I went along when friends insisted we watch Scary Movie 4 on DVD. I acquiesced again when Date Movie seemed like the least offensive thing to sample on cable one night. But after staring slack-jawed at Epic Movie, last weekend’s No. 1 piece of bait for overpriced snack food at the multiplex, I finally had a comedy-fan meltdown. I felt violated. Wronged. Shaken to my movie-parody-loving core. Because the tenets of great movie parody are nowhere to be found in this latest effort from writer-directors Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, a team touted in the Epic Movie trailer as "two of the six writers of Scary Movie." They’re already at work on Scary Movie 5. Please, somebody, stop the madness. As long as audiences keep ponying up the bucks, the comic craptacularity won’t stop.
I had to self-medicate after Epic Movie with a YouTube tiptoe through some really great parodies, like Jack Black’s assaults on The Lord of the Rings and Spider-Man from the MTV Movie Awards. I got another soothing bump from Billy Crystal’s peerless Oscar-intro movie-trailer riffs. It felt like filet mignon after an overdose of McDonald’s.
What makes a movie parody funny? Start with actually having somesatirical ideas, based on a close reading of the original. Like, forinstance, Jack Black deriding elf leader Elrond’s LOTR headgear as "alittle 1983." All you get in Epic Movie is restagings and references.Jennifer Coolidge (pictured, with Kevin Hart) may squeeze a laugh or two by mugging her way throughthe role of "White Bitch," sending up the white witch played by TildaSwinton in The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe. But there’s nothing in theperformance that specifically parodies the material or the actressshe’s burlesquing. (And that’s probably not Coolidge’s fault. Swinton’sjust not that juicy a target, the way, say, William Shatner’sstop-and-go line readings as Captain Kirk have been for everyone fromJohn Belushi to Jim Carrey to Fred Savage.)
Most of the re-enactors in Epic grapple with the same problem. Sure,the faces look something like the actors who’ve played Harry Potter,Willy Wonka, and Borat. But the actors we see are just mimicking, notparodying. Any kid at a family party could do that. Where’s the actualmaterial? Oh, the pain of having to watch Coolidge and Fred Willard,inspired sketch comedians, trying to make something out of nothing.
The morning after, I still have a bad-satire hangover. Maybe I’dfeel better if I revisited some legendary TV parodists: Carol Burnett playing Scarlett O’Hara in apair of curtains in the immortal spoof "Went with the Wind." Or SidCaesar and Imogene Coca, drowned by a wave in a goof on the famoussex-on-the-beach-scene in From Here to Eternity. (Don’t know thoseparodies? Suck it up and educate yourself, and you’ll be glad you gotyour "Lazy Sunday"-loving butt in gear.) I’d be equally happy to nursemyself with a pile of old Mad magazine parodies drawn by Mort Drucker, the funniest pop-culture caricaturist inhistory.
Okay, I’ve helped all America wash the taste of Epic Movie out ofits collective mouth. Now it’s your turn. What’s a disgusted parodylover to do for succor? What are your own all-time-fave movie sendups,lampoons, and takedowns? Is it the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker ouvre youtreasure most? The best skits from shows like SNL, In Living Color andMad TV? Let the continued comedy healing commence.
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Airplane!, Naked Gun, and Hot Shots.
Nuff said.
Airplane!, Naked Gun, and Hot Shots.
Nuff said.
Don’t forget TOP SECRET
What happened to the good parody movies from the great ZAZ team? (ZUCKER ABRAMS ZUCKER)
Robin Hood: Men In Tights. That’s how it’s done.
Wet Hot American Summer.
Kentucky Fried Movie
Spaceballs
Loved Jimmy Fallon’s Episode III parody from the ‘05 MTV Movie Awards (Makes it hard to watch the actual movie now without laughing). Of course the original Airplane remains the ultimate parody. Hey does anyone remember a movie from the early 80’s titled Loose Shoes? Seem to remember it had some hilarious film parodies.
Airplane, the first Naked Gun, and SPaceballs. As for TV, Eddie Murphy’s parody of Mr. Rogers on early 80’s SNL is enough to justify his whole career. It’s THAT funny
Kentucky Fried Movie (still love A Fistful of Yen). And What’s Up Tiger Lily? — one of my fave Woody Allen movies.
geez you are all missing the Mel Brooks movies, which were pretty much allparodies of the genre:
Young Frankenstein
Blazing saddles
High Anxiety
Space Balls
Silent Movie
To be or not to be
Airplane, Hot Shots and Loaded Weapon
I forgot one: Top Secret!
Best parady even is Shaun of the Dead, mainly because not only is it funny, but it’s a fantastic film as well.
“Airplane!” is the funniest movie ever made — I’ve seen it so many times, I can recite the lines along with it. No movie-parody has been released since that comes even halfway close to the same level of comic brilliance. What really sucks is that movies like “Date Movie” and “Epic Movie” make even “Hot Shots! Part Deux” look genius.
Hello, “I’m Gonna Get You Sucka” anyone? C’mon now!
I will concur with Mel Brooks’ work. Genious! Spaceballs, Men In Tights! All classics! Bravo, Mel!
“Airplane!” is the best parady ever.
By the way, has anyone else out there seen Chris Rock’s “Pooty Tang”? That’s a pretty good one…
No one can top The Kentucky Fried Movie which started it all, and Airplane comes in second. Epic Movie and Date Movie are just plain dumb.
a forgotten gem from the MTV awards: Sex and the Matrix
Mel Brooks Parodies rock! As do the Leslie Neilson ones.
I can’t say that HAVEN’T enjoyed any of the Scary Movie films. They’ve all been good to me in their own way. Date Movie falls here as well. I still have an urging of spraying some humas on face if I get a blemish, lol.
I haven’t seen Epic Movie, mostly because I kind of figured with the LACK of promotion it got (I didn’t even know it was coming out until the week of release), there was a reason behind it. And this PopWatch post just proves my instincts right.
Maybe it is because I grew up in the 80’s with a bunch of John Hughs movies but….I really enjoyed Not Another Teen Movie.
Airplane! is the king.
Rob is right about the Matrix In the City spoof. It’s hilarious.
Haven’t seen Murder by Death mentioned and it’s an awesome spoof of the mystery genre…
I also love most of Mel Brooks’ spoofs.
Do Christopher Guest movies count as parodies? Some of them are more parodic (that may not be a word)than others, but I think “A Mighty Wind” is definitely a parody (and it’s one of my favorite movies).
They count as parodies of possible real life situations. I think that it started with the SNL sketch of him and Martin Short as brothers practing for a synchronized swimming competition. And Best in Show was his finest work.
just enjoyed ‘young frankenstein’ early this week for the truly talented comedians in it. i want to second ‘not another date movie,’ wet hot american summer’ and ‘airplane.’ i’ve been hungering for a good parody movie and the comments are very inspiring.
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavera is an homage and a parody of cheesy SCI-FI movies from the 1950s. It’s brilliant!
I also enjoyed Elvira’s Haunted Hills which is a great homage/parody of Roger Corman’s movies based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe. Undercover Brother was pretty good too. And of course just about anything by Mel Brooks.
OH, and did anyone mention Galaxy Quest. The greatest space parody of all time. It managed to poke fun at the source material (Star Trek) but at the same time honoring it and remembering it in fondness.