Action comedy is a hybrid genre that combines elements of action fiction with comedy. While early action films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the American action film genre in the 1980s when actors who had backgrounds in comedy such as Eddie Murphy began taking roles in action films. The genre approaches various narratives and styles such as buddy films, superhero films, and Hong Kong action cinema featuring various actors such as Jackie Chan.

Action comedy has also been a recurring theme in television, with series such as The Dukes of Hazzard (1979–1985) and Peacemaker (2022).

Film Academic Yvonne Tasker described most post-classical Hollywood action films as "more or less hybrids." Action films are set across multiple settings and spaces with no single defining landscape and can become complicated in categorization which is sometimes acknowledged through hybridized designators such as action comedy.

Characteristics

Cynthia King said that the term "action comedy" is typically reserved for action films in which humor plays a relatively central role. Such films can take on a wide variety of formats, including buddy films involving mismatched partners such as the Lethal Weapon (1987–1998) and the Rush Hour (1998–2007) film series, as well as Hong Kong action cinema films featuring actors such as Jackie Chan. King also included within the genre the more comedic superhero films such as Mystery Men (1999), Hancock (2008) and The Green Hornet (2011).

Elements of action comedy existed in early cinema, such as the chase sequences in pre-1915 films such as The Lonedale Operator (1911), which anticipate editing patterns of later action films such as Wheels on Meals (1984). Later silent film comedies such as those featuring Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton (e.g., Easy Street (1917) and The General (1926)) featured chases, gags and stunts that would serve as inspirations for both comedic and non-comedic action set pieces in later action films. These films include Chaplin and Keaton using physical materials on stage, either weapons or props, to emphasize, affect or respond to their bodily actions.

King wrote that despite a large cinematic history of humor and peril, the action comedy film only "came into its own" as part of American action film genre in the early 1980s, notably when actors who had backgrounds in comedy such as Eddie Murphy began taking roles in action films.

In his book, Lights, Camera, Action: Crafting an Action Script (2005), Gregory Sarno said that not all films containing conflict and humor are action comedies; Sarno considered films with action-laden subplots such as Big Momma's House (2000) and Dumb & Dumber (1994) to be closer to straight comedies because the action lacks an integral role in their narratives. King echoed this point, saying that films such as Night at the Museum (2006) or Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) are better categorized as straight comedies since most of the action is framed comically with no serious violence or peril. She also said that the occurrence of sardonic one-liners in an action film, such as "Go ahead, make my day" from Sudden Impact (1983), is insufficient to categorize such a film as an action comedy.

Mark Gallagher, in Action Figures: Men, Action Films and Contemporary Adventure Narratives (2006), stated that action comedies often feature a fish out of water theme, such as Murphy's character clashing with upper-class white communities and conventional police procedures in the Beverly Hills Cop (1984–2024) film series.

List of films + List of action comedy films Film Year 21 Jump Street 2012 22 Jump Street 2014 48 Hrs. 1982 American Made 2017 Ant-Man 2015 Ant-Man and the Wasp 2018 Attack the Block 2011 Bad Boys 1995 Bad Boys for Life 2020 Big Trouble in Little China 1986 Beverly Hills Cop 1984 Birds of Prey 2020 Black Dynamite 2009 1980 2011 D.E.B.S. 2004 Deadpool 2016 Deadpool 2 2018 Deadpool & Wolverine 2024 Drive-Away Dolls 2024 Drunken Master II 1994 Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves 2023 Everything Everywhere All at Once 2022 2024 Free Guy 2021 Galaxy Quest 1999 Game Night 2018 Get Smart 2008 1926 2019 Ghostbusters 1984 Guardians of the Galaxy 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 2017 2013 Hit Man 2023 Hot Fuzz 2007 If Looks Could Kill 1991 2014 Johnny English 2003 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 2017 Keanu 2016 Kick-Ass 2010 Kingsman: The Secret Service 2014 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 2005 Kung Fu Hustle 2004 Lethal Weapon 1987 Lethal Weapon 2 1989 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 1998 Logan Lucky 2007 2015 1994 Men in Black 1997 Midnight Run 1988 Miss Congeniality 2000 Mr. & Mrs. Smith 2005 2016 Now You See Me 2 2016 2010 2020 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 2003 Police Story 1985 Polite Society 2023 1987 Red 2010 Ride Along 2014 Romancing the Stone 1984 Rumble in the Bronx 1995 Rush Hour 1998 Rush Hour 2 2001 Rush Hour 3 2007 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World 2010 Shanghai Noon 2000 Shaolin Soccer 2001 Shaun of the Dead 2004 Shazam! 2019 Sherlock Holmes 2009 Shotgun Wedding 2022 Something Wild 1986 Spy 2015 Spy Kids 2001 2021 Supercop 1992 Tag 2018 Team America: World Police 2004 Thor: Ragnarok 2017 Three Kings 1999 Tropic Thunder 2008

TV series + List of action comedy TV series TV series Year(s) 1983–1987 Burn Notice 2007–2013 Chuck 2007–2012 Doom Patrol 2020–2022 1979–1985 Future Man 2017–2020 Kidd Video 1984–1985 Lethal Weapon 2016–2019 Our Flag Means Death 2022-2023 Peacemaker 2022 Remington Steele 1982–1987 Rush Hour 2016 Teenage Bounty Hunters 2020

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