Best Kiwi comedy movies
A curated collection of popular comedy movies from New Zealand.
Tama Tū (2004)
Tama Tū (2004)
Six Māori Battalion soldiers camped in Italian ruins wait for night to fall. In the silence, the bros-in-arms distract themselves with jokes. A tohu (sign) brings them back to reality, and they gather to say a karakia before returning to the fray. Director Taika Waititi describes the soldiers as young men with "a special bond, strengthened by their character, their culture and each other.
Housebound (2014)
Housebound (2014)
When Kylie Bucknell is sentenced to home detention, she's forced to come to terms with her unsociable behaviour, her blabbering mother and a hostile spirit who seems less than happy about the new living arrangement.
Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws (2015)
Zilch (1989)
Zilch (1989)
Sam works on the tolls and likes to listen. He overhears more than he bargains for and becomes embroiled in a mishmash of corruption and blackmail. Anna is a hooker who specializes in throwing tomatoes at ageing weirdos. Sam and Anna's paths cross as he works to expose shady maneuvrings by the CEO of Infacorp, who is out to land a contract to build a tunnel under Auckland harbour.
Alien Addiction (2018)
Alien Addiction (2018)
Riko lives in a small town in the middle of nowhere (Waikato, New Zealand). After aliens crash land near his house, an unlikely relationship develops. They are pursued by a fame-hungry blogger and alientologist who has tracked their movements and plans to reveal all to the world.
User Friendly (1990)
User Friendly (1990)
Everyone is chasing a little wooden dog. Old and young, they all think it contains an elixir of life. Miranda, a manic cosmetics tycoon, thinks it's worth millions. A mob of old folk led by a pair of deranged doctors is convinced it contains the secret of eternal youth.
Eagle vs Shark (2007)
Eagle vs Shark (2007)
Love blossoms for Lily over double Meaty Boy burgers at mid-day when uber-computer nerd Jarrod comes in and leaves with free extra large fries. After gatecrashing Jarrod's party and proving her skills on the game console, Lily goes down to Jarrod's home town with him so he can settle an old score with a past school bully.
Love Birds (2011)
Love Birds (2011)
Sometimes the best things in life happen on the fly. From the moment an injured duck crash-lands on Doug's roof, everything changes. Recently dumped and wallowing in self pity, Doug decides to nurse Pierre back to health with the assistance of an eccentric vet and bird specialist, Holly.
Sione's Wedding (2006)
Sione's Wedding (2006)
Meet best friends Michael, Albert, Stanley and Sefa; the ladies' man, the good boy, the weird one and the party boy. They're staring down the barrel of their thirtieth birthdays, but still act as if they're sixteen; they get drunk, they chase the wrong women and they have a remarkable record of misbehaving and causing chaos at every wedding they attend. But now Michael's younger brother Sione is getting married, and everything is about to change. Sione is their boy, the kid they used to look after, who grew up while they were still partying. And to ensure his big day isn't spoiled by his boys and their idiot antics, Sione has issued an ultimatum; the guys all have to bring dates to the wedding. And not just any dates; real girlfriends, someone they've made a commitment to. They have one month. So just how hard can it be to get a date for your best boy's wedding?
My Wedding and Other Secrets (2011)
My Wedding and Other Secrets (2011)
A journey through a cultural minefield, navigating the divide between the traditional values of immigrant parents and the contemporary aspirations of their children in a new land.
The Price of Milk (2000)
The Price of Milk (2000)
Lucinda lives a fairytale life with dairy farmer Rob, and his 117 cows. But after a freak car accident she decides to test Rob's love for her by trying to make him angry. He passes her tests until a quilt goes missing from their bed and the price of getting it back is high.
Same But Different: A True New Zealand Love Story (2019)
Same But Different: A True New Zealand Love Story (2019)
Same But Different: A True New Zealand Love Story follows Rachel, a single working Grey Lynn mum, who breaks a three-year spell of singledom to pursue her escalating feelings for Nikki, whom she meets at a Māori film festival.
Hopeless (2000)
Hopeless (2000)
For the last two years, Ben has watched his best friend Phil have a sickeningly fantastic relationship with Maryann, the woman Phil snatched from under his nose. When Phil says he’s moving to Australia, this ‘perfect’ relationship starts to fall apart. Maryann asks Ben to fix things up. Unfortunately the more time Ben spends with Maryann, the more he’s attracted to her.
Portrait of a Knight (2018)
Portrait of a Knight (2018)
Portrait of a Knight is a musical romance about the way in which historic ideals inform contemporary urban life. Rachel is a young archivist living and working in Wellington, New Zealand. Feeling alone and disconnected from life, she projects her romantic fantasies onto the paintings she loves, until one day her song brings Reginald - a Knight of the Realm - to life. His carefree innocence and zest for life begin to open Rachel up to the beauty around her, but the fates have a way of making trouble when miracles occur...
Arriving Tuesday (1986)
Arriving Tuesday (1986)
Monica arrives back from her big overseas experience to find her boyfriend Nick unchanged. Although Nick styles himself an artist, he is really something of a cultural redneck, and when the couple head up north for a break, and they meet up with Riki, a poet, who is rather less shallow and charming.
Deathgasm (2015)
Don't Let It Get You (1966)
Don't Let It Get You (1966)
“The big ALL FUN show for the whole family to enjoy!” was the tagline for this musical comedy classic. Sir Howard Morrison (as himself) and Rotorua are the stars in the tiki-flavoured tale. Moving from Sydney to a Rotorua music festival the plot centres on a romance between a young drummer (Gary Wallace) and his girl Judy (Carmen Duncan) and the hurdles they face to stay true. But this is only an excuse for a melange of madcap, pep-filled musical fun. Made by John O’Shea’s Pacific Films, it features Kiri Te Kanawa, Lew Pryme and Aussie star Norman Rowe.
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
The Frighteners (1996)
The Frighteners (1996)
Once an architect, Frank Bannister now passes himself off as an exorcist of evil spirits. To bolster his facade, he claims his "special" gift is the result of a car accident that killed his wife. But what he does not count on is more people dying in the small town where he lives. As he tries to piece together the supernatural mystery of these killings, he falls in love with the wife of one of the victims and deals with a crazy FBI agent.
What We Do in the Shadows: Interviews with Some Vampires (2005)
What We Do in the Shadows: Interviews with Some Vampires (2005)
Three vampires who share an apartment are interviewed by a TV crew.
Killer Sofa (2019)
Killer Sofa (2019)
Francesca always attracted weirdos. When one of her stalkers is found dead, she looks for comfort from her best friend, Maxi. Meanwhile, Maxi’s grandfather, Jack, a disgraced Rabbi, comes across a reclining chair containing a Dybbuk inside. Jack and his voodoo sorceress partner try to find out where the recliner has been delivered while exploring Jack’s newfound gift for communicating with the other world. Meanwhile the reclining chair becomes enchanted by Francesca and starts committing crimes of passion.
I Survived a Zombie Holocaust (2014)
I Survived a Zombie Holocaust (2014)
From the land of early Peter Jackson comes another Braindead movie in bad taste. It’s the third day of shooting the low budget horror ‘Tonight They Come’ on location in the wilds of New Zealand. Director SMP is already beside himself having to work with a self-obsessed leading man and a bimbo actress when into his line of fire comes a new runner, wannabe screenwriter Wesley Pennington. Clearly an accident-prone nerd, Wesley nevertheless tries his best to fit in with the crazed cast and demented crew while falling head over heels for Susan, the set caterer. But something nasty has entered the local water supply and suddenly the zombie extras start acting like genuine members of the living dead, gore stunts looks even more authentic and actual severed limbs fly. Reel life turns real as Wesley attempts to save the day while ensuring his latest script will get made.
Diagnosis: Death (2010)
Diagnosis: Death (2010)
Two people meet as guinea pigs in a weekend drug trial. They soon discover their lives are in more danger than they imagined. The staff are peculiar. The drugs cause hallucinations. Or is the clinic really haunted? Struggling with their senses, they must team up to unravel a spooky mystery.