10 Best Black Comedy Movies That Will Make You Laugh And Cringe

There is much less overt violence in Stanley Kubrick’s black comedy masterpiece Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb than some of the others on the list, but far higher stakes. Dr. Strangelove has no less a satirical target than the end of the world due to nuclear bombing, along with mutually assured destruction, male reproductive vanity, Operation Paperclip (the real-life program in which the U.S. recruited Nazi scientists to gain a Cold War advantage), and the fact that fighting in the War Room is not, in fact, allowed.

Peter Sellers famously plays the triple role of U.S. President Muffley, British RAF Captain Mandrake, and former Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove (nee Merkwürdigliebe), with each being the performance of a lifetime. Practically every line of the film is a classic, from “​​replenish our precious bodily fluids” to “Gee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines.” It’s fair to say that Dr. Strangelove is essentially a perfect movie and the perfect black comedy. You certainly can’t beat an apocalyptic ending like that.