Top 10 Comedy Movie Plot Twists No One Saw Coming
#10: “The Gentlemen” (2019)
Top 10 Teen Movie Plot Twists You Didn't See Coming
One of 2020’s few wide releases, “The Gentlemen” is a Guy Ritchie original starring Matthew McConaughey as marijuana kingpin, Mickey Pearson. Pearson wishes to sell his empire in England, resulting in the scheming of numerous interested parties. Another leading character is Hugh Grant’s Fletcher. He’s a private investigator who digs up dirt on Pearson, writes a scathing screenplay, and offers to sell it back to Pearson’s right hand man for a hefty sum. Most of the movie is told through this screenplay. Unable to extort money from Raymond, Fletcher reveals he’s been working with Russians, and they arrive to kill Raymond. Fletcher then pitches his screenplay to Miramax - the same company who produced “The Gentlemen,” only to subsequently take a cab being driven by none other than Raymond himself!
#9: “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (2019)
Top 10 Rom-Com Plot Twists You Didn't See Coming
Tarantino’s love letter to ‘60s Hollywood plays with concurrent narratives - one follows actor Rick Dalton and his stuntman and good friend, Cliff Booth, while another one follows Sharon Tate. This being Tarantino, he uses our collective knowledge of history to subvert expectations for both shock and comedy - a “what if” story for the ages. The storylines converge in the climax, which sees Manson Family members arriving at the Tate house. And just when we expect the tragic ending, Tarantino throws a curveball and has both Rick and Cliff take care of the intruders in equally gruesome and hilarious ways. Rick burning Sadie with a flamethrower has to be one of the most memorable images of 2019 - and also one of the most unexpected. Such is the brilliance of Tarantino.
#8: “Duplex” (2003)
Directed by Danny DeVito, “Duplex” stars Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore as Alex and Nancy, two young professionals who move into their dream Brooklyn brownstone. However, the dream is crushed when their upstairs neighbor, the elderly Mrs. Connelly, proves a nuisance. Their annoyance turns to frustration, which eventually turns to thoughts that are a little more fatal. We later learn that the unhelpful realtor and NYPD officer are related to Connelly - the realtor is her son, and the officer his romantic partner. The three run a real estate scam by renting to naive young couples, forcing them out through harassment and annoyance, and collecting the sales commissions. The worst part is that it actually works, as Alex and Nancy eventually leave and open the door for the next unsuspecting couple.
#7: “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” (1988)
Top 10 Dirty Cops from Films
The story of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” has been told three times - the 1964 original “Bedtime Story,” this 1988 remake, and the 2019 remake “The Hustle” starring Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson. Taking place on the French Riviera, the story concerns two con men, Freddy and Lawrence, attempting to swindle $50,000 out of a rich American heiress named Janet Colgate. However, the climax reveals that Janet is also an accomplished con artist, and she cons $50,000 out of Freddy and Lawrence. The ending itself sees Janet posing as a real estate developer, where she admits to have stolen millions of dollars throughout the years.
#6: “This Is the End” (2013)
Top 10 Movie Plot Twists of the Last Decade
Despite being a meta apocalyptic comedy from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, “This Is the End” is actually a sweet story about friendship, accepting differences, and spiritual redemption. Perhaps one of the biggest twists is that there is no twist - whereas some may have expected the apocalypse stuff to be some type of drug trip, the Rapture is actually real, and everyone actually dies. More than that, the characters learn that they can be Saved (with a capital S) through an unselfish act. Craig Robinson sacrifices himself and is beamed into Heaven as a result. And after some obvious fakery, both Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel are Saved after making amends with each other. Who knew a stoner comedy about the apocalypse would have such a heartwarming message?
#5: “Game Night” (2018)
Top 10 Video Game Movie Moments That Made Fans Rage Quit
Serving as one of the best and most original comedies of 2018, “Game Night” concerns a group of friends and family members whose game night gets real when one of them is kidnapped. The others believe the kidnapping is simply part of the game and go along with it, not realizing that they are actually in danger. The ending itself sees multiple twists and turns. Gary, the awkward police officer who is continuously rebuffed by the hosts, reveals that his shooting was planned and that he concocted the entire abduction so he could take part in the game night. However, even this twist is subverted when the characters realize The Bulgarian plot is real. He shows up, actually shoots Gary, and kidnaps Brooks for his Witsec aka Witness Security Program list.
#4: “Knives Out” (2019)
Early Reviews: Jojo Rabbit, Knives Out, The Lighthouse
This wonderful whodunnit freshly subverts the genre’s tropes by actually revealing who dun it. Or does it? Throughout the movie, we’re led to believe that Marta accidentally overdosed Harlan with morphine after mixing up his medicine. This resulted in Harlan slitting his own throat to save Marta from being investigated. However, the truth is far more complex. As private eye Blanc deduces, Harlan’s son Ransom planned the drug mix-up so Marta would be framed for Harlan’s death, thereby negating her inheritance. Furthermore, Marta didn’t actually overdose Harlan, as she ignored the labels and correctly identified the medicine by its texture. Despite Ransom killing Fran and burning the medical records to hide Marta’s innocence, she manages to lie and keep herself from vomiting long enough to implicate him in Fran’s murder.
#3: “The Cabin in the Woods” (2012)
Top 20 Horror Movie Plot Twists
Drew Goddard’s “The Cabin in the Woods” is a wonderful love letter to horror movies, intelligently using their numerous age-old tropes in a fresh and unique fashion. A group of college students travel to a cabin in the woods, where a bunch of horror tropes proceed to take place. There’s a creepy diary with incantations, zombies, really stupid decisions made by the characters, and of course, sex. However, the twist is that these tropes are completely controlled by people in an underground laboratory. They pump in pheromones to increase sex drive and drugs to inhibit rationality, and the lab contains every archetypal monster imaginable - which they utilize to try to kill the cabin’s inhabitants. This is how you make old things new again.
#2: “Hot Fuzz” (2007)
Top 10 DreamWorks Plot Twists You Didn't See Coming
Serving as the second entry in Edgar Wright’s Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, “Hot Fuzz” is a combination parody of buddy cop movies and slashers. Studious police constable Nicholas Angel suspects that the numerous fatal “accidents” occurring around town are actually murders. He and Danny Butterman concoct an elaborate scheme involving real estate to explain the link in the murders, but as Simon Skinner points out, [“the truth is actually far less complex.”] The murders aren’t enacted by one killer, but the entire Neighbourhood Watch Alliance. And they didn’t do it for real estate - they simply did it because the victims were jeopardizing the village’s reputation as the greatest in England.
#1: “Parasite” (2019)
Top 10 Reasons Why Parasite is the Best Movie of the Year
Largely considered the greatest movie of 2019, the black comedy “Parasite” contains one of the greatest and most shocking plot twists in recent memory. Throughout the first half of the film, audiences watch the poor Kim family as they ingratiate themselves within the wealthy Park family and leech off their success. But everything changes when Moon-gwang knocks on the Park door. The ex-housekeeper makes her way to the basement, which is revealed to contain her husband, Geun-sae, who has been living there for years. It’s a shocking twist, and it eventually culminates in the movie’s bloody and deadly climax. It plays into the story’s class-based themes, and it turns a black comedy into a borderline horror movie, proving writer-director Bong Joon-ho’s complete mastery of the filmmaking craft.
