Being a sports fan means willingly enduring pain and suffering every year for the small chance your favorite team will win a championship. Talented teams see their title aspirations end with a loss each season, leaving their most dedicated followers to wonder what could have been if one or two breaks had gone the other way. The very nature of fandom is designed to leave you feeling frustrated, sad, and discouraged, but that’s only true with real sports. If you would much rather shed tears of laughter than tears of disappointment, you can always watch your favorite funny sports movie. So to help you escape the crushing weight of yet another heartbreaking loss by your favorite team, here are nine sports comedies you can stream right now.
The Waterboy and Happy Gilmore (Netflix)
Whether you prefer your absurdist slapstick humor to take place on the golf course or the gridiron, these two classic Adam Sandler comedies have you covered. Happy Gilmore features the world’s unlikeliest golfer trying to save his grandmother’s house from foreclosure and becoming a national sensation, and The Waterboy features the world’s unlikeliest college linebacker turning around a down-on-its-luck college program and becoming a national sensation, and yet the movies take very different paths. Happy exemplifies pure rage that must be harnessed, and Bobby Boucher exemplifies repressed anger that must be unleashed. Both approaches result in two of Adam Sandler’s funniest movies ever.
Nacho Libre (Netflix)
Some movies you watch and think, “How did this get made?” Nacho Libre, which stars Jack Black as a monk in Mexico who secretly follows his dream to become a luchador so he can help pay for better food for orphans, is a sales pitch that doesn’t need a salesman. This might not stand among Jack Black’s best comedies, but as you’d expect for such a silly role (loosely based on a real priest!) Black is hilarious and charming.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Rickey Bobby (Hulu)
Anchorman and Step Brothers might be more famous, but only one Will Ferrell sports movie (of the many he has made) also sees him team up with John C. Reilly. They play two NASCAR racers and best friends whose lives and relationship are ruined when a European Formula One driver threatens their masculinity and dominance on the race track. Talladega Nights contains ridiculous characters, broad comedy, and absurd situations, but it also contains some amazing social commentary that might be the funniest thing about it.
The Longest Yard (Hulu)
No, we are NOT talking about the terrible 2005 Adam Sandler remake, we mean the classic 1974 original starring the late, great Burt Reynolds. He plays Paul Crewe, a disgraced former NFL quarterback who was caught shaving points. He gets sent to jail where he is tasked by the evil warden with putting together a team of convicts to play against the prison guards semi-pro football squad. When the movie isn’t absolutely hysterical it’s incredibly touching and dramatic, with one of the best endings in sports movie history. This isn’t just one of the best sports movies ever made, it’s also one of the best prison movies ever.
Goon and Goon: Last of the Enforcers (Netflix/Hulu)
Seann William Scott tends to be charming even when he plays unlikable characters, so it’s no surprise his single most lovable character ever might be hockey player Doug Glatt, a sweet, overly polite, kinda dumb athlete who more than makes up for his near total lack of hockey playing skills by throwing and taking a whole lot of punches. The 2017 sequel might not totally live up to the stellar 2011 original, but if you are looking for a very funny double feature full of blood, broken bones, and missing teeth, Goon and Goon: Last of the Enforcers definitely lands a winning knockout.
The Bad News Bears (Amazon Prime/Hulu)
The original 1974 version of The Bad News Bears is one of the best sports movies ever. While another all-time classic, Rocky, created the genre of lovable underdogs who win our hearts by overcoming impossible odds, the vulgar youth baseball team run by an even more crass manager helped create the sports movie genre of unlovable underdogs who make us laugh. There’s a reason this movie led to multiple sequels and a decent remake, the Bad News bears were the best at being bad.
The Foot Fist Way (Amazon Prime)
Is Danny McBride the funniest person alive? Yes, probably. And before he teamed up with director Jody Hill to create Kenny Powers on HBO’s Eastbound & Down, they parodied martial arts films with 2006’s The Foot Fist Way. If you are a Danny McBride fan (a.k.a. you have ever seen him in anything he has ever done) it’s an absolute much watch.Unlike real sports, Danny McBride will never leave you disappointed.
Featured Image: Universal/Columbia/Paramount
