Today's Top 5 is all about films that parody a genre of film, rather than just one specific movie. Genre Parody is an art form and, in my mind, there are very specific rules for what it is. So, for my Top 5 Genre Parody films, here are five rules:
1) The movie must take on an entire genre of films that has a well established history.
This is the most obvious rule. If there isn't a long list of films in a genre, then you don't have decades of narrative baggage to make fun of.
2) It must directly exploit the staples of the genre being parodied.
For example, if you are going to do a parody of fantasy films, there must be elves, dwarves, knights, and/or dragons. There must be normal characters and magical characters. There should be a lot of nature. If there aren't enough of these things in combination, then you have failed to parody a genre.
3) The movie must not be an obvious parody of a specific film.
This disqualifies several favorites. Spaceballs is a Star Wars parody, Hot Shots is Top Gun, Hot Shots Part Deux is Rambo, The Austin Powers films are James Bond spoofs, etc.
4) A straight-up version of the genre with comedy elements does not count.
This rule disqualifies both Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland, as the former is a Romantic Comedy with Zombies and the latter is really a serious Zombie movie with hilarious characters.
5) It may not be a loose collection of skits that lampoon popular movies that came that year.
So, all of the Scary Movie, Epic Movie, Not Another Teen Movie, etc., etc., ad nauseum do not qualify.
Top 5 Genre Parody Films
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
This movie takes on the Police Procedural/Action film to hilarious effect. What if the protagonist is nearly smothered to death by a seemingly sentient pillow? What if Reggie Jackson was brainwashed to kill the Queen of England? This movie dares to ask these questions. Leslie Nielsen's deadpan delivery of non-stop one-liners elevated this to much more than a typical cheesy spoof comedy.
Blazing Saddles!
Mel Brooks has a made a career of parody, but few of them rise to the level brilliance that this film achieved. I believe that Robin Hood: Men in Tights is his best spoof film, but it is too specific a parody of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves to make this list. Blazing Saddles puts a black sheriff in an old west town scheduled to be demolished for railroad development. And it only gets better from there, putting a twist on the new-sheriff-in-a-rough-town cliche. There's the town drunk who is a washed-up gunfighter. It also shows the hilarious logical conclusion of a cowboy's bean-centric diet. And badges? We don't need no stinking badges.
This is Spinal Tap
This movie is what is now called a mockumentary. It wasn't the first film of its type, but it is the touch-stone for the mockumentaries. Fans of The Office have Christopher Guest and Rob Reiner to thank for popularizing the faux documentary style. The movie was loosely scripted, mostly improvised, and 100% hilarious. They also take on the Rock and Roll culture's excesses. Band member complaining about the catering? Check. Being caught with a suspicious package by Airport Security? Check. The girlfriend that nearly breaks up the band? Check. If you're rating comedies from 1-10, this one goes to 11.
The Fifth Element
This Luc Besson directed film was, believe it or not, originally intended to serve as a parody of the Sci-Fi genre. The movie took apart and reconstructed Sci-Fi so well that it has become a cult classic. For me, this movie was the best showcase of Bruce Willis' comedic timing until RED. Also, this is yet another film that you had no idea Gary Oldman was in. If you've ever wondered where the phrase "Multi-Pass" came from, you should definitely check this one out.
Airplane!
It's no mistake that a Leslie Nielsen film ended up on this list twice. Most of his career before Airplane! was completely dramatic, but his turn in this comedy started something of a career renaissance for him. Airplane is the grand-daddy of all genre parody films. The movie demolishes on the disaster genre and its stock characters. You have the reluctant hero pilot with the drinking problem, the doctor, the religious person, and the innocent kid. Also, this movie used just about every pun available at the time. Every parody film for the next couple of decades tried (and often failed) to duplicate its success. This film is surely a classic, but don't call me Shirley.
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