6 Offensive Comedies That Just Aren’t Funny

Despite having the good intention of making people laugh, comedies can incite controversy, often leading to negative press and even boycotts in extreme cases. Art shouldn't be censored, but it's also worth considering the impact that offensive movies may have on the lives of those who are mocked in these films. Whether you agree that comedy should push the boundaries of taste or not, we can all agree that there is no point in making offensive comedies if the end result isn't even funny. When that happens, the filmmakers end up both offending a minority and boring the majority. Neither outcome is particularly desirable. Many offensive comedies such as Team America and Borat didn't make this article, because they're actually funny as hell, but a list like this is always subjective, so feel free to let us know your thoughts/angrily vent in the comments section below. 6) Get Hard (2015) Will Ferrell movies are a hit or miss affair. For every Anchorman or Elf, there's a Bewitched or Land of the Lost... yeah, I'd almost forgotten about that one too. Unfortunately, Get Hard falls squarely into the latter category and ended up being one of Ferrell's worst movies yet. The plot follows the story of a rich and unlikable white guy who hires a black car washer in order to prepare him for his upcoming prison sentence. Cue 100 minutes of inane racist and homophobic jokes that circle primarily around Ferrell avoiding the inevitable raping he will undoubtedly receive in prison. The general lack of good jokes here would be offensive enough, but the one scene that bothered audiences the most was the 'gay brunch' sequence. After days of training, Kevin Hart's character gives up on toughening Ferrell up, telling him that he must now learn how to perform oral sex on men to survive prison. The following scene set in a men's bathroom is everything you would expect it to be, complete with nauseating stereotypes and even more nauseating gagging, demeaning all of the actors involved. Give me Land of the Lost 2 over Get Hard any day! 5) Tropic Thunder (2008) Robert Downey Jr. won an Oscar nomination for playing blackface in the comedy Tropic Thunder. This is baffling for a number of reasons. One: The Academy rarely acknowledges that comedies exist, let alone nominates them in acting categories. Two: Blackface hasn't been funny for a while now slash ever. Three: Tropic Thunder isn't nearly as clever or funny as it thinks it is. The crew involved in Tropic Thunder justify the use of blackface in this movie by arguing that it's not Downey Jr. himself who is choosing to wear blackface, just the ridiculous character he portrays. Although, Downey Jr. did choose to play this character, so.... The method actor that Downey plays takes his craft to huge extremes, highlighted best when he discusses the danger of going "full retard" in a bid to claim that elusive Oscar. On top of this, Stiller's portrayal of a character known as Simple Jack ultimately sparked a number of boycotts and demonstrations across the US. Sure, Tropic Thunder is trying to lampoon actors who seek out these types of roles for awards buzz, but perhaps this would have worked better if the film contained actual jokes instead of lazy satire. 4) Freddy Got Fingered (2001) The phrase "worst movie ever made" is regularly thrown around, usually in the direction of M. Night Shyamalan, but few comedies warrant it more than Freddy Got Fingered. Scenes where comedian Tom Green bit off a woman's umbilical cord and wore a dead deer carcass ultimately led to a rare zero rating from noted film critic Roger Ebert. However, like the smell of a dead animal trapped under the floorboards, Freddy Got Fingered has lingered long past its welcome, somehow becoming a cult favourite amongst fans who choose to interpret the movie as conceptual performance art. Such an appraisal of Freddy Got Fingered would imply that Tom Green is far more clever than he appears, which wouldn't be particularly hard, let's face it. How else in hell did Green manage to snag Drew Barrymore? Admittedly, the marriage only lasted a year, but when your most famous gags revolve around beating a handicapped woman's legs and masturbating a horse, it's surprising that A-list actress Barrymore even stuck around that long. 3) Norbit (2007) Despite being one of the most famous comedians in Hollywood, Eddie Murphy has made more than his fair share of turkeys over the years. Trying to pick the worst one is akin to Sophie's Choice, but most would likely choose Norbit as the most offensive. For some bizarre reason, there was a period in the 2000's when almost every famous black comedian out there decided it would be hilarious to dress up as an overweight woman and make fart jokes. Turns out it wan't actually funny in the slightest. Sure, this is certainly offensive to many audiences, but Murphy ups the ante even further by also playing an old Chinese man. This walking stereotype even made me feel uncomfortable in my cinema seat and I'm a white male! And yes... I did pay actual money to see Norbit. Shockingly, the 'comedy' was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Makeup, but perhaps less surprisingly, Norbit also won three of the eight Razzies it was nominated for, including Worst Actor, Worst Supporting Actor and Worst Supporting Actress... a hat trick for Eddie Murphy who played each of the three roles. Perhaps he would have had better luck with his Dreamgirls Oscar nomination if he had played Jennifer Hudson's role as well! 2) I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007) In a bid to increase his life insurance policy, a NY City firefighter called Larry coerces a male colleague to enter a civil union with him. The two eventually marry to keep the ruse up, but trouble arises as the straight pair are soon investigated by NY City officials and learn to deal with homophobia along the way. In theory, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry could have been a progressive comedy that laughs at the ignorance of close-minded people and although the film does have a few of these moments, the overall tone is more offensive than celebratory. Did we mention Rob Schneider adds insult to injury by donning Yellowface for his character? The Wall St. Journal called the movie "an insult to gays, straights, men, women, children, African-Americans, Asians, pastors, mailmen, insurance adjusters, firemen, doctors -- and fans of show music." So that leaves... pretty much no one. Oh, except for animals I guess. Animals are safe. 1) Movie 43 (2013) Tasteless humour certainly has a place in cinema, but to achieve any kind of success, there still has to be some intelligence behind the jokes, even if it's hard to see. This is a lesson the Farrelly brothers chose to ignore when they assembled the screenwriters and directors behind Movie 43, an anthology film that somehow fails to be funny in each of its twelve interconnected skits. That's right. Every single one. Watching Movie 43 is akin to being the victim of an April Fools joke. It feels like every one is in on the gag except you, including the multitude of Hollywood stars that you would have presumed had the self-respect required to decline this project. Halle Berry, Julianne Moore, Hugh Jackman, Emma Stone and Kate Winslet are just some of the many talented actors and actresses who chose to let fans down with this piece of drivel. Skits include a man shitting on a woman, a woman inserting hot sauce into her vagina and a man with testicles on his neck, all with racist, homophobic and generally obscene undertones. No wonder then that the film took almost a decade to be produced after the script was rejected by numerous studios. Some of these topics could have been potentially funny if handled in the right way, but without solid jokes to back the material up, Movie 43 ends up veering between boring, disgusting and outrageous in equal measure. Most of the films featured on this list are offensive to specific groups in particular, but Movie 43 is offensive to anyone with the ability to see or hear.