Best Comedy Films on KLM Flights (April 2026): Critic-Ranked

Best Comedy Films on KLM Flights — April 2026

Comedy is the genre most at risk of misranking by critic score alone. A film can be technically accomplished and leave you unmoved; another can be critic-proof and make you laugh for 90 minutes. This list ranks by combined critic score (Rotten Tomatoes averaged with Metacritic) because those scores still correlate with quality — but we'll flag the cases where the audience-critic split matters most.

April adds five new comedy titles over March. Two of them score 90% combined and belong among the strongest comedy additions to any European carrier's IFE catalog in recent months.

One note on genre: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin are both classified here as comedies — specifically dark comedies. If you came here expecting straightforward laughs, both films will deliver them. They'll also do something else. That's addressed directly in the write-ups.

→ Browse the full KLM April 2026 comedy catalog — inflight.guide

The Best Comedy Films on KLM in April 2026

1. Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) — 92.5%

Genre: Biography / Comedy-Drama | Runtime: 1h 46m | RT Score: 98% | Metacritic: 87/100

The highest-rated comedy in the April catalog, and the film most likely to arrive in your life through inflight.guide and stay with you long after. Melissa McCarthy as Lee Israel — a struggling biographer who begins forging literary letters and selling them to collectors — gives a performance of such precise misanthropy that it becomes deeply sympathetic. Richard E. Grant as her companion Jack is equally brilliant. This isn't a conventional comedy — there are no setpieces, no romantic arc, no satisfying moral resolution — but it's funny with a consistency that more traditional comedies can't match. 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. You've probably never seen it.

2. The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) — 91.5%

Genre: Dark Comedy / Drama | Runtime: 1h 54m | RT Score: 96% | Metacritic: 87/100

About the dark comedy classification: yes, this is a Martin McDonagh film about grief and masculine stubbornness set on a small Irish island, and it ends badly. It is also genuinely, consistently funny — the dialogue is as sharp as anything McDonagh wrote for In Bruges or Three Billboards, and Colin Farrell's performance grounds the absurdist escalation in something recognisably human. The comedy and the darkness aren't in conflict; they're the same thing. If you can tolerate a comedy that takes its subject seriously, this is the best one in the April catalog.

3. A Real Pain (2024) — 90.5%

Genre: Comedy-Drama | Runtime: 1h 30m | RT Score: 96% | Metacritic: 85/100

Jesse Eisenberg's 90-minute film about two cousins on a Holocaust heritage tour in Poland is funnier than it sounds, sadder than it should be, and more precise than almost anything in the catalog. Kieran Culkin's Oscar-winning performance as the charismatic, destabilising cousin Benji provides most of the comedy; Eisenberg's composed, anxious David provides the dramatic anchor. The balance is exact. At 90 minutes, it's one of the most efficient viewing decisions in the comedy category.

4. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) — 90% ★ NEW IN APRIL

Genre: Dark Comedy / Drama | Runtime: 1h 55m | RT Score: 92% | Metacritic: 88/100

Same writer as The Banshees of Inisherin: Martin McDonagh. Same approach: grief made grotesque and funny simultaneously. Frances McDormand's Mildred Hayes — renting billboard space to shame the local police chief over her daughter's unsolved murder — is one of cinema's great angry characters, played with a bluntness that somehow generates sympathy rather than alienation. Sam Rockwell's Officer Dixon provides a redemption arc that shouldn't work and does, completely. Two Academy Awards: Best Actress (McDormand), Best Supporting Actor (Rockwell), Best Original Screenplay (McDonagh). The highest Metacritic score (88) of any film on this list. One of April's two strongest comedy additions.

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) — 90% ★ NEW IN APRIL

Genre: Comedy / Drama | Runtime: 1h 40m | RT Score: 92% | Metacritic: 88/100

Wes Anderson's most acclaimed film — tied on combined score with Three Billboards, and the film that makes the strongest case that Anderson's ornate, symmetrical, pastel-coloured visual world is not an affectation but a formal choice with genuine emotional payoff. Ralph Fiennes as M. Gustave, the fastidious concierge of a European grand hotel between the wars, is revelatory: a performance of great comedic precision that suddenly reveals genuine feeling at the film's end. At 100 minutes, it fits the standard IFE window with room to spare. April adds both this and Three Billboards to the catalog in the same month — which is a meaningful upgrade.

6. The Holdovers (2023) — 89.5%

Genre: Comedy-Drama | Runtime: 2h 13m | RT Score: 96% | Metacritic: 83/100

Alexander Payne's prep school Christmas film is the warmest comedy in the upper tier of the April catalog. Paul Giamatti's misanthropic teacher is a genuinely funny creation — bilious, opinionated, and unexpectedly vulnerable — and the screenplay earns its emotional resolution honestly rather than sentimentally. Da'Vine Joy Randolph's Oscar-winning performance as the school cook Mary Lamb provides the film's moral centre. At 133 minutes, it asks more time than most comedies in this list; it repays every minute.

7. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) — 87.5% ★ NEW IN APRIL

Genre: Comedy / Drama | Runtime: 1h 41m | RT Score: 92% | Metacritic: 83/100

Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris's road-trip family comedy — a deeply dysfunctional family drives across America in a failing VW bus to deliver their daughter to a children's beauty pageant — won two Academy Awards (Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for Alan Arkin) and holds 87.5% combined. It's funny in the way that painful things are funny: because the characters take their problems with a seriousness that the situations don't warrant. The cast — Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin — is exceptional. One of the more underseen films on this list, and one of the better additions April makes to the comedy category.

8. Best in Show (2000) — 85.5%

Genre: Mockumentary / Comedy | Runtime: 1h 26m | RT Score: 85% | Metacritic: 86/100

Christopher Guest's dog show mockumentary is the funniest and shortest film in the comedy category. The improvisational format means each viewing surfaces different details — which makes it remarkably rewatch-friendly for passengers who saw it in 2000. Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara as a couple whose only shared memory is meeting at a Starbucks — except they couldn't have, because they both grew up in towns without a Starbucks — is a piece of character comedy as good as anything on this list. At 86 minutes, it asks very little and delivers reliably.

9. Wicked (2024) — 82% ★ NEW IN APRIL

Genre: Musical / Comedy | Runtime: 2h 40m | RT Score: 89% | Metacritic: 75/100

Jon M. Chu's adaptation of the Wicked musical is one of the most commercially successful films of 2024 — and among the most debated. Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda are both excellent; the production design is extraordinary; the first act is the best screen musical in years. The 89% RT score reflects genuine critical enthusiasm. The 75 Metacritic suggests reservations about its length (2h 40m for Part One of a planned two-part adaptation). Wicked: For Good — Part Two — is also in the April catalog, making this the first month passengers can watch the complete story. Combined runtime for both parts: approximately 5 hours.

10. Better Man (2024) — 81% ★ NEW IN APRIL

Genre: Musical Biography / Comedy | Runtime: 2h 14m | RT Score: 88% | Metacritic: 74/100

Michael Gracey's Robbie Williams biopic made the curious choice to portray Williams as a CGI chimpanzee — and somehow it works. Better Man is funny in ways that more conventional biopics aren't (the visual absurdity of a chimp singing "Angels" in a stadium is inherently comic), surprisingly emotionally effective, and unusual enough to stand out from the music biopic cluster that April adds to the catalog. For the full music biopic ranking, see the dedicated article — but if you want something more playful than the earnest Walk the Line or A Complete Unknown, this is the one.

Comedy Rankings — April 2026

Rank Title Year Runtime RT Metacritic Combined
1 Can You Ever Forgive Me? 2018 1h 46m 98% 87 92.5%
2 Banshees of Inisherin 2022 1h 54m 96% 87 91.5%
3 A Real Pain 2024 1h 30m 96% 85 90.5%
4 Three Billboards ★ NEW 2017 1h 55m 92% 88 90%
4 The Grand Budapest Hotel ★ NEW 2014 1h 40m 92% 88 90%
6 The Holdovers 2023 2h 13m 96% 83 89.5%
7 Little Miss Sunshine ★ NEW 2006 1h 41m 92% 83 87.5%
8 Best in Show 2000 1h 26m 85% 86 85.5%
9 Wicked ★ NEW 2024 2h 40m 89% 75 82%
10 Better Man ★ NEW 2024 2h 14m 88% 74 81%

Scores reflect combined Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer and Metacritic average. Availability confirmed in KLM's April 2026 IFE catalog.

→ Filter all KLM April movies by comedy on inflight.guide

About the Dark Comedy Classification

A note for passengers who come to this list wanting straightforward comedies: three of the top six films (Can You Ever Forgive Me?, The Banshees of Inisherin, Three Billboards) could equally appear in the drama rankings — and do, where applicable. They're listed here because their comedic register is central, not incidental. If you want only unambiguous comedy, Best in Show, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Grand Budapest Hotel are the cleaner choices.

Also Try...

Beyond the top 10:

Frequently Asked Questions

Does KLM have comedy movies available on all flights? Comedy films are part of the IFE catalog on all KLM long-haul widebody aircraft. European Cityhopper flights (A321neo, E195-E2) do not have seat-back screens — these films are not available on short-haul European routes.

Are Three Billboards and The Banshees of Inisherin really comedies? Both films are classified as dark comedies — and the classification is accurate. Martin McDonagh (who wrote both) works in a tradition where comedy and tragedy are inseparable. Both films have genuine, consistent humour running through them. They also end badly. You should know this before you choose them expecting an uncomplicated experience. If you want the dramatic version of that assessment, see the drama article.

How often does KLM's comedy selection change? The full catalog rotates monthly. This article is updated each month to reflect current confirmed availability. Some titles remain in rotation for several consecutive months; others appear for a single month. Check inflight.guide for real-time availability before your departure date.

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