Movies often use death as a tool to evoke emotions like anger, sadness, anxiety, and fear. Be it the magic of cinema or the ridiculousness of the circumstances leading up to it, death scenes in a few movies might be funny for the viewers.
As much as gory and horrific deaths stick to a viewer’s mind, even funny deaths have a different visual impact. Here are the top 10 funniest death scenes in movie history.
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10. Burn After Reading (2008)
Throughout his career, Brad Pitt has played it all ranging from an agent to literally death (Read Joe Black), but Pitt as a goofy well-meaning gym employee from ‘Burn After Reading’ stands out the most. In an all-stellar cast movie, Pitt plays Chad who agrees to sneak into a CIA officer’s apartment to steal classified emails.
Unfortunately, Chad hides in the closet of a government agent played by George Clooney. After getting caught he faces death with an apologetic smile just before the agent shoots Chad in the face which seems like a shocking hilarious exit for Pitt.
9. Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
This might be one of the laziest deaths rather than a funny one, but interestingly the idea behind the concept is hilarious. Just because Harrison Ford was feeling under the weather that particular day of the shot, the director simply asked Ford to shoot the swordsman in the epic battle.
8. Jurassic Park (1993)
‘Jurassic Park’ was Steven Spielberg’s finest work which used imagination to an extent, but the director decided to use humor only in the film’s most famous death scene. The slimy lawyer Gennaro abandons the kids and hides out in the outhouse escaping the outbreak.
As bad as the hide-out sounds, the T-Rex smashes it down. Gennaro and the dinosaur share an intense eye-contact before the T-Rex snatches him off the toilet.
7. Zoolander (2001)
Derek Zoolander from ‘Zoolander’ was the dumbest male model in the world. Derek’s friends decide to take him out for some Orange Mocha Frappuccinos. A pretty bad decision! After parading around town the friends stop for gas, which turns into a gasoline fight. Then one of the dimwitted from the group lit a cigarette amidst the gasoline fight. Derek stands simply watching his dumb friends getting blown.
6. Pulp Fiction (1994)
‘Pulp Fiction’ is filled with gruesome violence with dark humor, but mixing humor with death is not really in sync with Quentin Tarantino’s classic. Marvin is an inside man who helps Jules and Vincent retrieve something stolen from their boss.
Following the job, the three amigos drove through Los Angeles. Vincent turns around to talk to Marvin in the backseat when his gun goes off and splatters Marvin’s brains all over the car.
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5. The Other Guys (2010)
Not every cop movie has to be serious or thriller, take ‘The Other Guys’ starring Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson- the two cops who plunge into their own deaths while catching the bad guys.
The two cops chase the bad guys on the roofs above the city. When the bad guys escape down to the street, the two cops decide to follow them down and “aim for the bushes”. They decide to leap from the building and make the long fall down to their deaths. It is the irony that makes the scene hilarious.
4. Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Samuel L. Jackson has now died in more than 33 movies throughout his illustrious career, but this particular death scene is hilarious. In ‘Deep Blue Sea’ Jackson’s character Russel Franklin is devoured by a terrible CGI shark. The irony of the death is that the shark attacked Russel on the dry land right after Franklin delivered a rousing speech to his team making this one of the funniest death scenes in the history of modern cinema.
3. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
The audience witnesses a perspective shot of Austin and his girlfriend Vanessa driving the steamroller which reveals a couple of guards standing in their way. One of them quickly moves, but the other named Steve, freezes up and screams out in terror.
The camera then cuts to a wide shot, revealing that the steamroller is in fact still far away from him and is moving at a snail’s speed. Austin and Vanessa then run over Steve. This scene feels straight out of a cartoon, making it one of the funniest deaths.
2. Out of Sight (1998)
The crime masterpiece ‘Out of Sight’ stars George Clooney as a bank robber named Jack Foley who escapes from prison. As he is planning his getaway, Foley is cornered by a particularly dumb member of the opposite crew named White Boy Bob.
After making Jack drop his gun, Bob begins walking up the stairs towards him but ends up slipping and shooting himself in the head. Foley’s puzzled reaction makes the shocking moment so much funnier than the scene itself.
1. Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
Miles Massey played by George Clooney attempts to stop Weezy Joe from killing his wife. A fight ensues and Joe mixes up his inhaler and his gun. He ends up spraying Miles in the face with the inhaler instead of the gun. And puts the gun in his own mouth and pulls the trigger. It’s the kind of comedic mix-up that is pulled off beautifully.
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