Movie » Parody & Spoof Movies

The spoof comedy that set the gold standard for all that followed it AIRPLANE takes shots at the slew of disaster movies that peppered cinemas in the 70s. When the passengers and crew of a jet are incapacitated due to food poisoning a rogue pilot who has a drinking problem and is afraid of flying must cooperate with his ex-girlfriend turned stewardess to bring the plane to a safe landing. No disaster flick cliche is left unroasted and the musical score itself takes a less than reverent look at overly melodramatic compositions.

A group of blackmailed guests gather in a remote mansion hosted by a daffy butler Tim Curry in this campy adaptation of the popular board game. Suspicions flare when their ostensible extortionist Mr. Boddy appears--and drops dead in the study. Hidden passageways double entendres and creative murder weapons come into play as bodies drop disappear and reappear on one dark and stormy night. An all-star cast assume the roles of Professor Plum Christopher Lloyd Mrs. White Madeline Kahn Miss Scarlet Lesley Ann Warren and the rest of the multicolored bunch as the one-liners fly in this jaunty whodunit. It all concludes with three alternate endings that let viewers decide who the real murderer was.

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If you were to argue that Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein ranks among the top-ten funniest movies of all time, nobody could reasonably dispute the claim. Spoofing classic horror in the way that Brooks's previous film Blazing Saddles sent up classic Westerns, the movie is both a loving tribute and a raucous, irreverent parody of Universal's classic horror films Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Filming in glorious black and white, Brooks re-created the Frankenstein laboratory using the same equipment from the original Frankenstein (courtesy of designer Kenneth Strickfaden), and this loving attention to physical and stylistic detail creates a solid foundation for nonstop comedy. The story, of course, involves Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) and his effort to resume experiments in re-animation pioneered by his late father. (He's got some help, since dad left behind a book titled How I Did It.) Assisting him is the hapless hunchback Igor (Marty Feldman) and the buxom but none-too-bright maiden Inga (Teri Garr), and when Frankenstein succeeds in creating his monster (Peter Boyle), the stage is set for an outrageous revision of the Frankenstein legend. With comedy highlights too numerous to mention, Brooks guides his brilliant cast (also including Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman in a classic cameo role) through scene after scene of inspired hilarity. Indeed, Young Frankenstein is a charmed film, nothing less than a comedy classic, representing the finest work from everyone involved. Not one joke has lost its payoff, and none of the countless gags have lost their zany appeal. From a career that includes some of the best comedies ever made, this is the film for which Mel Brooks will be most fondly remembered. Befitting a classic, the Special Edition DVD includes audio commentary by Mel Brooks, a "making of" documentary, interviews with the cast, hilarious bloopers and outtakes, and the original theatrical trailers. No video library should be without a copy of Young Frankenstein. And just remember--that's Fronkensteen. --Jeff Shannon

Beyond Young Frankenstein

High Anxiety

Spaceballs

Blazing Saddles

A brilliant and hilarious documentary-style satire of a has-been British heavy metal band who never really was on an absurd American comeback tour that never quite gets off the ground THIS IS SPINAL TAP practically birthed the mockumentary style. Michael McKean Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer are David St. Hubbins Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls respectively--three clueless self-absorbed men who form the nucleus of Spinal Tap aging purveyors of overwrought songs with titles such as "Big Bottom" "Smell the Glove" and "Sex Farm." Shot in faux cinema verit-style with director Rob Reiner as fictional filmmaker Marty DiBergi the film lampoons just about every rock roll clich not to mention every rockumentary clich in the book as it follows these fallen rock idols from one disastrous gig to the next. Scenes of the tour's descent from desperation into total collapse are interspersed with interviews in which the band members delightfully prattle on inanely about the none-too-illustrious history and dubious vision

Derek Zoolander Ben Stiller isn't smart but he looks "really really good." An empty-headed yet kindhearted male model the self-absorbed Derek becomes an unwitting pawn in a international assassination plot masterminded by oddball fashion dictator Jacobim Mugatu Will Ferrell. Meanwhile the clueless cover guy must also contend with a new rival a blonde hipster named Hansel Owen Wilson. Only adding to his troubles is Matilda Jeffries Christine Taylor an inquisitive and sensitive journalist. Stiller's charming and silly comedy liberally skewers the fashion industry while showcasing the actor-director-screenwriter's quirky humor. He casts his real-life family in the film: wife Christine Taylor sister Amy Stiller father Jerry Stiller and mother Anne Meara. As a director Stiller invokes entertaining performances from Wilson and Ferrell. He also adds cameos by a multitude of celebrities including David Bowie Natalie Portman and Lenny Kravitz.

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An antidote to the 1990s spate of urban coming-of-age films. The tale of a black youth sent to live with his father in the 'hood this spoof parodies the key elements of such "serious" movies as "Boyz N the Hood" "Menace II Society" and "Juice."

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/07/2008 Run time: 246 minutes Rating: R