Hollywood loves making fun of itself, and movie spoofs are a great way for filmmakers to mock the conventions of a particular genre while also paying tribute to classic films in that genre. Although the 1980s are often regarded as the heyday of the spoof movie, there’s currently a resurgence, with sequels/reboots on the way for multiple entries on this list.
Like a lot of people, I started watching silly spoofs as a kid because they were funny, even though I often had no idea what they were parodying. The best spoof movies stand on their own, but get funnier with the more references that viewers understand.
With the Liam Neeson-starring reboot of “The Naked Gun” now playing in theaters, here are five of the best spoof movies to stream right now.
‘The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!’
Spoof kingpins David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker turned their short-lived “Police Squad!” TV cop-show parody into perhaps the most famous spoof movie of all time, starring Leslie Nielsen as the bumbling Lt. Frank Drebin. Drebin foils a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Los Angeles, although he often succeeds in spite of his own ineptitude.
There’s a reason that “The Naked Gun” launched two sequels and the current reboot, and it remains one of the most expertly constructed joke-delivery machines around. Nielsen expands on his work in the ZAZ spoof movie “Airplane!,” bringing deadpan seriousness to his role as Drebin.
The ridiculous puns and bits of slapstick work because Nielsen and his co-stars deliver them with straight faces, sometimes leaving the audience to catch up with the densely packed humor that rewards multiple viewings.
Watch on Paramount Plus
‘This Is Spinal Tap’
Filmmaker Rob Reiner elevated the mockumentary with this parody of self-serious rock documentaries, which has only grown more relevant over time. The current proliferation of artist-endorsed bio-docs is at times indistinguishable from Reiner’s spoof, starring Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer as the buffoonish heavy metal band.
It helps that the songs (written and performed by the cast members) sound entirely authentic, and some of the humor is so dry that it fooled initial audiences into thinking Spinal Tap was a real band. The hilariously pompous behavior of the musicians and their hangers-on is only a slight variation on the antics of real-life rock stars.
It’s amazing to think of how many iconic lines (“These go to 11”) were improvised by the actors, making “This Is Spinal Tap” an enduring classic with a highly anticipated sequel 40-plus years later.
‘Wet Hot American Summer’
There’s real affection for the grubby sex comedies of the 1980s in this spoof created by members of comedy troupe The State. Filmmakers David Wain and Michael Showalter dig so deeply into the minutiae of the movies that they’re parodying that “Wet Hot American Summer” baffled many early viewers, but it’s since become an enduring cult classic, with two spinoff Netflix TV series.
Set on the last day of the season at a rural summer camp, the movie perfectly captures the mix of raunchiness and sentimentality that defined vintage summer-camp films, with a cast of comedy ringers (Molly Shannon, Michael Ian Black, Janeane Garofalo) and future superstars (Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler).
“Wet Hot American Summer” is deeply weird, with admirable (or foolhardy) commitment to its most bizarre jokes, and that makes it more distinctive and more memorable than most of its inspirations.
‘Spaceballs’
Mel Brooks is such a master of the spoof that many of his movies could make this list, including classics like “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein” (which is frustratingly unavailable to stream). This “Star Wars” parody is probably his most famous, in part because it’s mocking what has become the biggest franchise in film history. Brooks’ sense of the ridiculousness of “Star Wars” is spot-on, and his skewering of “Star Wars” marketing has aged especially well.
Bill Pullman and Daphne Zuniga are entertaining as the movie’s Han Solo and Princess Leia analogues, but the supporting players steal the show, including Rick Moranis as petulant villain Dark Helmet and John Candy as lovable dog-man Barf.
Although it received mixed reviews, “Spaceballs” now takes its proper place among Brooks’ best films, and it’s set for a belated sequel next year, with most of the cast returning.
Watch on HBO Max
‘Black Dynamite’
It might be too easy to make fun of the low-budget scrappiness of Blaxploitation movies, which were often produced by fledgling filmmakers with limited resources. But the creators of this Blaxploitation parody never seem like they’re condescending to their source material, even when they lovingly mock the technical ineptitude of some early Blaxploitation films. There’s a level of verisimilitude to “Black Dynamite” that could only come from true fans of the genre.
Michael Jai White plays the title character, a badass hustler/pimp/former CIA agent who’s out to avenge the death of his brother and take down The Man in 1970s Los Angeles. White and director Scott Sanders mix clumsy martial arts, convoluted conspiracies and sexual escapades with goofy jokes and perfectly calibrated “errors” in continuity and blocking.
Like Blaxploitation filmmakers themselves, White and Sanders turn their limitations into assets.
Watch on Tubi
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