The Graduate

If you are after a comedy that actually makes you laugh out loud, The Graduate is available in Australia on MUBI and HBO Max, and in the US on Amazon Prime Video and Kanopy right now. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. 3,710 people have weighed in on TMDB, and the verdict leans heavily positive. Dustin Hoffman is the obvious draw, but the whole ensemble earns its laughs. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on MUBI.

There is a reason The Graduate keeps coming up in conversation. The Graduate does what great comedies rarely manage — it is actually funny, consistently, across the whole run. A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter. Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft lead a cast that never overplays a joke. The Graduate came out in 1967. The real test of any comedy is whether it is still funny once you know all the jokes, and The Graduate holds up on rewatch in a way that separates it from one-off curiosities. The hit rate here is high enough that skipping ahead never feels like an option.

Comedy fans looking for a reliably funny watch will find it in The Graduate. It has built its own audience without needing a direct comparison. A contained runtime means every scene is doing real work. Dustin Hoffman sets the tone, but the supporting cast is where a lot of the best moments come from. A reliable pick for any night you want quality comedy without the homework.