Twelve of the Best Comedic Movie Villains

Edward Rooney – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

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Blustering Ed Rooney has a deep and intense hatred for Ferris Bueller, but his incompetence and rage prevent him from ever catching his school’s most popular student.  Jeffrey Jones plays it straight as Rooney the entire movie (but not in real life! Zing!), making him one of those comedic movie villains who we’re constantly laughing at, not with.  Even his plan to catch Ferris and Cameron in a lie by demanding to see Sloane’s dead grandmother’s body backfires, and he snivels and grovels to Cameron on the telephone when he mistakenly thinks he’s talking to Sloane’s father.  Personally, the Rooney-Cameron exchange is one of my favorite parts of the movie.

Ernie McCracken – Kingpin

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I’ve said it before – Bill Murray is funny in just about anything, and his role as “Big Ern” is no exception.  Ernie McCracken is vintage Murray: a smug, confident, sarcastic bowler who knows how to push buttons so well that he can get an Amish guy to take a swing at him.  “Was I talking out loud?  Was I?  Sorry.  Good Luck.”  Even if Murray’s appearance were normal, McCracken would have made this article, but the ridiculous hair more than sealed the deal.

Greg Tolan – Just One of the Guys

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William Zabka is best known as the villain Johnny in The Karate Kid, but that movie wasn’t a comedy.  He was also one of the villains in Back to School, but his character as Chas didn’t have as big an impact- nor was he as much of a douche – as Greg Talon did in Just One of the Guys.  Talon is a classic bully with a hot girlfriend and out to make the lives of the weak as miserable as possible.  One of Talon’s favorite activities is to put on his gloves and then lift a cafeteria table, spilling food all over the poor kids who happened to be sitting there.  Nice move.  Really, Zabka defines bully, and this article just wouldn’t be complete without him.

Lois Einhorn/Ray Finkle – Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

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Look, I love Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, but I miss the old Jim Carrey.  You know, the guy who would pretend to literally talk out of his ass and make goofy faces every thirty seconds.  Of course, Carrey is the true star of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, but the character of Lois Einhorn -layed by Sean Young – helps quite a bit.  Lois isn’t necessarily very funny and I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to call her a ball-busting bitch, but the reason she is such a memorable comedic movie villain is because, well, she isn’t a she at all.  Say hello to Mr. Happy!

Prince Humperdinck – The Princess Bride

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Heir to the throne of Florin, Prince Humperdinck is a manipulative, controlling, and cowardly man.  Oh, he lies to chicks, too, but hey, who doesn’t?  I mean, she’s not gonna go on a second date with me if I don’t tell her that I have a steady job and am disease free, right?  Anyway, back to Humperdinck.  He tortured Wesley to within an inch of his life, yet was completely psyched out after hearing what a nearly paralyzed Wesley would do to him.  Humperdinck is so amusing mainly because of what an unbelievable puss he really is.  Plus, that name.  Humperdinck!

Dark Helmet – Spaceballs

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God, I love Dark Helmet.  Just looking at the above picture of him playing with his dolls cracks me up.  Helmet the bumbling second-in-command on Planet Spaceball, and his subordinates fear him because of his extensive mastery of the Schwartz.  His oversized helmet, thick glasses, and out-of-place tie make him a walking joke, but like a lot of the villains in this article, it’s his quotable lines that make him so memorable.  My personal favorite?  “I bet she gives great helmet.”

So there you have it, twelve of the best comedic movie villains.  I considered adding Chet from Weird Science, but he wasn’t as villainous, in my opinion, as the rest of the guys on here.  Eric from Billy Madison would have been great, too, but I didn’t want to put more than one Adam Sandler movie up here and Shooter is a much funnier villain than Eric.  Who would you have added?  Hit me up!

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11 Comments

  1. Love the list, but I’d have to add Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) from Blazing Saddles. Classic Role!!

    “I want rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists.”

  2. Ben Stiller in Dodgeball! At globo gym, were better than you, and we know it 😉

    Ben Stiller in Happy Gilmore! You’re fingers hurt? Now your backs gonna hurt cuz you just pulled landscaping duty. Anybody elses fingers hurt? I didn’t think so.

  3. I was just thinking of a list like this after watching happy Gilmore. I figured soneone had done one…but this list is amazing. When I saw shooter and mugatu I lost it. The rest are great too. Smails…big ern…rooney. Id add the Dukes but it really is a perfect list.

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