Film

The Revengers' Comedies

Name: The Revengers' Comedies
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Romance
Released: 1998
Cast: Sam Neill, Helena Bonham Carter, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rupert Graves, Martin Clunes

Dark comedy

Two strangers meet on a bridge at rock bottom and make a pact: each will sabotage the life of the person who destroyed the other's. It's a darkly comic revenge fantasy that treats elaborate spite as foreplay, mixing farce with genuine loneliness. For anyone who's ever fantasized about getting even but lacked the nerve or the accomplice.

TMDb rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy caustic, character-driven farce where the schemes are petty, the performers are relishing every barb, and the cynicism stays playful rather than bleak.

Skip it if you want a tight plot that builds steadily, since this is a loose, ramshackle comedy that wanders between set pieces and can feel slight over its short running time.

What it asks of you: It runs a brisk 86 minutes and asks you to keep up with a cluster of interlocking grudges, moving quickly between sharp dialogue and broader slapstick without much time to settle.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Heathers1989

Pitch-black teen comedy about outsiders plotting destruction from the margins. Same energy of outsiders bonding over mutual contempt, same willingness to find laughs in real despair before spinning into chaos.

But The tone whiplash between satire and actual darkness can feel uneven. Some jokes land harder than others, and the 80s high-school setting dates it.

Eating Raoul1982

A perfectly matched couple kill swingers for profit—a revenge film disguised as a dark domestic comedy. Shares the exact same DNA: ordinary people pushed to do extraordinary things together, with real affection underneath the scheme.

But It's genuinely unsettling and deadpan in ways that won't appeal to anyone wanting a breezy romp. The violence is never glossed over as comic relief.

The War of the Roses1989

Bittersweet romantic thriller about a marriage that curdles into mutual sabotage. Same premise: two attractive people destroying each other, told with enough humour to keep it from being purely bleak.

But It takes itself more seriously than you might want, and the middle sections are genuinely sad rather than funny. If you want laughs first, this pivots away.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Revengers' Comedies

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

After the Wedding2006

Both explore the paradox that the person best positioned to destroy you is often the one closest to you; both find their dramatic engine in people staying tangled despite knowing they shouldn't.

A Danish film about two men whose lives get knotted together through secrets and slow revelation. A revenge plot told without the comic machinery, exploring how intimately people can wound each other and why they stay bound.

But Glacially paced and emotionally restrained. No jokes, no catharsis, just people learning terrible things about each other. You have to sit with discomfort.

Withnail & I1987

Two desperate men stumbling through a scheme fuelled by chemistry and mutual dysfunction. The warmth between characters who are thoroughly awful to each other is exactly the tone this film nails.

But Meandering and plotless by design. If you need narrative momentum or conventional story beats, this will feel like watching people drink for ninety minutes.

Four Rooms1995

An escalating night of favours and revenge in a hotel, with the same screwball energy and a cast clearly enjoying the chaos. Anarchic and silly in ways that match the spirit of elaborate schemes.

But Critics hated it and audiences were split—it swings wildly between funny and insufferable. The experiments with form don't always land.

In Good Company2004

A comedy about workplace sabotage and romantic entanglement that shares the DNA of plotting against people while getting drawn into their lives. Lighter than this film, but the dynamic clicks the same way.

But It's conventional in ways that feel safe. If you're looking for genuine edge or real consequences, this softens everything with Hollywood resolution.

The Ladykillers1955

Criminals pretending to be musicians while plotting a heist, undone by their landlady. The same joy in elaborate deception and the comedy of plans that collapse because humans are too human.

But It's a Ealing comedy, which means it's staunchly British and plays by older comic rules. The pacing is gentle, almost stately.

Burn After Reading2008

Ordinary people tangled in schemes of mutual revenge and self-sabotage. A black comedy where everyone's trying to ruin someone else and it all goes beautifully wrong.

But Deliberately shapeless and nihilistic. The ending doesn't resolve anything, which infuriates people who want their stories to mean something clear.

Death Becomes Her1992

Two women locked in a lifelong revenge fantasy that becomes grotesque and physical. Same darkness, same bonding over spite, though this one leans into horror-comedy territory.

But Schlocky special effects that haven't aged beautifully. The camp tone won't click if you're watching for genuine scares or emotional depth.

The Sting1973

Both films find their joy in watching two people execute a shared fantasy of revenge against someone who wronged them; both treat the scheme itself as the real relationship.

Two con artists pull off an elaborate revenge scheme against a gangster. The joy of a perfectly executed con that pivots on timing and mutual trust between the perpetrators, played with real warmth and period charm.

But It's long, deliberately paced, and the climax relies on following a con so intricate it risks losing you. If you want quick laughs, it demands patience.