STREAMING

The Best Comedy Movies on HBO Max Right Now (October 2026)

By Matt Oakes · October 25, 2026

Comedy is the genre streaming algorithms do the worst job with: they surface whatever is newest or loudest, and the genuinely funny stuff gets buried. These are the best comedies on HBO Max that I’ve reviewed and still stand behind, led by The Invite, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), and One Battle After Another.

Every pick links to my full review, and the list gets refreshed as titles come and go.

Critics and Audience scores from Rotten Tomatoes; ratings from IMDb. Scores as of October 2026.

THE INVITE (2026)

96%Critics 89%Audience 7.4IMDb

The Invite from Olivia Wilde is a wildly funny swinger comedy that explores how relationships open, close, and end in hilarious and heartfelt ways. Seth Rogan, Olivia Wilde, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton are all fantastic.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) (2014)

91%Critics 78%Audience 7.7IMDb

Michael Keaton plays a washed-up superhero actor trying to mount a Broadway comeback while the voice in his head mocks him. Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s dazzling, seemingly single-take satire is one of the great showbiz comedies, and Keaton has never been better.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (2025)

94%Critics 85%Audience 7.6IMDb

O ne Battle After Another is another masterwork from American auteur Paul Thomas Anderson, who turns his incisive storytelling toward contemporary America and uses it as a battle-bound backdrop for a story about fighting for what matters. Every single thing works.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

MARTY SUPREME (2025)

93%Critics 82%Audience 7.5IMDb

Josh Safdie proves he was the chosen one with Marty Supreme, a chaos-riddled epic about a scumbag ping-pong player trying to scheme his way into proving that he’s the world’s greatest. Chalamet is outstanding in this singularly tumultuous and deeply funny vision of going all in on your dreams.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

SALTBURN (2023)

72%Critics 79%Audience 7.0IMDb

Emerald Fennel’s venereal second feature is an explosive satire of inheritance and deception framed as a simmering psychosexual thriller. The entire cast is wonderful but Barry Keoghan proves himself as a truly one-of-a-kind talent.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (2017)

90%Critics 87%Audience 8.1IMDb

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has smacks of knifelike dark comedy, a handful of brilliant performances (all hail Frances McDormand!) and a director (Martin McDonagh) back on the tippy-top of his game, rounding out into a breathtakingly funny and confoundingly sad crime drama that’s also one of the best films of 2017.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

SING STREET (2016)

95%Critics 92%Audience 7.9IMDb

Big-hearted, shamelessly cheerful and joyous beyond measure, Sing Street is an upbeat victory for director John Carney. Brimming with laughs and a surprising amount of tears, Sing Street is rarely seen uplift cinema sure to inspire an embarrassingly wide grin from start to finish, suffused with dreadfully catchy tunes to boot.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

THE DRAMA (2026)

76%Critics 78%Audience 7.1IMDb

The Drama finds Zendaya and Robert Pattinson pulling apart at the seams in Kristoffer Borgli’s incisive, destabilizing anti-rom-com, a nervy A24 anxiety spiral that sits comfortably alongside ’ Uncut Gems’ and ’ If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

BARBIE (2023)

88%Critics 83%Audience 6.8IMDb

Barbie is a one-of-a-kind hit that bombastically celebrates uniqueness and creativity, with writer-director Greta Gerwig once again proving herself as a top talent with endless stores of filmmaking ingenuity. It’s one of 2023’s bests and Robbie and Gosling are simply perfect.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

WONKA (2023)

82%Critics 90%Audience 6.9IMDb

Timothée Chalamet plays a bubbly young version of Willy Wonka in Paul King’s magically musical prequel that exceeds any reasonable expectation. A true delight for the whole family, King’s extension of the Wonka-verse succeeds by making it fundamentally his own.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

ISLE OF DOGS (2018)

90%Critics 87%Audience 7.8IMDb

A super serum of irreverent whimsy and heartfelt friendships, rife with topical political undercurrents about inclusion and nationalism, Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs is one exceedingly pleasant and gorgeously animated delight for the senses that manages testy thematic material along with its good boy attitude. Truly, a treat.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

LADY BIRD (2017)

99%Critics 79%Audience 7.4IMDb

Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird guides Saorsie Ronan through a rebellious phase of teenagedom with stinging humor and a good dose of pathos. Sensitive, charming and at times painful, Lady Bird is a confident piece of character-driven coming-of-age drama from a filmmaker discovering her immense talent by reflecting on her own roots.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

THE LOBSTER (2015)

87%Critics 65%Audience 7.1IMDb

An imaginative and jet black adult dystopia, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster balances nervous character study in with a screwy bizarro world. Proudly unusual, the mechanics of a world where being single is illegal can prove more compelling than the narrative thrust of its characters at times but it all adds up to one delightfully odd, and predominantly satisfying, chapter of Grecian satire.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

FRIENDSHIP (2025)

88%Critics 73%Audience 6.6IMDb

Devotees of Tim Robinson should consider Friendship a must-watch; its sidesplitting comedy is basically all extracted directly from Robinson’s demented misfit persona. Those who don’t vibe with his wavelength will likely find it confusing and offputting, even grueling. Though, for this Robinson stan, the insanity could have been pushed even further. Nevertheless, it’s one of the funniest movies of the past few years.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

BATTLE OF THE SEXES (2017)

84%Critics 71%Audience 6.7IMDb

Feminist feel-good sports drama Battle of the Sexes features a game-set-match of a performance from Emma Stone and sturdy, goony support from Steve Carrell while making some important points sadly still pertinent today. Steve Carell matches Stone as Bobby Riggs, a hustler as pathetic as he is funny, and the 1973 match itself is staged with real tension.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

DUMB MONEY (2023)

84%Critics 85%Audience 6.8IMDb

Dumb Money has a lot going for it, including one of the more compelling ensemble casts of 2023, and Gillespie finds broad mainstream appeal in his approach, but it’s hard to say if his humorous stylings is the appropriate avenue for such an inflammatory subject.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

BLOCKERS (2018)

84%Critics 51%Audience 6.2IMDb

Blockers is an often hysterical and surprisingly poignant redux on the teenage sex comedy, one that trojan horses in progressive ideals of female empowerment within its laugh-a-minute, but highly disposable and often immature, gags.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

DEADPOOL 2 (2018)

83%Critics 85%Audience 7.6IMDb

This juvenile, scatalogical, and hopelessly violent celebration of cinematic immaturity is nonetheless irresistibly entertaining. Aided by some stellar new cast additions, Deadpool 2 is super-smart-ass ruckus perfected; an all-around improvement on its predecessor.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

AMERICAN MADE (2017)

85%Critics 79%Audience 7.2IMDb

Crackling editing, a gum-grin Tom Cruise performance and eye-catching direction from Doug Liman make American Made an easily consumable serving of anti-hero biopic. Telling the story of CIA-operative-turned-drug-smuggler Barry Seal, Liman’s film tries to distinguish itself from the pack but won’t likely be remembered beyond its snappy production aspects and as a sizzling Cruise showcase.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review

SHAZAM! (2019)

90%Critics 81%Audience 7.0IMDb

Shazam! reins DC back into a world where being a superhero is fun, and more importantly, fun to watch, and though the movie has its share of flaws, its clever premise and a hugely enjoyable performance from Zachary Levi make this one of the few good offerings from the DCEU.▶ Streaming on HBO Max · Read the full review