The 22 Best Sports Comedy Movies of All Time

Locker-room classics from the seventies share the bracket with modern gross-out favourites and a few cult picks only true fans will defend. Which one wins?

1

Caddyshack

A 1980 country-club golf farce with Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield that set the template for the genre.

2

Slap Shot

Paul Newman coaches a losing minor-league hockey team to glory through goon violence in this profane 1977 cult classic.

3

Major League

A 1989 baseball comedy in which a spiteful owner assembles the worst Cleveland roster she can find and it wins anyway.

4

Happy Gilmore

Adam Sandler's 1996 breakout as a failed hockey player whose slap-shot drive takes over the pro golf tour.

5

Dodgeball

The 2004 underdog story of a rundown gym facing a corporate fitness empire in a Las Vegas dodgeball tournament.

6

The Bad News Bears

Walter Matthau coaches a foul-mouthed Little League team of misfits in the 1976 film that invented the ragtag-kids formula.

7

A League of Their Own

Penny Marshall's 1992 comedy about the women's pro baseball league of World War II, with Tom Hanks as its drunken manager.

8

Bull Durham

A 1988 minor-league baseball comedy about a veteran catcher, a wild young pitcher and the fan who schools them both.

9

Talladega Nights

Will Ferrell's 2006 NASCAR satire about a driver born to go fast and the French rival who ends his winning streak.

10

The Waterboy

Adam Sandler's 1998 hit about a bullied Louisiana waterboy whose rage makes him an unstoppable college football tackler.

11

Kingpin

The Farrelly brothers' 1996 bowling comedy starring Woody Harrelson as a one-handed has-been chasing one last tournament.

12

Blades of Glory

Will Ferrell and Jon Heder play banned rivals who exploit a loophole to compete as figure skating's first male pair.

13

Cool Runnings

The 1993 crowd-pleaser loosely based on Jamaica's first Olympic bobsled team and its reluctant American coach.

14

White Men Can't Jump

Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson hustle Los Angeles playground basketball courts in this 1992 comedy.

15

The Mighty Ducks

A 1992 Disney comedy in which a disgraced lawyer is sentenced to coach a hopeless youth hockey team.

16

Space Jam

Michael Jordan teams with the Looney Tunes to play basketball against alien invaders in the 1996 family favourite.

17

The Longest Yard

Adam Sandler's 2005 remake about a disgraced quarterback assembling a convict football team to face the prison guards.

18

Semi-Pro

Will Ferrell's 2008 ode to 1970s ABA basketball as singer-turned-owner Jackie Moon tries to save the Flint Tropics.

19

Tin Cup

A 1996 romantic golf comedy with Kevin Costner as a washed-up driving-range pro who qualifies for the US Open.

20

BASEketball

The 1998 cult comedy from the South Park creators about a driveway game that becomes a national professional league.

21

Shaolin Soccer

Stephen Chow's 2001 Hong Kong hit in which kung fu masters take their skills to the football pitch.

22

Goon

A 2011 hockey comedy starring Seann William Scott as a bouncer recruited to protect a minor-league team's star player.