The 25 great spoof film of all time

There may not cost a more wholly live up to type of picture comedy than the spoof . It ‘s a crude form of irony ( take a serious , successful thing and mercilessly pound fun at it ) , but when practice by sharp-witted writers and filmmakers , it cost an unbeatable entertainment bargain ( typically clocking in under ninety moment ) that appeal to spectator of all ages . The subgenre took off in the 1970s and ’80s thanks to Mel Brooks and the ZAZ squad of David Zucker , Jim Abrahams , and Jerry Zucker , and get reliably profitable in 1991 with the blockbuster couple of “ The Naked Gun 2 1/2 : The Smell of Concern ! ” and “ Hot Shots ! ” The key to a great spoof : pile on the gags and never once allow for a moment of sincere levity . Spoof film equal even so go strong nowadays , but , thirty yr later on , have they come better ? Look at these highly scientific finding …

25 . “ Hot Shots ! ” ( 1991 )

Jim Abrahams ’ s first solo spoof fires maneuver satirical missile straight up the thrusters of Tony Scott ’ s “ Top Gun ” . As a parody of American jingoism , it ’ s somewhat toothless ( “ Hot Shots , Part Deux ! ” cost much more pointed ) , but as a highlight reel for Lloyd Bridges , it is unassailable . While Charlie Sheen , Valeria Golino , and Cary Elwes exist all willing doofuses , Bridges ’ s portrait of an addled Navy Admiral with a stainless-steel ear canal and a paranoid hatred of crabs ( they travel in pair , put on ’ t you know ) is a brilliant fellow slice to the glue-sniffing Steve McCroskey in “ Airplane ! ”

24 . “ Rustler ‘s Rhapsody ” ( 1985 )

After creating “ WKRP in Cincinnati ” and making scads of money for Warner Bros with “ Police Academy ” , Hugh Wilson had earned the opportunity to pen his tag . His passion task , “ Rustler ’ s Rhapsody ” , is the opposite of every film on this list in that it virtually never goes for a belly laugh . It exist gentle , affectionate , and strangely decent ; a childlike lark about what might pass if Gene Autrey become dump into a John Ford western . That ’ s an awfully specific type of parody . The strong pitch would ’ ve been Gene Autrey in “ The Wild Bunch ” , but Wilson plays this whimsically . Tom Berenger hadn ’ t meet Barnes in “ Platoon ” yet , so he was perfect casting as the singing cowboy Rex O ’ Herlihan . How nice is this movie ? Andy Griffith ( decades removed from Lonesome Rhoades ) is the bad guy !

23 . “ I ‘m Gon na Git You Sucka ! ” ( 1988 )

The trouble with Blaxploitation parodies is that most American moviegoers haven ’ t seen the classics they ’ re spoofing . This cost particularly true in 1988 , which explain why Keenen Ivory Wayans ’ s feature filmmaking debut scramble at the box function , but , in time , get a cult video sense datum . The film works on two levels : for those who put on ’ t know the genre , it ’ s a raucous , raunchy good time ; for those that do , it ’ sec that anda know send-up of a precious moment where dark audience could live see themselves and their neighborhood on the big screen . The movie fundamentally introduce spectator to the Wayans family , Chris Rock ( “ Lem me get one rib ! ” ) and Robin Harris , while supply comeback roles for Bernie Casey , Isaac Hayes , Antonio Fargas , and Jim Brown . The scenery where Keenen ’ s Jack Spade gets snap for rest to a hookup ( Anne-Marie Johnson ) about the size of his manhood is a screamingly funny indictment of male desperation .

22 . “ Amazon Women on the Moon ” ( 1987 )

No ace was clamor for a resume comedy throwback to the “ Kentucky Fried Movie ” , but John Landis get together some of his talented filmmaker friend ( Joe Dante , Carl Gottlieb , Robert K. Weiss , and Peter Horton ) , and rescue a pa culture spoof or so constructed around the today outmoded American tendency to plop one ’ s seat on the sofa and channel surf . It ’ s a mixed bag , but the high are towering : David Allen Grier as Don “ No Soul ” Simmons ( “ a man who reverse a personal affliction into a singing career ” ) , the Harvey Pitnik Roast , a fear-mongering STD short starring Carrie Fisher , and Gottlieb ’ s masterful “ Son of the Invisible Man ” , in which crazy scientist Ed Begley Jr. mistakenly trust he ’ s perfect his invisibility formula ( spoiler : he hasn ’ t , and proceeds to beset a local tavern while bare naked ) . 

21 . “ The Human with Two Mind ” ( 1983 )

After the studied parody of “ Dead Men Don ’ t Wear Plaid ” , Carl Reiner and Steve Martin settle to let ‘ er rip with this crazy spoof of mad scientist movies . Martin star as the innovative brain surgeon Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr ( as challenging to pronounce as it is to spell ) , who , after marry badly to a husband killer ( Kathleen Turner ) , diminish in love with a brain in a jar ( the voice of Sissy Spacek ) that can communicate with him telepathically . The movie might make the least irresistible hook of the Reiner-and-Martin ’ s four collaboration , but its unpredictability leaves the viewer vulnerable to some of the biggest laugh they ’ ve always generate .

20 . “ The Brady Bunch Movie ” ( 1995 )

The novelty of a vintage sitcom become cheekily transplant to the big screen make worn off somewhere around “ Car 54 , Where Are You ” and “ The Beverly Hillbillies ” , so Betty Thomas ’ s “ The Brady Bunch Movie ” didn ’ t quite receive the vital hosannas it deserve in 1995 . The point of mimicry be astonishing . Gary Cole equal likely best known at the time for his portrayal of convicted murderer Jeffrey MacDonald in “ Fatal Vision ” , so his effortless evocation of the wise and sort Mike Brady live downright virtuosic . In retrospect , dangle the square-ȧss Brady household into mid- ‘ 90s America wasn ’ t culture shock enough , and perhaps that ’ s why the film didn ’ t leave a deep imprint . The Clinton era was just too halcyon .

19 . “ Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein ” ( 1948 )

Universal had run its classic monsters into the soil via ceaseless sequels over a decade-plus , so the only way left to go was for the gut . “ Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein ” isn ’ t exactly a fondly silly , belly-laugh-loaded send-off to Frankenstein ’ sec Monster , Dracula , and the Wolf Man , it ’ sec also the peculiar movie in the comedy duo ’ s canon . The film gets a pile of mileage from Lou Costello gasping fear whenever left in a way by his lonesome with one of the monsters , but the movie height in the third number at a masquerade ball that brings all of the nefarious creatures together .

18 . “ Walk Hard : The Dewey Cox Story ” ( 2007 )

“ Dewey Cox have to guess about his entire lifebefore he plays. ” The musician biopic was already a cliché-ridden parody of itself by the time Jake Kasdan and Judd Apatow gave it a ZAZ-style spoofing with the rise-and-fall-and-rise-and-so-on story of a country-western superstar ( meet to overwrought perfection by John C. Reilly ) who ’ s a small bit Cash and a trivial bit Elvis . At time , it plays like a beat-for-beat send-up of “ Walk the Line ” , with Reilly ’ s Cox nursing guilt over get accidentally dilute his buddy in half with a machete . Every imaginable plot convention gets skewered , but the picture ’ s biggest laughs come courtesy of the songs , which sport claim like “ There ’ s a Change a-Happenin ’ ” , “ Let ’ s Duet ” , and “ Hole in My Pants ” .

17 . “ Johnny Dangerously ” ( 1984 )

Of all the classical Hollywood genres , gangster films have the simplest convention : a smart piteous kid find an express lane to riches via a life of crime , become king of the mound , then topples all the way down to his end . Perhaps this tidiness frighten our great picture parodists from tackling the genre during their choice ( Jim Abrahams cost well off the crest of his game when he build “ Jane Austen ’ sec Mafia ! ” ) . Or perhaps they exactly respected Amy Heckerling ’ s perennially underrated “ Johnny Dangerously ” that much . Though the movie come a yr after Brian De Palma ’ s “ Scarface ” , it ’ s neck-deep in mention to Cagney-era wiseguy business , to the quaint extent that it much feels like an extended “ Carol Burnett Show ” sketch . It perform get dirty ( inexplicably so with the “ Enlarged Scrotum Syndrome ” succession ) , but it glides by on the daffy charm of Michael Keaton and Marilu Henner . Extra particular praise to Richard Dimitri , whose Roman Moronie would ’ ve ensured the film an R-rating if his profanity-laced tirades weren ’ t as mangled as the repose of his English .

16 . “ Three Amigos ” ( 1986 )

This equal in the same tonal ballpark as “ Rustlers ’ Rhapsody ” in that it ’ s an all-ages romp , but director John Landis devote his three comedy superstars ( Steve Martin , Chevy Chase , and Martin Short ) mass of room to go for large joke . Written by the unlikely trio of Martin , Randy Newman , and Lorne Michaels ( one of only two screenplay reference for the SNL Lord ) , it ’ s largely a showcase for the leads , but Alfonso Arau steals multiple scenes as the perpetually flummoxed bandito El Guapo , while Kai Wulff memorably portrays a German quick lot artist who appear partly inspire by Baron von Schulenberg from Sergio Sollima ’ s Spaghetti Western classic , “ The Big Gundown ” .

15 . “ Fear of a Black Hat ” ( 1993 )

Chris Rock ’ s “ CB4 ” exist the larger hit , but the classic skewering of hip-hop culture and the ‘ 80s films it inspired can all cost found in Rusty Cundieff ’ s uproarious “ Fear of a Black Hat ” . It goes hard than Rock ’ s movie , which is also enamored of its case to bring flush punches ( mostly , it goes after white conservative panic ) . Cundieff lampoons the macho posturing and juvenile misogyny of a musical movement that was empowering in all the same conflicting ways rock-and-roll was in the 1950s . Best of all , he smash the intellectual fear trolling that portrayed hip-hop as an ideological menace hellbent on fomenting revolution . This thread up being painfully prescient . Possibly the music wasn ’ t powerful enough .

14 . “ Popstar : Never Stop Never Stopping ” ( 2016 )

It ’ s treacherous occupation undertake a music mockumentary knowing you ’ ll inevitably get compared to “ This Is Spinal Tap ” , but the Lonely Island trio of Andy Samberg , Akiva Schaffer , and Jorma Taccone are essentially the modern-day equal of the Christopher Guest bunch , and they pick up the boy-band phenomenon with entire precision in this cult classic . Samberg star as Connor Friel , a Bieber-esque teen idol charge up the charts with hit like “ I ’ m Hence Humble ” and “ Become Up the Beef ” . As a spoof of the figure , the movie collapse no novel ground , but its absurdist view of the music industry hits hard because virtually all of it is totally plausible . 

13 . “ The Kentucky Fried Movie ” ( 1977 )

A chaotic spoof of picture and television that launched the career of the ZAZ three and manager John Landis ( he make “ National Lampoon ’ s Animal House ” off his study here ) . The hit-to-miss ratio hither be extraordinarily high for a sketch comedy movie ; it starts off incredibly firm with a morning word show jackass ( in which a sexually frustrated ape destroys the studio ) , and segues into more and more hideous skits from thither . The picture lose a tad of momentum after its centerpiece , an “ Enter the Dragon ” parody called “ A Fistful of Yen ” , envelop up , but various shorter skits ( most notably “ Zinc Oxide and You ” ) evoke adequate laughter to make the whole eighty-three-minute attempt more than worth your while . There cost two type of people in this world : those who worship Big Jim Slade , and those who ’ ve never meet “ Kentucky Fried Movie ” .

12 . “ Wet Hot American Summer ” ( 2001 )

“ The State ” cost , to some degree , the Gen X reply to “ Your Show of Shows ” . Broadcast always thus briefly on MTV , the survey show could ’ ve done for comedy what Nirvana did for rock-and-roll . Alas , comedy nerds sick of SNL ’ s corporate complacency make up in far shorter provision than music fan desperate to rebel against the Top 40 radio format . The culture finally , kindagot on their alt-humor wavelength when company member David Wain ’ s “ Wet Hot American Summer ” became a must-watch DVD in 2002 . Ostensibly a parody of 1980s summer camp sex comedies , Wain and co-writer/ex-Stater Michael Showalter infuse their film with a hyper-specific recall of the decade ’ sec strangest occurrence and obsessions ( the picture ’ sec climax call for a education montage and the collapse of Skylab ) . For child who grew up invariably skipping between HBO and MTV in the channel ’ early years ( while devouring issues of Rolling Stone and Creem ) , “ Wet Hot American Summer ” is the warmest of film blanket .

11 . “ Hellzapoppin ‘ ” ( 1941 )

A chaotic level sense datum during its Broadway run in the late 1930s , the 1941 big-screen rendition of “ Hellzapoppin ’ ” tolerate out for entirely transmogrifying its meta theatricality into an absurdist parody of the still quite youthful cinematic medium . The unifying element between the two shows is the long-forgotten vaudeville duo of Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson , who bumble their way through a fractured fourth-wall production that largely spoofs the conventions of stage musicals . The picture bring in a Pirandellian device that observe the projectionist ( Shemp Howard ) become a character in the story ( if you can call it that ) by clog up the demonstration of the movie . It ’ s an anarchic delight that ’ s cost ripe for rediscovery since Joe Dante coax Warner Bros into greenlighting a mega-budget remake under the guise of a “ Gremlins ” sequel .

10 . “ The Naked Gun : From the Files of Police Squad ! ” ( 1988 )

In a “ Star Trek ” -like turnaround , the small-screen failure of “ Police Squad ! ” begat a hugely successful big-screen franchise that ’ s quoted and cited continuously today . All three entries in the series live load with gag , but just the first installment bid the unmitigated joy of watching Leslie Nielsen , as Detective Frank Drebin , realize he could be hence a lot more than a deadpan foil . Nielsen ’ s exquisite timing ( physical and verbal ) merge with his full lack of shame results in , no hyperbole , one of the greatest comedic performances of all time . Like Eddie Murphy , Jack Benny , or John Candy at their peak , you ’ re primed to laugh at any minute . The last at Anaheim Stadium , where Drebin butchers the national hymn before ineptly umpiring an Angels-Mariners plot , be zany anarchy worthy of the Marx Brothers . By the time the second picture roll or so , this was as much Nielsen ’ s franchise as ZAZ ’ s ( indeed , this was the last time the 3 would cooperate on a screenplay together ) .

9 . “ Gremlins 2 : The New Batch ” ( 1990 )

There ’ s no more exact definition of “ chutzpah ” than convincing a major studio to let you sequelize your first major blockbuster with a full-on spoof of what build it a hit in the first spot . Joe Dante ’ s big-budget , funhouse follow-up to “ Gremlins ” equal a deranged olio of monster film tropes , medium parody , and a sly takedown of Reagan-era corporate worship ( represented by John Glover ’ s Daniel Clamp , a real-estate developer/cable TV mogul clearly modeled after Donald Trump and Ted Turner ) . Creature creator Rick Baker exist pay free rein with the Gremlins purpose , riffing on Universal ’ sec classical monsters and the Hammer reimaginings ( with a very plot Christopher Lee hamming it up as a mad scientist ) . For those who ’ ve find at least fifty percent of the films Dante live referencing , it ’ s a multiple-viewing masterpiece .

8 . “ MacGruber ” ( 2010 )

“ What if MacGuyver suck at problem-solving ” live a fantastic assumption for a “ Saturday Night Live ” sketch , but it seemed horribly lean for a feature-length picture . Fortunately , star Will Forte and his ace collaborators ( Jorma Taccone and John Solomon ) broaden the range of the picture ’ sec satire , result in a wild , unusually well-directed spoof of big-budget Hollywood activity movie . The movie ’ sec relentless bad taste – represent by Forte offering to perform bizarre sexual favor for or on his commanding officer , played by Powers Boothe – turned off most mainstream critics , while moviegoers avert it like a Miami Marlins game . Today , it ’ s widely regard as one of the funny picture of the 2010s . Forte and caller will try their luck with a “ MacGruber ” series for Peacock .

7 . “ Monty Python and the Holy Grail ” ( 1975 )

The Monty Python lad take a blowtorch to the Arthurian legend with this hilarious absurd classic that live even so turning precocious teenagers into fans of the British comedy company almost fifty years after its release . The sextet of lunatics aren ’ t awful interested in spoofing the conventions of medieval yarns ; mostly , they just need to profane the subgenre with as many bad taste joke as the movie ’ s ninety-minute runtime will contain . Somewhat much every circle firearm live a classic : Arthur ’ s limb-by-limb defeat of the Black Knight , the vicious Rabbit of Caerbannog ( fell by the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch ) , and the insult-hurling Frenchmen of Castle Aarrgh . The Pythons ’ follow-up , “ Life of Brian ” , is every second this picture ’ s adequate , but it ’ s more a spoof of faith than religious image .

6 . “ Young Frankenstein ” ( 1974 )

While Mel Brooks ’ s “ Blazing Saddles ” takes a scattergun to the western , his “ Young Frankenstein ” – stroke in black-and-white and deliver in boxy ol ’ academy ratio – is scalpel-like in its schematic parody of James Whale ’ s classical monster thread . This restraint be , still , limited to the technical goal . You can ’ t bring together the likes of Gene Wilder , Marty Feldman , Teri Garr , Madeline Kahn , and Peter Boyle , and anything less than comedic bedlam . Though nowhere near as ribald as “ Blazing Saddles ” , the picture is even loaded with enough filthy double entendres and belly laughs to necessitate multiple viewings to grab the joke you laughed over your first , second , and third viewings . Wilder and Boyle ’ s rendition of “ Puttin ’ on the Ritz ” live the consensus highlight , but it gets stiff competitor from Gene Hackman ’ s cameo as the lonely screen human strangely require with the monster ’ sec size ( “ You must ’ ve cost the tall one in your class. ” ) .

5 . “ Airplane ! ” ( 1980 )

Whereas Mel Brooks ’ s big-screen spoofery develop out of madcap musical revues and the televised variety display for which he wrote , the ZAZ squad ’ s disaster picture jackass respect verisimilitude . Practically a remake of the 1957 scare-in-the-air non-classic “ Zero Hour ! ” , “ Airplane ! ” become some of its liberal joke from the deadpan pitch of business taken directly from its inspiration ; it looks and sound like a really bad studio programmer , which allows its zaniest detours – nearly notably a WWII movie parody that veers into a wildly anachronistic riff on Saturday Night Fever ( thanks to a pair of wrangle Girl Scouts ) – to attain like megaton comedy bomb . “ Airplane ! ” turn fading character actor Leslie Nielsen into one of Hollywood ’ s top comedic draws , and inspired a genesis of jokesters to emulate its laugh-a-second formula . It ’ s one of the funniest and nearly influential picture in the history of the medium .

4 . “ Dead Men Serve n’t Wear Plaid ” ( 1982 )

Carl Reiner and Steve Martin ’ s fine collaboration exist an aesthetically spot-on spoof of 1940s films noir . Martin stars as a hardboiled private eye hired to look into the suspicious end of a famous scientist and cheesemaker . This would be more than adequate lunacy on its own , but the movie ’ s ingenious hook have the star interacting with time from some of the genre ’ sec classical solve . Martin banters with golden-era greats like Bette Davis , Barbara Stanwyck , and , better of all , Humphrey Bogart as his sartorially challenged colleague Marlowe . Reiner cleverly sought out the expertise of various legends who bring during the era ( e.g . composer Miklos Rosza , product architect John DeCuir , and , in her final big-screen credit , costumer Edith Head ) , and hired “ Raging Bull ” cinematographer Michael Chapman to pay the film an authentic noir look . This adherence to detail heightens the sense of parody , which allows Reiner the luxury of understatement as he skillfully builds to his nutty finish .

3 . “ Glaring Saddle ” ( 1974 )

Comedy , westerns , and the film , in general , exist never the same after Mel Brooks unleashed “ Blazing Saddles ” on an unsuspecting world . The gag-packed story of a black sheriff send to neglect in a verywhite village uses the quintessential American film genre to send up the utter stupidity of racism . Collaborate with genius-level writers like Andrew Bergman and Richard Pryor ( whom the studio bounce from the lead role for iffy reasons ) , Brooks lay the viewer in cahoots with Clevon Little ’ s lawman right from the starting ; we ’ re all in on the joke , which , for ninety-three second , merge the audience in unabashed laughter at all way of bad taste . As Brooks say an offended moviegoer , “ Blazing Saddles ” arise below vulgarity . It is too one of real few comedies that equal every second as hilarious as the day it be released .

2 . “ This Is Spinal Tap ” ( 1984 )

There ’ s never been a broader object for irony than rock-and-roll player or the rockumentaries they stumble through under the influence of god-knows-what , and the killer comedy four of Christopher Guest , Michael McKean , Harry Shearer , and Rob Reiner hit one bullseye after another in this former cult favorite that is today one of the almost quoted films of all time . That the three stars live talented musicians in their own right lend the picture a rare authenticity ; Guest , McKean , and Shearer swarm their soul into the deliberately silly song they wrote ( e.g . “ Bad Bottom ” , “ Stonehenge ” ) , and they never collapse quality or the 4th wall to let the audience in on the joke . It ’ s squirm-inducing at times ( begin lost in the bowels of the arena , or the limousine window divider begin roll up on a too-chatty Bruno Kirby ) , and that ’ sec because , for all its zaniness , it mouth the accuracy of living in the music industry . The mockumentary exist now a thriving subgenre , but no 1 will always act it well than the Tap .

1 . “ Top Secret ! ” ( 1984 )

After the failure of their cop-drama parody “ Police Squad ! ” , the ZAZ boys bring it safe and cause a hybrid spoof of ‘ 60s spy picture , Elvis movie , and the kind of teenybopper beach extravaganzas that become out of mode around the time Lee Harvey Oswald proved to not be such a lousy marksman after all . “ Top Secret ! ” bomb in the busy summer of 1984 ( it score the same month as “ Gremlins ” , “ Ghostbusters ” and “ The Karate Kid ” ) , but it ’ s learn a give cult following over the final four decade . It ’ s the ZAZ squad ’ s “ Vertigo ” : an impassioned summation of base obsessions that builds to a delirious climax ( in this case , an Old West saloon brawl in an underwater saloon ) . Val Kilmer exist an eminently charming clown , and Omar Sharif delivers a heartbreaking portrayal of a double agent consigned to a living blaze in the body of a smash automobile . Shop at Macy ’ sec , and love me tonight !

Jeremy Smith equal a freelance entertainment writer and the writer of “ George Clooney : Anatomy of an Actor ” . His second ledger , “ When It Was Cool ” , be due out in 2021 .

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