In a world full of dower grittiness, it is nice sometimes to sit back, crack a cold one, and just enjoy some fun, and God knows in 2019we needed it. So today, I take a moment to champion those films that brought the fun, whether through upbeat action, one laugh after another, or that silliness that brings a smile to your face.

So without further ado, these are films that brought the fun in 2019. Be warned that there may be some slight spoilers ahead for the films in question. Also, you can click on the banners for the full review.

Detective Pikachu

This is a film that so understood its subject matter that it could make every moment shine, including a mime of with Mr Mime.     

Extreme Job (Geukhanjikeob, 극한직업)

This film starts off in an oddly funny place and then stays there for its entire run.         

Directed by – Byeong-heon Lee
Written by – Se-Young Bae

Knives Out

This film uses moments of real oddness right when you don’t expect them to hit you right in the funny bone.      

Directed by – Rian Johnson
Written by – Rian Johnson

The Kid Who Would Be King

The Arthur legend but with kids and in the modern world is already a good idea and then throw in a Merlin that explodes into an owl every now and again and you have real fun.  

Directed by – Joe Cornish
Screenplay by – Joe Cornish

Shazam!

When it comes to DC’s recent bath of films I have never really been able to use fun as a descriptor … well, that is until now.          

Directed by – David F. Sandberg
Written by – Henry Gayden & Darren Lemke

Top End Wedding

A rom-com where two worlds collide is already a good place to start, but when those two worlds have many other worlds all colliding, then you are for a really good time.         

Directed by – Wayne Blair
Written by – Miranda Tapsell & Joshua Tyler

And the Winner is!!!!! –

This was a tough one to get a winner on because I jumped back and forth between Extreme Job and Detective Pikachu so many times and then I was like, why pick between the two.

Detective Pikachu has so many great moments that it is almost shocking like they got Bill Nighy to be in this film and he is comedy gold. Add to that Ryan Reynolds best non-Deadpool role in recent years and a fully realised Pokémon world and you got yourself a great film.       

Extreme Job is a film that revels in oddness with slapstick humour at every turn, cutaway jokes, split frame jokes, being hit in the everywhere jokes. If there is a way to milk more humour out of a scene they find it, and that is even before they pretend to run a fried chicken place as a cover to catch some wanted mobsters.