If you, like me, are someone who misses the ridiculous ridicule and cartoonish commentary on cliche that come with parody movies (or spoof movies), I bet you will be happy to learn there is another Scary Movie sequel in the works right now. As we wait for Hollywood’s latest send-up of the best horror movies in recent memory, I have compiled a list of the greatest parody movies – along with a tip on how to watch them – that should keep you laughing for a while.
The Hot Shots! Movies (1991, 1993)
Director: Jim Abrahams
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Valeria Golino
What they are about: A skilled, but emotionally unstable fighter pilot is tasked with getting rid of nuclear weapons, and later enlisted to lead a rescue mission in Iraq.
Why they are some of the best parody movies: Hot Shots! basically takes the plot of Top Gun and adds an incessant run of ridiculous sight gags and Hot Shots! Part Deux targets Rambo: First Blood Part II (and many other classic action movies) with the same method.
How to watch the Hot Shots! movies
Title | Stream | Rent/Buy | Blu-ray/DVD |
Hot Shots! (1991) | |||
Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993) |
Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
Director: Joel Gallen
Starring: Chyler Leigh, Chris Evans
What it's about: The ridiculous coming-of-age misadventures of a group of high school students from various rungs on the social ladder.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: None of the best high school movies of all time are safe from uproarious send-ups in the deeply underrated Not Another Teen Movie, which stars Chris Evans in one of his earliest roles.
How to watch Not Another Teen Movie
Robin Hood: Men In Tights (1993)
Director: Mel Brooks
Starring: Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis
What it's about: To save England from a corrupt king, a talented archer and clever thief puts together a band of “merry men” for help.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: A ‘90s movie that does not quite get enough love is Robin Hood: Men in Tights – a classic Mel Brooks parody that takes aim at a beloved legend.
How to watch Robin Hood: Men in Tights
MacGruber (2010)
Director: Jorma Taccone
Starring: Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, Val Kilmer
What it's about: A bumbling special forces agent, his former partner, and a young lieutenant race to stop a notorious terrorist from unleashing a dangerous nuclear warhead.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: One of the most beloved movies based on SNL characters is MacGruber, which thankfully extends beyond the rigid conceit of the original recurring sketch in favor of poking fun at action movies.
How to watch MacGruber
Top Secret! (1984)
Director: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Starring: Val Kilmer, Lucy Gutteridge
What it's about: A rock star becomes involved in a dangerous mission to rescue a scientist held captive in Germany.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: For their first major follow-up to Airplane! (more on that later) together, Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker took aim at classic spy movies with Top Secret!
How to watch Top Secret!
I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988)
Director: Keenan Ivory Wayans
Starring: Keenan Ivory Wayans, Bernie Casey
What it's about: A soldier wages war on a powerful criminal who caused the death of his brother.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: An ‘80s movie that deserves more attention today is I’m Gonna Git You Sucka – a send-up of the Blaxploitation genre and one of the more underrated parodies from Keenan Ivory Wayans.
How to watch I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
- Stream I’m Gonna Git You Sucka on Amazon Prime
- Stream I’m Gonna Git You Sucka on Tubi
- Stream I’m Gonna Git You Sucka on Pluto TV
- Buy I’m Gonna Git You Sucka on Blu-ray on Amazon
Scary Movie (2000)
Director: Keenan Ivory Wayans
Starring: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans
What it's about: Ditzy teen Cindy Prescott and her buffoonish friends are stalked by a masked murderer.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: Easily the Wayans Brothers’ most successful spoof is Scary Movie, which actually bears the original working title for Scream – the 1996 slasher genre revival (and deconstruction) from Wes Craven that also inspired most of the comedy’s story and jokes.
How to watch Scary Movie
Airplane! (1980)
Director: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Starring: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen
What it's about: A disgraced former pilot becomes the only hope to bring a commercial plane to safety when the entire flight crew falls ill.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers became the quintessential heroes of the parody movie with the instant classic, Airplane! – a nearly shot-for-shot recreation of 1957’s Zero Hour! with increasingly cartoonish hijinks.
How to watch Airplane!
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Director: Mel Brooks
Starring: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder
What it's about: A Black man rises from slave to hero after he is made the sheriff of a small, valuable town by an evil, greedy politician.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: Arguably the best Mel Brooks movie also qualifies as one of the all-time best Western movies, because the Oscar-nominated Blazing Saddles is a remarkably bold satire that could only be a product of its time.
How to watch Blazing Saddles
Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975)
Director: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
Starring: Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
What it's about: King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table encounter a series of ridiculous obstacles while searching for the lost cup said to have held the blood of Jesus Christ.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: Monty Python and the Holy Grail is commonly considered the British comedy troupe’s finest cinematic achievement, thanks to such bits as a far too resilient Black Knight, a homicidal rabbit, very rude Frenchmen, and a hilariously abrupt conclusion that supposedly birthed the term “cop out.”
How to watch Monty Python and Holy Grail
- Stream Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Amazon Prime
- Stream Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Tubi
- Buy Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Naked Gun: From The Files Of Police Squad! (1988)
Director: David Zucker
Starring: Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley
What it's about: The bumbling Lt. Frank Drebin is tasked with foiling an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: From the creators of Airplane!, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is a sharp and criminally absurd cop drama parody spun off from the short-lived crime procedural spoof series, Police Squad! and featuring some of Leslie Nielsen's funniest quotes ever.
How to watch The Naked Gun: From the Files Of Police Squad!
- Stream The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! on Paramount+
- Rent or buy The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! on Amazon
- Buy The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! on Blu-ray on Amazon
Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (1997)
Director: Jay Roach
Starring: Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley
What it's about: A hip, British secret agent learns that the cliches of classic James Bond movies do not have the same effect they used to after he wakes up from a 30-year cryogenic slumber to catch his arch nemesis.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: Arguably the ultimate spy movie parody is Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, which features some of Myers’ funniest quotes, many of which come from Dr. Evil.
How to watch Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
- Rent Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery on Amazon
- Buy Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery on Blu-ray on Amazon
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Director: Mel Brooks
Starring: Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Teri Garr
What it's about: The grandson of an infamous mad scientist is initially reluctant to acknowledge his heritage until he pays a visit to his lab in Transylvania.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: Young Frankenstein (which Mel Brooks co-wrote with Gene Wilder) serves as both a sequel and a send-up of Universal's 1931 adaptation of Mary Shelley’s landmark horror novel.
How to watch Young Frankenstein
Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015)
Director: Tomm Jacobsen, Michael Rousselet, Jon Salmon
Starring: Alec Owen, Ben Gigli
What it's about: A young man infiltrates his slain twin brother’s popular fraternity in hopes of finding his killer: the notorious “Motherface.”
Why it is one of the best parody movies: Underrated horror-comedy movie Dude Bro Party Massacre III goes beyond spoofing the genre and recreates it convincingly by framing itself as a VHS recording of a cable access rerun of a banned ‘80s slasher, complete with cheesy gore, crappy acting, and fake commercial interludes.
How to watch Dude Bro Party Massacre III
- Stream Dude Bro Party Massacre III on Amazon Prime
- Stream Dude Bro Party Massacre III on Tubi
- Stream Dude Bro Party Massacre III on Pluto TV
- Buy Dude Bro Party Massacre III on Blu-ray on Amazon
Spaceballs (1987)
Director: Mel Brooks
Starring: Mel Brooks, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga
What it's about: An intergalactic pilot and his “half-man, half-dog” companion are hired to rescue a princess from the evil Dark Helmet.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: As you can probably tell, Spaceballs is, essentially, a reimagining of the Star Wars movies which has a sequel in the works.
How to watch Spaceballs
- Stream Spaceballs on MGM+
- Stream Spaceballs on Tubi
- Rent or buy Spaceballs on Amazon
- Buy Spaceballs on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
Director: John Landis
Starring: Various
What it's about: An uproarious, raunchy, and simply out-of-control collection of fake consumer ads, faux movie trailers, and short films.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: Before Abrahams and the Zucker Brothers made Airplane!, they wrote The Kentucky Fried Movie – a hilarious anthology with no real structure or purpose, other than a shameless devotion to comedy.
How to watch The Kentucky Fried Movie
- Stream The Kentucky Fried Movie on Amazon for free
- Stream The Kentucky Fried Movie on Peacock
- Stream The Kentucky Fried Movie on Tubi
- Buy The Kentucky Fried Movie on Blu-ray on Amazon
Hollywood Shuffle (1987)
Director: Robert Townsend
Starring: Robert Townsend, Keenan Ivory Wayans
What it's about: Aspiring actor Bobby Taylor struggles to navigate the world of show business.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: Robert Townsend, who also co-writes with Keenan Ivory Wayans, famously self-financed Hollywood Shuffle, which takes aim at the movie business as a whole but really zeroes in on the kind of stereotypical film roles Black actors would often be shoehorned into in the late 1980s.
How to watch Hollywood Shuffle
- Stream Hollywood Shuffle on Amazon Prime
- Stream Hollywood Shuffle on Tubi
- Stream Hollywood Shuffle on Pluto TV
UHF (1989)
Director: Jay Levey
Starring: “Weird Al” Yankovic, Michael Richards
What it's about: A hyperactive daydreamer is appointed by his uncle to manage a dying television station.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: The world’s favorite parody musician brings his talents to the big screen by sending up the small screen in UHF, which was considered a failure upon release but has grown into a cult favorite over time.
How to watch UHF
- Stream UHF on MGM+
- Stream UHF on Tubi
- Stream UHF on Pluto TV
- Rent or buy UHF on Amazon
- Buy UHF on Blu-ray on Amazon
Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood (1996)
Director: Paris Barclay
Starring: Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans
What it's about: A young man is sent to live in the inner city with his grandmother, where he gets a crash course in the culture from his loose-cannon cousin.
Why it is one of the best parody movies: If you have seen Menace II Society, South Central, Juice, or Boyz n the Hood, then you should know what you are in for with Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood – a thoroughly funny parody of ‘90s urban dramas with a brutally honest satirization of the realties those films reflect.
How to watch Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
- Stream Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood on Amazon Prime
- Buy Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood on Blu-ray on Amazon
So, what do you think? Are these the funniest cinematic spoofs of all time, or do you assume I have been poking fun at myself this whole time?
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