Top 7 spoofs that are actually good

Spoof movies. You know the drill. Short, sharp, cheap movies that roll together cliches from a handful of recent blockbusters and point out just how silly most movies are. If art holds up a mirror to society, then spoofs hold up a mirror to the mirror being held up to society. So, judging by most spoof movies, everyone thinks art is stupid.

In recent years the spoof film has seen a sharp decline in quality, far removed from its heyday in the 80s and 90s, when it churned out such classics as Hot Shots (starring Charlie Sheen with Jon Cryer and Ryan Stiles, the stars of that godawful dross Two and a Half Men), Top Secret! (starring Val Kilmer), and Spy Hard (starring, er, Leslie Nielsen and, er Weird Al Yankovic). Spoofs have always been cheap, shallow and silly, but there are some out there that are genuinely funny. Here’s a list of my top 7.

7 - Scary Movie (2000)

The original hit that spawned the infinite bastard lineage of “Adjective Movie”s wasn’t actually half-bad. In a post-Scream world, the Wayans brothers attempted the impossible and took the stale, Mel Brooks-dominated spoof movie and made it hip, accessible and funny in an amusingly crude way. And then paved the way for a relentless procession of shameless trash.

6 – Walk Hard (2007)

The only music biopic most people have seen is Walk The Line, and Walk Hard lampoons this film with glee, throwing in for measure a bunch of Bob Dylan, Elvis and Beatles references (among others). The drug use and nudity were a bit much for some folk, but the eccentric, inspired performance John C. Riley turns in as Dewey Cox is well worth a watch.

5 – Robin Hood: Men In Tights (1993)

One of Mel Brooks’ better 90s spoofs, Robin Hood sees Cary Elwes (who later went on to read lines in the original Saw film) portraying a blissfully ignorant twit accidentally stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. It also had a bevy of pop-culture references and delicious sight gags, which have always been an important part of the spoof movie sub-genre.

4 - Austin Powers (1997)

An effortless spoof of the James Bond franchise that instantly took on a life of its own, the Mike Myers-spearheaded Powers is among the more unique and hilarious comedy series of the 90s. We get all the spoof hallmarks–sight gags, body jokes, bad puns, and hyper-exaggerated cliches–but we also get a fair amount of straight, old-fashioned, quality jokes.

3 - Galaxy Quest (1999)

Tim Allen’s finest hour? Almost certainly. Galaxy Quest did for Star Trek what Austin Powers did for James Bond: it lovingly took the source material and satirised it in an oddly reverential, respectufl way. What sets Quest apart from Powers (and the vast majority of other spooofs), though, is the budget. We get overblown special and visual effects, a rollicking score, some big-name talent (Sigourney Weaver? Check. Alan Rickman? Check. Sam Rockwell? Check. Justin Long? You betcha!), and a level of polish usually reserved for “serious” films. The budget raised expectations, and the writers and director of Galaxy Quest rose to the occasion: there are no sight gags, no willy jokes, no bad puns, just funny actors saying and doing funny things against a spectacular backdrop. Awesome.

1 (tie) - The Naked Gun (1988) and Flying High (aka Airplane!, 1980)

I couldn’t pick between these classics, and anyone who’s seen them will understand why. Leslie Nielsen’s deadpan delivery is perfectly suited to these low-budget rip-offs of big-budget, self-serious films, and the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker team capitalised on the actor’s skills. Both feature a non-stop barrage of jokes of every kind, pushed over the line of hilarity by the ever-reliable Nielsen, and both spawned an endless vocabulary of quotes and non sequitors. Watching them today is just as funny as it was when they were released, so if you haven’t seen either of these flicks, do yourself a favour!

And don’t call me Shirley.

Hit me with your faves and complain about what I excluded, I dare ya!