Movie Parodies.

I remember Snobs review of Scary Movie 5 and Doug Walker talking about parodies not too long ago. Recently I watched the Naked Gun and have a idea as too why the parody has gone from good to incredibly bad. Well, other then the writing.

If you look at movies like Airplane and The Naked Gun they stared actors like Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Robert Stack, Leslie Nielsen, George Kennedy and Ricardo Montalban. What did they all have in common?

They were all seasoned actors who stared in movies they were parodying. All of the said actors knew what the jokes were about. In fact I bet many of them were making a lot of jokes while filming disaster or cop drama movies. Plus to top it off, they were playing their parts straight.

Now all parodies do is have a young cast, put a lot of soon to be dated pop culture jokes in them and that's the movie.

I remember watching Brad's review of Scary Movie 5 and thought to myself that if it's a Paranormal Activity parody, then why not have Katie Featherston star in it. I bet she would love to make a movie making fun of films she best known for.

To me, the majority of the reason why the parody is so horrible right now truly is the writing.

Look at movies like Airplane, or Naked Gun, or Spaceballs, and you'll see competent, smart, witty writing.

Now? It's 90 minutes of fart and pee pee jokes.

I agree completely. I havent seen a good parody movie come out in a very long time(Last good one i can think of is Austin powers 2(I guess Kung fu hustle could count though its not a hollywood film). Parody films went from witty jokes that u can laugh at muliple times to just pop culture reference after pop culture reference. Certain scenes from Hot shots still make me crack up when just mentioning them. Maybe one day we will get someone who could do parody's with the spirit that Mel Brooks and Jim Abrahams had.

actually the last great one is funny enough "Scary Movie' i love the 1st one. but the downside is that since that was such a hit, they seem to want to be another Scary Movie. even the sequels i guess. i haven't seen the 4th or 5th one yet. but the 3rd one i liked. the ones nowadays some of them i like and some of them are WTF were they thinking?

like "Date Movie' is horrible and that one with Keenan Tompson where him and a bunch of idiots go into that haunted park well it's a stupid movie yes. and some of the humor falls flat on it's ass.

but it's one of the better ones. not a great movie mind you but it's a film so stupid it's funny. though i would love to see another Kentucky Fried Movie where they want all out and really put nudity in it and shit like that. i doubt they'd do something like that again today. that daring. actually i think that flopped when that came out but i could be wrong on that.

anyways, it's aimed mainly at kids so they aren't as daring. has anyone seen "Prime Time' it's one that came out oh it had tg be in i think (1982) or so it's a bad one. but it's got funny moments to be fair. my point is there are a couple that are funny today but not nearly enough. than you have ones from back in the day that are also bad.

i forget the name of the film but did anyone see the Julie Brown one that she did in (1994) something the 5'2 man.

i have it on VHS and i only bought it cause it's got Dick Miller in it. and she plays Tonya Harding and that Loretta Bobbit.

it's fucking awful! i had to force myself to watch the whole thing. and it didn't take me one eveing but several days!

it was so bad. in fact i had to put it away for a couple of weeks cause it was so bad. there hasn't been that many of those types of films i've had to do that with. THANK GOD!

even ones that come out today. i do agree though most of the cast is young and don't take the film serious like say Leslie Neilson did with the airplane fims for example. he did it right. but to be fair

though some of his spoof films he did were really great some of them were pretty bad by the end.

wildhoney66 wrote:

actually the last great one is funny enough "Scary Movie' i love the 1st one. but the downside is that since that was such a hit, they seem to want to be another Scary Movie. even the sequels i guess. i haven't seen the 4th or 5th one yet. but the 3rd one i liked. the ones nowadays some of them i like and some of them are WTF were they thinking?

like "Date Movie' is horrible and that one with Keenan Tompson where him and a bunch of idiots go into that haunted park well it's a stupid movie yes. and some of the humor falls flat on it's ass.

but it's one of the better ones. not a great movie mind you but it's a film so stupid it's funny. though i would love to see another Kentucky Fried Movie where they want all out and really put nudity in it and shit like that. i doubt they'd do something like that again today. that daring. actually i think that flopped when that came out but i could be wrong on that.

anyways, it's aimed mainly at kids so they aren't as daring. has anyone seen "Prime Time' it's one that came out oh it had tg be in i think (1982) or so it's a bad one. but it's got funny moments to be fair. my point is there are a couple that are funny today but not nearly enough. than you have ones from back in the day that are also bad.

i forget the name of the film but did anyone see the Julie Brown one that she did in (1994) something the 5'2 man.

i have it on VHS and i only bought it cause it's got Dick Miller in it. and she plays Tonya Harding and that Loretta Bobbit.

it's fucking awful! i had to force myself to watch the whole thing. and it didn't take me one eveing but several days!

it was so bad. in fact i had to put it away for a couple of weeks cause it was so bad. there hasn't been that many of those types of films i've had to do that with. THANK GOD!

even ones that come out today. i do agree though most of the cast is young and don't take the film serious like say Leslie Neilson did with the airplane fims for example. he did it right. but to be fair

though some of his spoof films he did were really great some of them were pretty bad by the end.

I think the one your talking about with Keenan is called "Stan Helsing,and yeah that one WAS terrible.I do agree that the later Leslie Neilsan films were bad. Out of his later stuff ive seen Stan helsing,Scary movie 3 and 4,Superhero movie,Spy hard and 2001 a space travestyand an American Carol all of which i didnt enjoy.

stan helsing may have been the one that i watched on tv one day. and though i did not take it at all serious.and like anyone should really. that one if i am thinking of the right one i kinda enjoy somewhat. though it isn't the worst one out there. 'meet the spartans' is pretty bad i still have yet to see all of that one. in that one from what i saw of it there were some funny gags and that's about it.

in case you are wondering if i ever saw any of these in the theatre the only one i paid to see was Scary Movie 3. and after the piece of shit of a 2nd film that we got. i think someone took me to see that for my b-day if my memory is correct. and i didn't expect to like it any. i remember going in with low expectations and hoping it'd be a tad better than the 2nd one. and i didn't expect to enjoy it. which is maybe how you go in the spoof's of today.

go in with low expectations and sometimes you get a decent film. sometimes they are shit. but either way they aren't normally that long thank god.

I have a rather soft spot for the SCARY MOVIE sequels, but I have yet to see 5. I do think parodies are long dead. Ironic that the guys who made EPIC MOVIE, also helped make SPY HARD which I kind of enjoy, but the late 90's parodies aren't as good as the old, though I think a few are underrated like WRONGFULLY ACCUSED.

AIRPLANE II and LOADED WEAPON 1 also seem to get a bad rap, but I love them.

airplane 2. is one of those films that is a miss for me cause it's not that great. but it's got moments though.

Loaded weapon 1 though I LOVE! i don't care for wrongfully accused either. and Spy Hard is an ok one. but neither of those are great films. if they are on i'll watch them fuck it ya know?

wildhoney66 wrote:

airplane 2. is one of those films that is a miss for me cause it's not that great. but it's got moments though.

Loaded weapon 1 though I LOVE! i don't care for wrongfully accused either. and Spy Hard is an ok one. but neither of those are great films. if they are on i'll watch them fuck it ya know?

I love Loaded Weapon 1 and that movie proves my point. Emilio Estevez, Samuel L. Jackson, Jon Lovitz, Tim Curry and William Shatner. All seasoned actors who were in moves that the movie was parodying.

Today if there was a parody of old detective drama TV shows, who do you think would play the lead of the handsome, hard boiled detective. In todays Hollywood would just pick a no name 25-year-old when the right choice would be a guy like Tom Selleck or Bruce Willis.

My favorite line from Loaded Weapon (paraphrasing, as I'm not sure if I got the line completely correct):

Female: (as a helicopter is hovering loudly nearby them) Hey.....do you hear that?

Emilio Estevez: (Loudly) ....Nah!

oh my favorite on is this, tim curry as the villian. going to Emilo Estevez.

i'm your worst nightmare. and Estevez retorts back to him no my work nightmare is waking up and seeing my dick is no longer there. and tim curry goes ok i'm not your worst nightmare i'm your 2 nd worst nightmare.

that's near the end of the film. it's been awhle since i last saw it. but please correct me if i said it wrong.

Parodies are to me what puns are to jake.

i don't mind puns to be honest, they don't really bother me. but i agree there is a LOT of bad ones and those i DO hate.

A big part of it is also the rampant cynicism in today's generation. "Spoof" movies are less about satire or analytical parody as they are more about mockery. Where 'Hot Shots!' would take a 'Top Gun' character and deconstruct his traits and personality, something like 'Epic Movie' would take a 'Top Gun' character, bring him in for one scene and hit him in the crotch with a shovel for no discernible reason.

Compare 1988's 'I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka!" to 2009's 'Black Dynamite'. While both parody '70s Blaxploitation, the tone and focus of the two are drastically different. 'Sucka' was a satire, taking the genre and applying it to a contemporary setting; it poked fun at the cultural differences, but it still had an obvious respect for what it was spoofing. 'Black Dynamite', however, is blatant parody which focuses heavily on the flaws of the genre: visible boom mikes, intentionally poor acting and production design, etc.. It's not satire, it's just cheap laughs at something which isn't even exclusive to what's being parodied.

I also like to compare it to "Weird Al" Yankovic: when Al does a parody like "Smells Like Nirvana", whose lyrics directly satirize the band he's covering, or "White & Nerdy" and "Amish Paradise", where he subverts the tone of a song to its comic opposite, it's brilliant. However, when he does parodies like, say, "Couch Potato", where he takes the music of a specific song but adds random lyrics which have no relevance whatsoever to the source material, there's no point. What does "Lose Yourself" have to do with watching TV? Why use that song for those lyrics? That's how I see the difference between good parody and bad parody in any medium.

Skibz wrote:

A big part of it is also the rampant cynicism in today's generation. "Spoof" movies are less about satire or analytical parody as they are more about mockery. Where 'Hot Shots!' would take a 'Top Gun' character and deconstruct his traits and personality, something like 'Epic Movie' would take a 'Top Gun' character, bring him in for one scene and hit him in the crotch with a shovel for no discernible reason.

Compare 1988's 'I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka!" to 2009's 'Black Dynamite'. While both parody '70s Blaxploitation, the tone and focus of the two are drastically different. 'Sucka' was a satire, taking the genre and applying it to a contemporary setting; it poked fun at the cultural differences, but it still had an obvious respect for what it was spoofing. 'Black Dynamite', however, is blatant parody which focuses heavily on the flaws of the genre: visible boom mikes, intentionally poor acting and production design, etc.. It's not satire, it's just cheap laughs at something which isn't even exclusive to what's being parodied.

I also like to compare it to "Weird Al" Yankovic: when Al does a parody like "Smells Like Nirvana", whose lyrics directly satirize the band he's covering, or "White & Nerdy" and "Amish Paradise", where he subverts the tone of a song to its comic opposite, it's brilliant. However, when he does parodies like, say, "Couch Potato", where he takes the music of a specific song but adds random lyrics which have no relevance whatsoever to the source material, there's no point. What does "Lose Yourself" have to do with watching TV? Why use that song for those lyrics? That's how I see the difference between good parody and bad parody in any medium.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

oh i love Weird Al. no doubt that makes sense what you say about his music. but to be fair most of the stuff he's done in recent years is music well parodies rather makes his own version i mean. i think is a better version than the actual song it was spoofed of. like like that Nirvana song for example. that's the only one i like of that band other wise i can't stand them and i think they are over-rated. but i love Weird Al's version of it as well.

even though his version i think is better but that's what i think anyways. couch patato i forget which one that is. but no doubt i'v heard it i just can't think of it right now.

Skibz wrote:

A big part of it is also the rampant cynicism in today's generation. "Spoof" movies are less about satire or analytical parody as they are more about mockery. Where 'Hot Shots!' would take a 'Top Gun' character and deconstruct his traits and personality, something like 'Epic Movie' would take a 'Top Gun' character, bring him in for one scene and hit him in the crotch with a shovel for no discernible reason.

Compare 1988's 'I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka!" to 2009's 'Black Dynamite'. While both parody '70s Blaxploitation, the tone and focus of the two are drastically different. 'Sucka' was a satire, taking the genre and applying it to a contemporary setting; it poked fun at the cultural differences, but it still had an obvious respect for what it was spoofing. 'Black Dynamite', however, is blatant parody which focuses heavily on the flaws of the genre: visible boom mikes, intentionally poor acting and production design, etc.. It's not satire, it's just cheap laughs at something which isn't even exclusive to what's being parodied.

I also like to compare it to "Weird Al" Yankovic: when Al does a parody like "Smells Like Nirvana", whose lyrics directly satirize the band he's covering, or "White & Nerdy" and "Amish Paradise", where he subverts the tone of a song to its comic opposite, it's brilliant. However, when he does parodies like, say, "Couch Potato", where he takes the music of a specific song but adds random lyrics which have no relevance whatsoever to the source material, there's no point. What does "Lose Yourself" have to do with watching TV? Why use that song for those lyrics? That's how I see the difference between good parody and bad parody in any medium.

i agree ilove it when wierd al does songs like thefirst 3 u mentioned(whichare pretty much my 3 favorite Al songs and i dont even like the oringal songs of the 3)and cant stand it when he does songs that are just randomly goofy.

oh that doesn't bother me. for example one of my favorite bands is 'The Barenaked Ladies' and though i love the song One week i also love the version he did called "Jerry Springer' which is his spoof of the same song.

it's on his (1999) album "Running with scissors' have you heard that one ? i dunno if it was a single or not but if it wasn't look it up on you tube they no doubt have it uploaded on there.

wildhoney66 wrote:

oh that doesn't bother me. for example one of my favorite bands is 'The Barenaked Ladies' and though i love the song One week i also love the version he did called "Jerry Springer' which is his spoof of the same song.

it's on his (1999) album "Running with scissors' have you heard that one ? i dunno if it was a single or not but if it wasn't look it up on you tube they no doubt have it uploaded on there.

nah it doesnt bother me when he makes fun ofsongs i like. i was just poitingout that i dont enjoy Gangstars paradise ,RidingdirtyorSmells like teen spirit. imnotinto hip hop and i was never able to get into nirvana

i fucking Hate Nirvana and that's grunge by the way. i don't like gangsta paradise either but i love amish paradise.

another favorite of mine is one he did with Avril lavene. actually i dunno how to spell her name. but i think he co-wrote it with her. it was on i forget which album, it wasn't on his last album though but it's a spoof of one her songs that's from i think her 1st album. and his version is great.

honestly when he does versions of songs i don't like i enjoy those too. there's not many songs of his that i don't like honestly. i have his last album but it's not one of his best albums now i loved the one he did before that.

'Running With Scissors' is a personal favorite of mine since I'm of the generation where I can recognize every song parodied/polka'd on that album.

To reiterate my point, I get "novelty factor": when Al turned "My Sharona" into "My Bologna" in the late '70s, the irreverence of the humor worked. Many of his unrelated parodies have perfectly fine lyrics, but it just doesn't quite hold up the same way today. On his latest album, for example, he takes a Taylor Swift song and makes the lyrics about TMZ, and then he takes a Miley Cyrus song and makes it about the CIA. Both Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus themselves are such easy targets for parody that it doesn't make any sense why he'd use their music as a platform for completely unrelated subject matter. That's what I don't get. Those kind of lyrics should be reserved for his original songs.

It feels like lazy songwriting on Al's behalf, like he was obligated to include a particular popular song and just slapped some leftover lyrics onto it. I can equate it very easily with the 'Epic Movie' style of parody where movies are just randomly referenced instead of being legitimately satirized.

wildhoney66 wrote:

i fucking Hate Nirvana and that's grunge by the way. i don't like gangsta paradise either but i love amish paradise.

another favorite of mine is one he did with Avril lavene. actually i dunno how to spell her name. but i think he co-wrote it with her. it was on i forget which album, it wasn't on his last album though but it's a spoof of one her songs that's from i think her 1st album. and his version is great.

honestly when he does versions of songs i don't like i enjoy those too. there's not many songs of his that i don't like honestly. i have his last album but it's not one of his best albums now i loved the one he did before that.

imglad someone else agrees with me that nirvanas overated. I could never get into them . most grunge bands dont do it anything for me (Soundgarden and STP being exceptions. i like Alicei n chains and melivins to but there more metal to me). i think i know what pardoy song your talking about just don't remeber. Avil lavine is someone else i dont like.

but like i said his last album wasn't that great and really most but NOT all of music today sucks now anyways. if you'd like we can agree to disagree on that point i can live with that. but you are right some people are far to easy to make fun of. one song i do love on his last album was i forget the name of it but he worked on it with i think and i'm going to murder the spelling of his last name


that song that had one of 'the doors' work on it with him. i think it was "Ray Manzerick' that he worked on it with. i forget which doors song he used the music from but for me it's my favorite one on the album.

it's been awhile since i last heard it. but i think Weird Al for some songs are a hit or miss like any artist really. it doesn't bother me if he covers a song i love and i love it when he does a song i hate too. either way i agree he does need to

make fun of songs like you said the most easiest. like i hate the song 'achy breaky heart' with a fucking passion

speaking of a Cyrus. even though Miley looks like a fucking Tranny now. and she was at one point a pretty young thing.

now she looks like a charater from either 'prissilla queen of the desert' or 'two wong foo: thank for everything Julie Newmar' 2 great films.


anyways his version of that billy ray song i just love to death.

i don't mind her she's ok. but when Kirk Cobain died. i recall thinking to myself. well he's an idiot if he wanted to kill himself. and i'm sorry to hear the man died. but at least we won't hear anymore shitty music i guess.


i believe he did it from what i heard years ago because he didn't want to be famous at all. but he wanted his music heard. when i heard that i went what the fuck kind of thinking is that? if you don't want to be famous

than don't sign a record contract. or if you do just stay underground like Green day was for many years. yes they later got out from that but they started out really as an under ground Punk band. their 1st album is a punk album if you can believe it. anyways i don't mean to sound like an ass since the man killed himself.

but that's how i feel about it. i can't think of one band i like that is grunge. now heavy metal i love. death metal i can't fucking stand. anyways yes we are on 100% agreement on the band Nirvana