Anyone here a fan of parody movies? It used to be one of my favorite genres, back then when parody movies had a bit more substance. My favorite one has always been the Naked Gun series, which is a parody of spy or cop movies. Also, I think Leslie Nielsen is a brilliant comedic actor, and his appearance - which wasn't the typical handsome spy type - actually contributed a lot to the comedic value of his movies, in my opinion. Another close second favorite parody movie of mine was Charlie Sheen's Hot Shots, which was a parody of Rambo. I've forgotten most of it now, but I remember having fun watching it and I plan on watching it again soon to remind myself of the great scenes in it. The new parody movies are still pretty alright by me, but I think the enjoyment factor of watching these modern ones are a lot more different than the previous parody movies, because like I said, I think the old ones were a bit more well structured and a little more substantial in terms of content and coherence. How about you guys, do you enjoy watching parody movies? If so, which ones did you enjoy watching the most?
I like parody movies like the first two Scary Movies. I have yet to see Not Another Teen Movie. There was also a wedding movie that came a few yrs ago that was funny. Dance Flick is also underrated.
I liked the older parody movies much better. Among the newer ones, if you consider them as such, I would pick out Austin Powers and Sacha Baron Cohen's movies as entertaining to watch. It is depressing that many new parody movies are downright horrible (e.g. Vampires Suck, The Starvation Games etc.) They try very hard to be funny but keep falling flat, and use the storylines of the latest blockbuster flicks to try and attract viewers.
Man, isn't the Naked Gun Series great! They were an improvement on Naked Space [anyone watched it?] which wasn't all that funny. The Naked Gun 1 and 2 are great but the thirds well . . , it's much better than most parodies made after that anyway. Other not-so-great parodies I've watched are: Austin Powers movies. The first two were OK but the third one was pretty bad. Scary movie 1 and 2 were great but all the others were bad. Kung Fu hustle. A good Chinese movie and pretty hilarious too.
Also check out Clue. It's an old-ish movie that's, wait for it, actually a cinematic translation of... Cluedo (yeap, "the board game")! And although that would be one of the last things you'd expect to see as a movie, AND it was a financial disaster when it was released, it's actually a great movie, surely one of the best of its kind. Nowadays it's even considered a cult classic. Expanding on the logic of the board game, Clue presents a murder mystery like Agatha Crhistie's classic novels (and their many cinematic and TV translations), while making fun of them, the stereotypical characters of similar "whodunnit" movies and their too-serious tone. Also check out Hot Fuzz, a British parody of police procedurals, from the same team that gave us Shawn of the Dead. Of course, you've already watched the all-zombie-movies-and-series-ever parody, Shawn of the Dead, didn't you?
I think the only parody movie I've seen was Vampire Sucks which is the parody of Twilight. I think it was pretty funny. I'm not into parody movies to be honest because i think some of them are just pretty lame and just beyond ridiculous. I understand they're trying to be funny but i just can't get into it.
@obliviousme That's because the only parody movie you say you saw actually... er... sucked. Just like its title says. A "parody" is just a comedy that specifically pokes fun at something. How funny (or not) it is has to do with how funny its scenario and performers are, not with this comedy sub-genre itself. What you said is like saying "I saw American Ninja 4, man, all action movies suck" without having scene any other action flick, ever.
Sacha Baron Cohen's movies are usually funny and crude. Those are my kind of movies. Bruno is a must-watch! I also love Deuce Bigalow 1 and 2.
@sidney Well, those aren't exactly "parodies", are they? A "parody" is a comedy that pokes fun not "at something" in general, but to another movie, or book, or song. It's "an alternate, funny version of something usually serious". For example, the Naked Gun series was a parody of all Police procedurals / "buddy cop" movies/series up to then. Airplane was a parody of a stream of destruction movies released in the 80s were "something bad happened on a plane" (terrorist attacks, monsters, whatever). Bruno could be called a parody of the world of fashion, but not really, 'cause that's not what a "parody" is. If the whole movie was structured like an episode of, dunno, America's Next Top Model, THEN it would be "a parody of that".
I loved the martial arts parody movie Kung Pao because it reminded me in a way of the older parody movies. Some of the new parody movies are badly written and not funny. It just seems like they're cashing in on parodying movies like Twilight. People forget that Scream was originally a sort of parody of all horror movies and it was great for the time. I don't like many of the newer parody movies. The Naked Gun movies were great and I also liked the disaster comedy Airplane.
Yeah, at the back of my mind, I know my answer was a bit off, but since I saw someone mentioned Sacha Baron Cohen's movies, I thought it may be an acceptable answer. I watched parody movies that made fun of Scream, but I forgot the story already.
@sidney Yeah, I'm not attacking or anything, neither wanted to offend (or even "correct") you in any way. 'just sayin', 'cause the term "parody" is misused many times, and it's almost lost its meaning. It ain't just "a non-funny comedy". That ("non-funny comedies") is what parodies became after the very series you mention - Scary Movie. The first one was okay-ish, the second not-so-much, and now they're up to, what, five, six or seven of them? And they mostly suck. The same goes for any "parody" of any recent "teen movie", since their creators didn't want to actually create funny comedies, make fun of them or "say something of their own" on the matter. They just wanted to piggy-back on the success of any movie they parodied.
