Grace - Ferris Buellers Day Off (1986)
The Funny Female: Secretary to Principal Ed Rooney, Grace (Edie McClurg) undermines the clueless idiot at every turn, her array of deadpan expressions a seemingly endless source of sarcasm.
Best Line: On Ferris Bueller: “Oh, he's very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.”
Brooke Swinkowski - Butter (2011)
The Funny Female: A gold-digging hooker with ‘80s Madonna style, Brooke (Olivia Wilde)’s approach in life is to get what she needs via the most ridiculous method possible. For example - entering a butter carving contest as a form of retaliation.
Best Line: “So, you want a cookie 'cause you're going to get pregnant? I get pregnant, like, once a month!”
Sherri Ann Cabot - Best In Show (2000)
The Funny Female: A busty blonde married to a man old enough to be her great-grandfather, Sherri Ann (Jennifer Coolidge)’s passion in life revolves around her award-winning poodle Rhapsody. And bumping uglies with the dog’s trainer.
Best Line: On her marriage: “We have so much in common, we both love soup and snow peas, we love the outdoors, and talking and not talking. We could not talk or talk forever and still find things to not talk about.”
Gail Abernathy-McKadden - Pitch Perfect (2012)
The Funny Female: Scene-stealer Gail (Elizabeth Banks) serves as a commentator during the acapella tryouts, dropping droll remarks that soar over the head of fellow judge, John Smith.
Best Line: “Nothing makes a woman feel more like a girl than a man who sings like a boy.”
Gracie Hart - Miss Congeniality (2000)
The Funny Female: FBI Special Agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock)’s reluctant makeover for the Miss United States beauty pageant transforms her from a clumsy, snorting gannet into a clumsy, snorting gannet that’s smokin’ hot.
Best Line: Her response to the interview segment of the pageant - what does society need? “That would be harsher punishment for parole violators, Stan.”
Loretta - Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
The Funny Female: Loretta (Alison Janney)’s an unabashed trailer park floozy with a heart of gold and an endless supply of shrewd quips. She’s never far from a beer, a smoke and a man young enough to be her grandson.
Best Line: Are we on 'Cops' again?
Rosalyn Rosenfeld - American Hustle (2013)
The Funny Female: Bored housewife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) derives much glee from insulting her schlub husband Irving the second he’s home. Chastising him over the microwave and his criminal entanglements, she lets off steam with a deadpan lip-sync of Santana’s Evil Ways. In Marigolds.
Best Line: Referring to the “science oven” microwave explosion: “Bring something into this house that's gonna take all the nutrition out of our food and then light our house on fire? Thank God for me.”
Elizabeth - Young Frankenstein (1974)
The Funny Female: A batty actress engaged to Dr. Victor Frankenstein, Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn) has a tendency for overdramatising, as evidenced by her bursting into song whenever the fancy takes her.
Best Line: (as the monster ravages her) “Oh, sweet mystery of liiife!”
Frau Farbissina - Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (1997)
The Funny Female: One of Dr. Evil’s henchmen, the source of Frau Farbissina (Mindy Sterling)’s humour stems from the trouble she has maintaining a consistent volume when barking orders at her lackeys. The final syllable often turns to an ear-piercing scream.
Best Line: "Fire the la-SER!”
Linda Ash - Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
The Funny Female: A prostitute currently moonlighting as a porn star, the helium-voiced Linda Ash (Mira Sorvino) has aspirations of becoming a bona fide Broadway actress. The constant stream of knob gags and phallic accoutrement dotted about her flat might put the brakes on that, however.
Best Line: “You've got no confidence, it's sweet, I like that in a man. I can't stand those johns who come in and throw down a couple of hundred and whip out a big dick and wave it all over the joint.”
Nicky - The 40-Year Old Virgin (2005)
The Funny Female: A serial drunk-driver, Nicky (Leslie Mann) picks up the titular virgin, Andy, at a club after drinking the entire bar. Still, being half-cut means she has chance to show off her classy road skills; hitting parked cars her finest achievement.
Best Line: (drunkenly flailing behind the wheel) “Let’s get some fuckin’ French toast!”
Jackie Q - Get Him To The Greek (2010)
The Funny Female: Scandalous pop star girlfriend to Aldous Snow, Jackie Q (Rose Byrne) is a mouthy cockney who loves boozing and penning songs rife with details of her preferred sexual exploits.
Best Line: Her response to a showbiz gossip host on sobriety: “The old Aldous, would've you know, had his way with you. He would have bent you over that pretty little chair and had his way and now we'd be having a three way, you'd be coming over for a cognac later I'll tell you that sweetie. You bet that's not happening anymore.”
Juno - Juno (2007)
The Funny Female: With a vocabulary surpassing that of Dickens, Juno Macguff (Ellen Page)’s gift of the gab can’t wangle her out of an unwanted teen pregnancy. But it does mean she refers to her circumstance as being “forshizz up the spout.”
Best Line: “I hate it when adults use the term "sexually active." What does it even mean? Am I gonna like deactivate some day or is it a permanent state of being?”
Emily Charlton - The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
The Funny Female: Miranda Priestley’s cynical assistant, Emily (Emily Blunt) is a hard-nosed toff who makes new girl Andrea’s life a living hell with a brilliant tirade of cutting insults and a blatant refusal to be the least bit helpful.
Best Line: “I’m on this new diet. Well, I don't eat anything and when I feel like I'm about to faint I eat a cube of cheese. I'm just one stomach flu away from my goal weight.”
Elizabeth Halsey - Bad Teacher (2011)
The Funny Female: A perpetually-stoned temp, Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz)’s only concern with her teaching job is whether she can sleep off her hangover during class. Her preferred learning method is putting on a movie and passing out.
Best Line: “When I first started teaching I thought that I was doing it for all the right reasons. Shorter hours. Summers off. No accountability.”
Vickie Miner - Reality Bites (1994)
The Funny Female: College graduate Vickie (Janeane Garofalo) snarks her way through most situations (as a result of having to work at The Gap), with her special blend of sarcasm and pop culture referencing.
When she’s not folding sweaters with precision, she enjoys getting baked and hooking up with random guys.
Best Line: “I’m late for a jean-folding seminar. Let's locomote!”
Mona Lisa Vito - My Cousin Vinny (1992)
The Funny Female: A true New Yawker, Lisa (Marisa Tomei) is an out-of-work hairdresser whose skills also include the fundamentals of car mechanics, shoddy photography and mouthing-off with sass.
Best Line: “I hate to bring it up because I know you've got enough pressure on you already. But, we agreed to get married as soon as you won your first case. Meanwhile, TEN YEARS LATER, my niece, the daughter of my sister is getting married. My biological clock is TICKING LIKE THIS and the way this case is going, I ain't never getting married!”
Oda Mae Brown - Ghost (1990)
The Funny Female: Spiritualist medium hack Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) makes a living bullshitting her clients ’til she realises she actually can communicate with the dead. Luckily her background as a conwoman with questionable fashion sense comes in handy when convincing others of the same.
Best Line: “I know you don't think I'm giving this 4 million dollars to a bunch of nuns!”
Carolyn Burnham - American Beauty (1999)
The Funny Female: Wife of life-crisis sufferer Lester Burnham, Carolyn (Annette Bening) loses her shit at the slightest chance the antique sofa might have acquired a speck of dirt or if dinnertime conversation isn’t up to par.
Best Line: To her daughter, Jane: “Honey, I'm so proud of you. I watched you very closely, and you didn't screw up once!”
Hildy Johnson - His Girl Friday (1940)
The Funny Female: Quick-witted speed-gabber Hildy (Rosalind Russell) is an ex-reporter with a smart comeback for anyone who dares to presume she’s just a broad.
Best Line: “If I ever lay my two eyes on you again, I'm gonna walk right up to you and hammer on that monkeyed skull of yours 'til it rings like a Chinese gong!”
Bridget Jones - Bridget Joness Diary (2001)
The Funny Female: Thirty-something singleton Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) is on a quest to find her elusive Mr. Right, yet clambers through social occasions with the grace and etiquette of a simian.
Best Line: “Thank you, Daniel, that is very good to know. But if staying here means working within 10 yards of you, frankly, I'd rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein's arse.”
Ouiser Boudreaux - Steel Magnolias (1989)
The Funny Female: A miserly old chuck, Ouiser (Shirley Maclaine)’s main quandaries in life are trying to keep her slobbering St. Bernard from losing his fur and how to offend as many people as possible.
Best Line: “The only reason people are nice to me is because I have more money than God.”
Cher Horowitz - Clueless (1995)
The Funny Female: A charming Beverly Hills brat, Cher (Alicia Silverstone) embodies the quintessential rich kid with above-average smarts she puts to good use by riffing intellectually on fashion, popularity and boys with her best buddy Di.
Best Line: “It's like that book I read in the 9th grade that said ‘’tis a far far better thing doing stuff for other people.’”
Detective Mullins - The Heat (2013)
The Funny Female: Guttermouth Boston detective Shannon Mullins’ (Melissa McCarthy) idea of a successful arrest involves hurling abuse at assailants before running them over with her beat-up car.
Best Line: “Don’t do slang. It’s like watching a nun make out. It’s uncomfortable.”
Annie Walker - Bridesmaids (2011)
The Funny Female: Desperate to find her life’s purpose after her bakery closes its ovens, kind goofball Annie (Kristen Wiig) makes a blundering spectacle of anything she turns her hand to.
Between boinking Jon Hamm’s airhead hunk and dishing out atrocious life advice to customers at her new job, she’s also responsible for an entire wedding party soiling themselves in public following her dodgy restaurant recommendation.
Best Line: An in-flight (and drunken) Annie opens the curtain between economy and first class: “This should be open, cause it's civil rights. This is the nineties.”
