If you were to ask me right now which I prefer, British comedy or American comedy, I’d reply without a moment’s hesitation: British comedy. Uh-oh someone’s being unpatriotic! Think about it: they gave us “Monty Python”, “The Office”, “Coupling”, and inspiration for “All in the Family” and “Three’s Company” (and so much more), I love all British comedy because it’s just so utterly brilliant. Regardless, the British have comedy down to a tee, down to an art and theirs is subtle, so sharp and so unbelievably funny and sometimes weird, case in point: Shaun of the Dead. It’s quite obvious when watching this film that creators Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright are not only pop culture buffs, but also horror buffs as they pay homage to the great George Romero with every aspect of a good zombie film, and yes there’s walking zombies, no runners here.
Tag Archives: Spoof
Don't Ask, Don't Tell (2002)
I’m among the legions of fans who grew up on cable television watching the geniuses at “Mystery Science Theater 3000” (Don’t know it? Look it up), or as we people in the know call it “MST3K” spoof films like “The Mole People” and “The Horror at Party Beach”. Yeah, it’s official I’m a nerd. Anyway, I spent many a long day watching Servo, Crow, and Mike watch bad movies only to trash them with their witty one-liners which often made me laugh, so when I was chosen to view the newest gag film “Don’t ask Don’t Tell”, I was more than willing to discover what lay ahead of me. “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” is a spoof, but it also becomes its own entity in the process as a film within a film. The people at “Refried Flicks” take the 1954 junk heap “Killer’s from Space”, an old schlock science fiction film directed by legendary director Billy Wilder’s younger brother W. Lee Wilder which starred Peter Graves and re-dub it, add new comedic scenes and masterfully edit this old piece of junk.
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
I am a huge fan of this series and love the first two sequels but unfortunately it seems Austin has lost his mojo. From the first five minutes of the movie I found myself un-amused and highly disappointed. The movie, though true to its efforts, attempts to bring about new life to the series with a brand-new villain named “Goldmember” which I found sad and very odd. The movie resorts to awful bathroom/gross-out humor to almost desperate measures. The most disgusting aspect of the movie was “Goldmember” who, due to his obsession with gold began to get diseased throughout the entire movie as his skin peeled constantly.
Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
It’s a shame that “Not Another Teen Movie” is such a mixed bag, as it has a ton of material to derive some great laughs from. By now the movie theaters have been filled with teen movie fare, and there’s some good fodder for fun. Sadly “Not Another Teen Movie” has so much nonsense, but also a lot of really brilliant material that you’ll find yourself quoting for a while. It’s a good thing the funny fodder outweighs the sheer misfires by a few inches, or else “Not Another Teen Movie” would be a botched missed opportunity. “Not Another Teen Movie” spoofs everything from John Hughes flicks all the way to recent hits like “Bring It On”.
The subplot is taken from one of my least favorite teen flicks, “She’s All That,” with dips in to other recent teen hits and some classics like “Breakfast Club.” In the movie, the “popular jock” and gets dumped by the “popular chick” for a “weird guy” spoofing that weird kid from “American Beauty”. So, the “popular jock’s” friends make him a bet that he can’t make a prom queen out of the “pretty ugly girl” which in fact is very hot when all that crap comes off of her. My favorite character though was “the token black guy,” who was barely in the film and spouted words like “shit”, “damn”, and “that is whack”.
Granted, you might have to see about every teen flick from the eighties and nineties to get most of the jokes here, but when a reference delivers with a good sight gag, it offers some raucous laughs. There are some great cameos by Molly Ringwald, Melissa Joan Hart, and Mr.T that make this worth watching, and lest I forget some great eye candy from Jaimme Presley. While “Not Another Teen Movie” completely falls apart by the climax, it more than makes up for it with a solid first half that does a good job lampooning iconic teen movie moments. It’s no masterpiece, but if you like spoof movies, this might keep you giggling ‘til the end.
Scary Movie 2 (2001)
Anna Faris returns as the inept and goofy Cindy Campbell and is recruited along with her friends to “Hell house” for the weekend where a professor claims they’re there for dream studies but instead are there to have the crap scared out of them by ghosts. This is nothing compared to the original “Scary Movie” at all. First off, the comedy timing and jokes are off, poorly timed and lame as hell. There is nonstop sexual innuendos and bathroom jokes that are laughable but not because they’re funny.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Ever since I was a kid I’ve always heard about “Monty Python”, but I never knew what they were famous for. Then I became older and learned about them from my uncle. Later on, I decided to try them out, so I bought “Monty Python and The Holy Grail”, my uncle told me that if I wanted to be introduced to “Monty Python”, this movie would be the perfect place to start. Monty Python is definitely not for folks used to the conventional and humdrum. They’re bold, and often gutsy in their skill sets to arouse laughter from audiences.