We’re on week 7 of 10 of my top 50 films of all time. If you haven’t caught up, you can do here:
PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6
To repeat myself again these are in a random order until I get to the lasts 2 weeks. This weeks batch are all spoof films. Growing up, I watched a lot of spoof films and would have claimed it be my favourite genre for a long time. I have kind of grown out of it now, but I would be lying if I said these wouldn’t make me laugh watching them now.
Shaun of the Dead
This is without a doubt one of the funniest films ever made. I think I may have seen this film more than any of film ever. It’s incredibly funny, full of memorable moments and introduced me to Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. I’m pretty sure that most people have seen it. It’s a riff on Romero’s zombie films and is just pure fun from start to finish. I’m not as big a fan of the follow-ups Hot Fuzz and The World’s End. They’re just not as good for me.
Airplane!
Arguably the best spoof film of all time. It was a career turn for Leslie Nielsen and again just full of classic moments. The drinking problem, the inflatable co-pilot and of course ‘don’t call me Shirly’. It’s an incredible film that I used to watch with a friend quite a lot. The second one is also great, and has William Shatner in it, but I think the first one is the better of the two. Still a classic and would recommend it to everyone.
The Naked Gun
Speaking of Leslie Nielsen, probably his most well know role is Frank Drebin from The Naked Gun series. These are a laugh a minute from start to finish. There is so many stupid jokes that just make me laugh every time. Nielsen is a God of spoof films, they defined the later half of his career and Naked Gun is probably his best. My favourite one is part 3, for the baby scene at the beginning and Mother Teresa the musical. I do think the 1st one has the best jokes overall, so that’s why it takes this spot on the list.
Scary Movie 3
The first spoof film I ever saw and I watched this so many times over the years that if Shaun of the Dead isn’t my most watched film, then this is. It sums up both Signs and The Ring efficiently and with great humour throughout. I could honestly watch this any day of the week and have a good time. For me the Scary Movie series up to this point is only so-so. 3 is excellent, 4 is good but not the same and I never saw number 5, and probably never will.
Hot Shots: Part Deux
Another one where I couldn’t decide which one to use for the list. My mum recommended this to me, and I absolutely loved it. I then ordered the double DVD with Part Deux for when a friend came round, and we watched these over and over again. They’re both so funny and Charlie Sheen at his best. I met Charlie Sheen at a convention and told him Part Deux was one of my favourite films, and I wasn’t lying.
The films above made up a big part of my childhood and I really need to sit down and watch them again. Maybe I’ll host a film night soon. Pizza and spoof films – perfection.
Have you seen any of the above? Love them, hate them? Let me know in the comments.
Thanks for reading and until next time,
Ashley
Ashley Manning 
I am totally with you on Shaun of the dead. It would definitely make my top 10 and it’s my go to film to cheer me up.
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Such a good film. I think I’ve seen it so many times I almost know every line off by heart
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I agree that “Shaun of the Dead” was hilarious. 🙂 You really can’t go wrong with a Simon Pegg comedy.
Growing up my older brother and his best friend loved “The Naked Gun” and “Hot Shots” movies; so this blog post stirred up some old memories!
While all of the movies on this list are great, my vote for best all time spoof would go to “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”I actually watched it for the first time in high school senior English. It was our award from our teacher for surviving Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” (reading, writing essays, and taking a test). LOL
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Thank you for commenting. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is an excellent film, but I didn’t see it until I was older, which is probably why I don’t hold it as highly as the ones on my list, but it is still a laugh out loud comedy.
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This isn’t exactly related, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on Oldboy (2003) and Oldboy (2013). I absolutely loved the 2003 version, and I absolutely loathed the 2013 version (though I still watch it ironically). Also would love to hear your thoughts on Wolfwalkers and the Blade Runnner movies.
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Thank you for commenting and the recommendations. I haven’t seen either version of Oldboy, but they are on my list to get round to. I’ve heard bad things about the remake and extremely good things about the original, I just haven’t gotten round to it just yet. I couldn’t even tell you why, but I’ll watch it soon.
Wolfwalkers is also something that I want to see, but I don’t have an Apple TV subscription. I’ve been waiting for a few more things to come out on it to pay for a month and get the most out of it. I want to watch Cherry and Ted Lasso as well.
Blade Runner on the other hand is one of my favourite films. It will be appearing later in these lists. I love the first one and thought the second one was great as well, but I’ve only seen it the once. I’ll be writing more in detail about it pretty soon.
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Just a fair warning, Oldboy (2003) has certain themes that understandably needed to be changed for American audiences in the 2013 version, but why I loathed it is because the lack of subtlety, the strange performances (not from the main cast thankfully), the soundtrack, the narrative and above all, the clumsy execution… but it still provides insane ironic humour to me.
Wolfwalkers was recommended to me after I reacted negatively towards Soul (though I still gave it a mediocre review, not a negative one). Wolfwalkers came out on the same month as Soul after all. One of my mates gave it to me, and I can easily call it my favourite animated movie that is directed towards children. I’ve uploaded it on my public Google Drive folder if you’re interested. I also plan to pick up Cherry and Ted Lasso at some point too.
Did I just spoil myself for Blade Runner? Whoops… That’s all I’ll say for now.
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Thank you for the warning. I have heard similar things about Oldboy (2003), but most things don’t bother me. With the remake, I’ve heard nothing but bad things. I’m always up for a laugh so if it’s ironic humour, then it would be worth watching.
Thank you for the offer with Wolfwalkers, but I’ll be paying for Apple TV at some point in the near future. There is enough on there that I want to see, it’s just knowing I’ll have enough time to watch everything before paying for more months.
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Cool. I gave you a follow on Letterboxd btw. It’s unrelated (again), but I’ll pick up Taste of Cherry soon. Definitely not related to Cherry, but the title reminded me about it.
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Thank you.
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