my own list of the 10 funniest actresses of today (classic actresses are a whole other post).

I have to admit that when I think about comedies, I think about men (Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria and the likes).

Ellen Page - Even though I have only seen her in one comedy (Juno), she impressed me enough to make it onto the list.

Renée Zellweger – I can laugh about her as Bridget Jones every single time I watch it (it’s been a few). She is also funny in Down with Love, Chicago, Me, Myself and Irene and Nurse Betty.

Reese Witherspoon – I probably shouldn’t admit it, but I love her in Legally Blonde!

Emma Thomson – more known for her dramas, she can be very funny (Much Ado About Nothing, Harry Potter). I am sure this woman can play any role you throw at her anyway…

Jennifer Aniston – She really makes me laugh (apart from Friends, she is funny in Along Came Polly, Bruce Almighty).

Shirley Henderson – She might not be a big Hollywood star but she is incredibly funny! (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Harry Potter)

Julia Roberts – (Pretty Woman, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Hook, America’s Sweethearts, Ocean’s Twelve…)

Zooey Deschanel - I love her in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Almost Famous

Cameron Diaz – even though I am not a big Cameron-fan, I have to admit that she is very funny in Shrek (voice), My Best Friend’s Wedding and There’s Something about Mary.

Drew Barrymore – she appears in a lot of comedies but she is normally the “cute” one, rather than the “funny” one.

Other funny actresses:

I thought about adding Meryl Streep - but even when she is in comedies, she brings drama into them (i.e. The Devil Wears Prada, Mamma Mia!)

Jamie Lee Curtis, Maggie Smith, Blythe Danner

I miss Whoopy Goldberg and Bette Midler, make me laugh again

The Conclusion: I am sorry to say that there are no real comediennes in Hollywood. At least not in films I watch (If you like American Pie and similar films you might disagree with this statement). The actresses I listed are all funny or appear in comedies but they are, mostly, not the main character and their funniness comes more from the amusing story. Legally Blonde is the wonderful exception here. It seems strange that there is such a big gap between male and female comedians. What are your thoughts?

Susan (Reese Witherspoon) is about to get married to the man of her dreams, but on her wedding day she gets hit by a meteorite, which turns her into a giant. She is immediately taken into custody and deported to an extremely secret government prison for monsters. America has already captured the mad scientist Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. (Hugh Laurie) who has transformed himself into a cockroach to be as indestructible as the monsters: fish-man The Missing Link (Will Arnett), slimy B.O.B. (Seth Rogen) and the giant Insectosaurus.

Poor Susan is very upset about the prospect of being stuck in prison for the rest of her life and not being able to get married and live her dream life. Luckily aliens send a huge robot to San Francisco which the monsters are now being expected to destroy. Here, Susan discovers her new strength… once the robot is destroyed and the alien Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) has to come to destroy the Earth himself, she is quite comfortable in fighting him.

This film is really good fun! And let me just say, it is not for young kids. If I had any, I am not sure I would want them to see it. It has some quite grownup topics and jokes. But if you’re over 13, go and watch it! What really amazed me is how far the animation has come. The textures of things (like skin, fur etc) look so real! And the movements are very human and realistic. Monster vs Aliens has some great jokes, very sweet characters and a fun story. It is not going to be one of my favourite Dreamworks films, but I am happy I saw it and I have nothing bad to say about it. I might have liked it even better if I hadn’t seen the trailer. Most of the really good jokes are already shown in it. I do like how it is mocking the American society.

What I find a bit irritating, and I am not sure whether I like or dislike it, is that major animation films seem to use stars for the voices. I didn’t look at the opening titles and was wondering for a really long time who the voices were. This kind of distracted me from the story-line. I know I could just check who is in the movie before watching it, but I usually forget (only when it comes to animations…). I am just not sure if the makers choose these actors because they are best for the role or just because it will be great publicity for the movie (I suspect the latter, which does not mean that I don’t like the actors or think they are doing it badly, just that there might be someone less famous who could do it better).