Thursday, July 8, 2010

parodies and recycling

It started with Scary Movie.

Then moved on to Date Movie, Epic Movie, Disaster Movie... Add to that list Not Another Teen Movie, Meet the Spartans, and most recently, I saw The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It. So disappointed. The actors were just doing horrible impersonations of the originals. The situations were given, predictable, not interesting or entertaining at all. Why would a studio give money for this kind of movie? What will be the fate of the newest one announced, Vampires Suck?

Good parody/recycled material includes the works of David Zucker & Jim Abrahams (Airplane, Hot Shots, The Naked Gun, Top Secret! and The Kentucky Fried Movie).

Do I just remember these films nostalgically? Or were they actually better than today's parodies are? I remember clever quips, brilliant in-jokes, admirable hair and costuming. I still quote many lines from Top Secret! such as "Things change, people change, interest rates fluctuate..."

Agree or disagree? Tell me why you think so!

2 comments:

  1. The ones that you mentioned that blow all have two things in common: they just throw things out there to see if anyone gets the movie reference, and they lack a real coherent storyline.

    Movies like Airplane and the Naked Gun series all had storylines that people could follow, yet also allowed room for laughs, however cheap they may be. The ones coming out now are there just for the cheap laughs and nothing more.

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  2. I still quote Kentucky Fried lines in my everyday conversations. If people get it, they rule. If not, ah well.

    I actually saw KFM in my mid 20's and even though it isn't as sure fire as Airplane!, it still holds up to repeated viewings. Although alcohol makes it even funnier.

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