Cinematic Send-Ups That Soar
Four films whose spoofs are even better than the real thing
April Fools’ Day is all about great practical jokes. From the Chicago Tribune running headlines about space monsters invading the city to the BBC announcing that future TV shows would include Smell-O-Vision, April Fools’ jokes keep us guessing and laughing at the same time.
To get the party started this year, we’re showcasing four films whose hilarious spoofs of film genres are as good, if not better than, the original product.
Cole Sprouse and Kathryn Newton in Lisa Frankenstein
Lisa Frankenstein
Directed by Zelda Williams from a script by Academy Award®-winner Diablo Cody, Lisa Frankenstein brings back the fun of ‘80s horror comedies. “I wanted this movie to be funny, but I also wanted it to feel like it was funny in a less modern way,” Williams says in the production notes. Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) is an awkward teen who finds a real friend when she accidentally awakens a 19th-century corpse (Cole Sprouse). Although her vivacious step-sister (Liza Soberano) and controlling stepmom (Carla Gugino) push her to be more normal, Lisa follows her heart by falling for her recently dead beau. The film “is performed by a very game cast who all understand the assignment and deliver what is likely to be one of the funniest films of the year,” writes the AV Club.
Watch Lisa Frankenstein now on Apple TV or Amazon!
The official trailer for Lisa Frankenstein
Nick Frost and Simon Pegg in Hot Fuzz
Hot Fuzz
Listed by Complex as one of the “best British comedies” and by Screen Rant as “the best cop film ever made,” Edgar Wright’s action spoof Hot Fuzz enjoys the best of both worlds. Simon Pegg stars as alpha cop Nicholas Angel, who has been relocated to the backwater municipality of Sandford and paired with the buffoonish local bobby, Danny Butterman (Nick Frost). Against all odds, the two bond when they uncover a dark conspiracy threatening to overturn the quiet village. Hot Fuzz is “everything an action-comedy should be,” writes the AV Club, adding, “It achieves through parody what most films in the genre can't accomplish straight.”
The official trailer for Hot Fuzz
Richard Jenkins, Frances McDormand, and Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading
Burn After Reading
The Coen brothers’ star-studded spoof of spy films, Burn After Reading, treats the intelligence community as anything but that. For George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, and Richard Jenkins, it’s a crazy world fueled by political intrigue, personal secrets, and plastic surgery. Roger Ebert wrote, “It's funny, sometimes delightful, sometimes a little sad, with dialogue that sounds perfectly logical until you listen a little more carefully and realize all of these people are mad.” Over time, however, their madcap parody has proven to be politically insightful as well. In 2017, The New Republic wrote, “More than just a satire on espionage, the movie is a scathing critique of modern America as a superficial, post-political society where cheating of all sorts comes all too easily.”
The official trailer for Burn After Reading
Paul Rudd and Zak Orth in Wet Hot American Summer
Wet Hot American Summer
Set in 1981 on the last day of Camp Firewood’s season, David Wain’s Wet Hot American Summer is a wacky spoof of both the reality and fantasy of summer camps. While the film borrows from movies like Meatballs, Wain told Vanity Fair, “Wet Hot was much more inspired by my and Michael Showalter’s real-life camp experiences.” With a stellar group of up-and-coming actors—including Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Janeane Garofalo, Molly Shannon, and Bradley Cooper—the filmmakers let the cast go wild at an abandoned summer camp in Pennsylvania. The result is inspired mayhem. Entertainment Weekly gives the film an “A” for its “loving and meticulous re-creation of the last moment before American youth culture went permanently ironic.”
"Paul Rudd's a Terrible Lifeguard" clip from Wet Hot American Summer