Lurker > BetrayedTangy

7. Office Space (1999)
Directed by Mike Judge
Score: 117

Plasma: 2
GavsEvans: 5
Suprak: 10
Vis: 11
Poke: 12
Mythiot: 13
Tangy: 14
John: 15
Forty: 17
Karo: 18

2. Plasma
Yeeeaahhh If we could get this masterpiece ranked near the top, that would be great. A

5. GavsEvans
This film was painful to watch. I could feel my soul being slowly crushed underfoot as it went on. Thank goodness that this was entirely intentional the film was that good at portraying a monotonous white-collar job, staffed by passive-aggressive supervisors who would rather avoid conflict than resolve problems or give straight answers. The corporate culture depicted here is efficient to the point of soullessness in all the areas it shouldnt be, and woefully inefficient in areas that would benefit from such efficiency.

The employees are victims of this system in different ways. Michael and Samir are laid off despite their work performance. Peter has totally checked out and does barely any work, but he gets a promotion anyway because he is able to play the game and tell upper management what they want to hear, which leads him to feel guilt when his friends suffer undeservedly and propose the embezzlement scheme. The loss of his job drives Tom to attempt suicide. Finally, theres Milton, the office doormat who is exploited and abused by everyone until he finally snaps. He may well be the most pitiful and pathetic character in all of fiction. While Im talking about characters, it would be remiss of me not to mention the Bill Lumberg, the petty micromanaging tyrant who is the bane of Peters life. Suffice to say, I think weve all come across a Lumberg at some point.

The rap soundtrack stands out in contrast to how mundane the rest of the setting is, as its not the sort of thing you would expect to hear on the soundtrack of an office-based comedy. In this case, its also used when characters are able to liven up their lives or rebel against the corporate drudgery, most memorably in the printer destruction scene.

This one may not have the most laugh-out-loud funny moments, but it does have some of the most effective satire on this list. Yeah, if we could just go ahead and give this one a respectable ranking, that would be great

11. Vis
The first half of this movie is GREAT. If youve ever worked an office job, you can recognize some hilarious circumstances that just felt so real they inflicted psychic damage on me. But even if youve never worked in an office, the general attitude of going to a job that you hate, dealing with stupid, trivial bullshit, is on full display. Its great. From minute one, with the fucking traffic that stalls when youre in a lane, then speeds up when youre able to merge, then stalls when you merge overits SO accurate. Everything in the soul-crushing office work section of the film is SO perfect, and its exaggerated in JUST the right way to make for a fantastic film. The fact that Peter learns to slack off and stop giving a shitand is REWARDED for thisthats perfect satire for the corporate world.

Where the movie loses me is the back half. The actual PLOT about stealing money from the company via a computer virus just isnt that fun, and you spend far too much of the film just watching the plan unravel in awful ways, and whatever good will that Peter built up in the first half just falls apart. Its disappointing, because theres something hilarious about watching this guy fail upward by learning to stop giving a shit about corporate norms, but then he has your standard third act downfall, and I just wish this wasnt that kind of movie. The first half is REALLY strong though, so Im fine with this high of a ranking.

13. Mythiot
A much funnier and incisive poke at 90s office culture than Dilbert was in any decade. After being called in to work on the weekend by his perfectly obnoxious boss and seeing a hypnotherapist die in front of him, an office worker fulfils our fantasies of sleeping in late and saying whatever we think, no matter how rude, at work without consequences. (The higher-ups even think his abrasive turn perfectly qualifies him for upper management. No kidding.) Then after his friends are laid off, he and his coworkers plot to embezzle from the company while he starts a new relationship with a waitress with her own frustrations with work and forced positivity. The biggest standout is Stephen Root as the anxious doormat Milton, who looks even more like a cartoon than the cartoon character that this film was based on.

Outlier Ranking

Suprak: 191
Mythiot: 191
Plasma: 142
GavsEvans: 137
John: 127
forty: 123
Karo: 118
Vis: 116
Tangy: 110 +
Poke: 105 -

10. Karo
Trey Parker and Matt Stone's sendup of the post 9/11 world featuring Team America, a woefully incompetent strike team whose simple counter-terror ops leave cites in ruins and who always manage to destroy the most valuable and historical targets with their oft-missed shots.
I was concerned that the movie would be less funny when viewed outside of its topical era, and thankfully that wasnt the case. If anything it was more funny nowadays, and maybe even with some nostalgia for a world where the worst thing in American politics was warmongering cowboys.

10. John
This movie is dumb. Like really dumb. And offensive in a lot of ways, though less in a "this aged badly" kind of way and more in a "that was the whole point" kind of way, which is better I guess? But Matt Damon and Trey Parker just know how to make people laugh, which is the reason why almost 20 years later there's like 5 different songs from this movie that still pop into my head consistently. The very idea of a puppetry/stop-motion action movie is hilarious on its own. To this day there's just nothing out there quite like it (and I have to assume that's in part because the moment one would come out, they would be met with complaints of 'this is just a Team America' ripoff). Definitely loses some points for the vomiting scene though.

19. Tangy
Despite this relatively low ranking, I do like Team America on the whole. The puppetry is both hilarious and impressive and of course this movie was an absolute classic for me in high school. That said, my interest in this movie has waned pretty significantly. The comedy only really works in this movie when its actively taking a dump on American foreign policy, everything else either drags or is just plain unfunny. Take the sex scene for example, I think the backstory behind its creation is far funnier than the scene itself. Same with the story behind the Damon puppet and his frustrated reaction to it. Im also not really keen on the drama between the members of Team America. I get that its a satire of how action movies literally do the same thing, but its not funny enough to warrant its inclusion.

Biggest Laugh: Hans Blix being fed to the sharks

8. Team America: World Police
Directed by Trey Parker
Score: 119

Forty: 4
Vis: 7
GavsEvans: 8
Plasma: 8
Karo: 10
John: 10
Poke: 13
Tangy: 19
Suprak: 19
Mythiot: 21

4. Forty
Matt Damon. I think everything Trey Parker and Matt Stone do is genius. I wont say only they could pull off a movie with marionettes but it cannot be an easy task. The puppets add another level of hilarity just in the way they move. The fights, the sex, the shoot-outs, everything is funnier because theres people right off screen pulling the strings. Its juvenile and raunchy and in true Parker and Stone fashion, no one is safe from being made fun of. Terrorists, Kim Jong Il, numerous celebrities, the French, the right, the left, the center. Probably missing others but this is an equal opportunity mock-fest. One thing thats always set these guys apart is their song writing and theres some excellent ones here. America, Fuck Yeah, Freedom Isnt Free, Only a Woman, Im So Ronery, Everyone Has AIDS. SO GOOD. I just had to put the soundtrack on and still laugh after hearing these songs a million times. Im pretty sure Team America offended a lot of people and thats partly why I love it.

7. Vis
Regardless of Trey Parker and Matt Stones current politics (and honestly, based off this movieit really shouldnt be a surprise), Team America remains really funny. Its a combination of just being completely irreverent in its humor, and the artistic choice to use marionettes made for hilarity throughout the film. I mean, with animation or live action, bad choreography or stilting motion is something that ruins the film. But with the puppets, its a feature, not a bug. Something about watching these janky puppets flop around and pretend to simulate walking, or martial arts, is amazing to me, and it makes the actions scenes comes across as that much more hilarious. And knowing that Matt & Trey wanted to do musicals, the number of funny songs in this film is great, including all-time classics like AIDS, Montage, and America Fuck Yeah.

Plus, I do appreciate that pretty much EVERYONE gets their moment to go through the wringer. The Hollywood liberals are right about Team America being overly-aggressive, but they take it too far and start siding with the terrorists. The terrorists are somewhat justified by Team America being overly-aggressive and destroying more than the terrorists manage (outside of Panama), but theyre still violent and actively trying to destroy the world. And then Team America itself are uncaring warmongers who just blow things up in the name of safety. The dicks/pussies/assholes speech is a perfect encapsulation of the message of the film, and I think it still holds up pretty well.

8. Gavs
Here we have the most unique film on the list, on account of being the only one that entirely uses puppets. This film can easily get laughs just from the way the puppets move or act - the way the terrorist the little boy bumps into in the opening scene slowly turns around and looks at him gets me every time. The concept of a big action movie like this being made entirely with puppets is inherently funny.

Whats also funny is having puppets do some of the outrageously inappropriate things shown in this film. In the same way South Park is funny because poorly animated children swear, Team America is funny because puppets swear, and have sex, and gruesomely kill each other. The world is a richer place for the BBFCs content warning for this film Contains strong language, violence and sex, all involving puppets. The sense of humour is similar to South Park, as expected from the two sharing creators. As in that one, celebrities come in for less than flattering portrayals, like Kim Jong Il as terrorist mastermind with plans for world destruction, as well as a more sensitive side stemming from his roneriness, or Matt Damon repeating his name like a Pokemon.

This film feels like the most topical one on the list, in that it was commenting specifically on US politics in the immediate aftermath of the War on Terror beginning. That ties it to a specific period, whereas the rest of the list has a more timeless feel to it. Almost twenty years on, that aspect, along with a few other things (the running gag of terrorist attacks being measured by how much worse than 9/11 they are, the song about how bad the film Pearl Harbor was, Kim Jong Il being the villain after his death in 2011) mean this one is showing its age in a way the other films on the list dont. Fortunately, thats not a dealbreaker because there is plenty of satire that will always be relevant, like the spoofing of patriotism and Americas role in the world. Team America are destructive saviours who cause as much damage as their targets do, who are more often than not Middle Easterners who speak foreign-sounding gibberish. Other countries are portrayed as small stereotypical areas with all their landmarks in close proximity to each other, and introduced with a message saying how far away from America they are. Although this film ranks highly, parts of the satire being a little dated keep this out of the top tier.

8. Plasma
Legendary humanitarian Kim Jong-il joins forces with weapons safety expert Alec Baldwin in this wacky puppet satire that I never expected to enjoy but somehow did.

Gotta say, I never really liked South Park, and when Team America started, I expected it to land in my Bottom 5. Then something magical happenedit actually clicked for me. The style of humor was hit-and-miss, but when it hits, BAM! I love how it attacks right-wing militarism and Hollywood hypocrisy all at once, pointing out how the people we look up to (Matt Damon!) dont have the answers.

The choice to use puppets turned me off at first, but its a brilliant creative choice because of the strings. I especially loved how the world leaders didnt have any strings and Kim Jong-ils strings were noticeably less visible than those of the soldiers and the actors (Matt Damon!).

And how prophetic was this movie? It predicted North Korea and celebrity virtue-signaling back when everyone couldnt think past the Middle East and GTAs Hot Coffee mod. B

Cuphead
Disco Elysium
Theatrhythm
What Remains of Edith Finch
Xenoblade Chronicles X

Outlier Ranking

Suprak: 180
Mythiot: 178
Plasma: 142
GavsEvans: 137
John: 125 +
forty: 119 -
Karo: 116
Vis: 115
Poke: 100 +
Tangy: 99 -

12. Karo
So basically Austin is this like this oversexed superspy who is absolutely irresistible to the ladies, but instead of someone like the suave and debonair James Bond we have this dweebish little weirdo with bizarre fashion sense and really bad dental hygiene. It's hilarious.
Austin has to save the world from a mad scientist while dealing with the reality that times have changed and you can't just go around grabbing girls by the pussy anymore unless you are Donald Trump.
This gives us a lot of the classic Bond schtick with evil lairs, silly henchmen, and some really great scenes with Dr. Evil in father/son group therapy.
All in all it is a brilliant performance by Mike Myers as not one but TWO entirely different characters in the same movie. Groovy, man!

12. Plasma
Stupid and annoying, yet oddly enjoyable. Watching Austin Powers is like watching a garbage truck flip oversure, its a repulsive disaster, but you gotta stick around to see what trash spills out: overabundant chest hair, atrocious sex jokes, 90s Carrie Fisher, dental floss gadgets, the worst romantic subplot imaginable, and so much more. This movie sucks so bad that I cant help but admire it. C-

13. Forty
Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day! I was a 15-year-old boy when this came out so it was pretty much tailor made for me, and it will always have a special place in my heart. Ive only seen a few movies twice in the theater and one of them was Goldmember, so I love the Austin Powers character. It parodies the James Bond franchise and other 60s spy films: not a tough task with the outlandish villains, the secret agent gadgetry, and of course the women. Mike Myers is really funny as the sex obsessed super spy stuck in the wrong era as well as the maniacal Dr. Evil, whos group therapy monologue in particular is one of the funniest things ever. Some of the juvenile humor and dated pop culture references dont hold up all that well, but Austin Powers will always have a place in comedy history. Also: prime Elizabeth Hurley? Yeah baby, yeah!

20. John
I expected Austin Powers to be a lot dumber than it was. I knew it almost entirely for its role in popular culture and the handful of widely known clips, but hadn't ever watched it start to finish, and it was ultimately the smaller stuff that really drew me into the movie. Things like the 60s dance transitions between scenes. Austin's reaction to the Cold War ending was hilarious ("Oh, smashing, yay capitalism"). There is admittedly a lot of dumb in it, primarily things like Alotta Fagina and the recurring dick pump jokes, but the majority of it is legitimately funny.

9. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Directed by Jay Roach
Score: 121

Vis: 2
Poke: 5
Tangy: 8
GavsEvans: 11
Karo: 12
Plasma: 12
Forty: 13
Suprak: 18
John: 20
Mythiot: 20

2. Vis
I loved this movie when I was younger, and to me, it still holds up, all these years later. It just manages to nail almost every comedic trick its going for. This is not a critique of the sequels, which I think were a case of diminishing returns for sure, having lost the plot in terms of what they were trying to parody. No, the first Austin Powers movie is a solid parody movie, and while its certainly immature at times, I personally find even the toilet and sexual humor to be funny and memorable in a good way. This is just such a unique movie, because its not just trying to parody James Bond. Casino Royale tried that, and its wasnt good. No, Austin Powers is its own things.

Now, the James Bond parody is the primary focus of the film, and I think it works very well. Just generally having a guy as blunt and camp as Austin Powers pulling off the same shit, with the same level of success, that we see from a suave James Bond character. More than that though, I love getting to see the parody of the supervillain as well, because that makes for some of the funniest shit. The scene where the villains are just having an evil laughand the camera doesnt cut away to a new scene like it normally would in that situation, is one of the most hilariously awkward moments in the movie. Thats a perfect parody moment, because it WOULD be awkward in real life, for a group of people to just start maniacally laughingand then having to trail off because they cant keep that energy going forever.

Beyond the Bond parody though, I love using the plot to parody both the 1960s and 1990s. You have Austin and Doctor Evil as these relics of a bygone era, and they just get to poke fun at how different things are in the 90s. You have this group therapy session with Dr. Evil and Scott thats just pointing out the stupid softness of modern (at the time) parenting. You have constant jokes about how Dr. Evils plans are completely pointless in the modern era. And of course, you have the listing of dead musicians and what killed them (including Mama Cass via ham sandwich).

Ultimately, this is just a laugh-a-minute movie for me, and its quotable and will always be memorable. My family, to this day, still quotes Who throws a shoe? Honestly, you fight like a woman. and WHO. DOES. NUMBER. TWO. WORK. FOR? I just love it. Its a great comedy.

8. Tangy
How did this movie age so well!? You wouldnt think that some Mike Myers comedy from the 90s would be full of great jokes that not only mock the James Bond films of old, but also the evils of corporations!? Yeah baby! This movie rocks! I also just love seeing absurd characters in realistic situations. Seeing Dr. Evil trying to bond with Seth Green acting like an edgy teenager despite clearly being in his 20s is freaking hilarious. I also think all the side villains are an absolute delight. Like of course theres a guy that collects actual lucky charms, but is completely unaware of the cereal. Its not often characters like this work, but they fit very well in the universe thats created.

I also think the copious amount of sex jokes were surprisingly well done. I like that theyre not just targeted at women (looking at you Anchorman). Theres all kinds of variety and again it fits in with the parody, so its not like theyre out of nowhere either. This is just an overall fun, mostly harmless comedy. Definitely one of the biggest surprises on this list.

Biggest Laugh: Dr. Evil trying to pitch his schemes, just to realize the world is perfectly capable of screwing itself up without him.

11. Gavs
Here we have one of the films on this list that needs little introduction. Like Airplane!, this is another spoof that helped kill off the source material, although this time, James Bond was able to survive by following in Batmans footsteps and going for a darker and edgier reboot.

The film pokes fun at the 60s spy genre by bringing its character archetypes into the then-present day of the 90s. Austins promiscuous, sex-addicted ways arent nearly as acceptable now as they were in his own time (today, hed be Me Toos worst nightmare). Dr Evil also struggles to adapt to the present day, insisting on supervillainy despite his front company having made much more money in his absence by going legitimate, and setting impractical, elaborate death traps instead of just shooting Austin like Scott suggests. Someone needs to read the Evil Overlord List! The film also spoofs spy tropes that arent related to the time travel aspect, such as the families and friends of anonymous guards mourning their deaths.

The secondary characters are memorable as well, being quirky henchmen in the vein of classic James Bond villains, such as silent shoe-throwing assassin and Odd Job parody Random Task (who in real life turned out to be far worse than his employer). That said, the more iconic likes of Mini Me and Obese Illegitimate Son havent been introduced yet. (Are we allowed to say his real name on this site?)

The main issue I have with this film is that some jokes go on for too long, which ends up hurting some jokes that would have been funnier if they ended sooner. Aside from that, Im pleased to see this one still holds up. I wasnt sure if it would, given how omnipresent all the quotes were in the late 90s and early 2000s, resulting in them subsequently being run into the ground, but enough time has passed since then for them to go back to being funny again. Yeah, baby! Oh behave! etc

Does the alien have a ray gun?

Cincy

Honestly, I'm kinda neutral, so gotta go with no.

Cincy

Outlier Ranking

Suprak: 171 +
Mythiot: 167 -
Plasma: 139 +
GavsEvans: 135 -
forty: 115 +
John: 114 -
Karo: 113
Vis: 108
Tangy: 98
Poke: 96

Thanks to its divisiveness Borat causes some mix ups in the outlier as well. Including Suprak reclaiming the crown.

10. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
Directed by Larry Charles
Score: 125

Karo: 1
GavsEvans: 4
Forty: 7
Mythiot: 9
Jonh: 11
Tangy: 11
Poke: 15
Vis: 21
Plasma: 21
Suprak: 25

1. Karo
Sacha Baron Cohen's brilliant comedy routine featuring awkward Kazakh journalist Borat and his misadventures in America.
Basically it follows him in his journey across the country to make sexytime with Pamela Anderson and all the hilarious situations he finds himself along the way, featuring a lot of people who are unfortunately very real Americans. This film is Cohen at his absolute best, and his ability to draw top notch humor out of everyday situations never ceases to amaze me. Despite many attempts to recapture the magic there will never be anything quite like it.

4. GavsEvans
After his successful TV appearances alongside Ali G, Kazakhstans premier television personality Borat branches out with his own spin-off movie, where he travels across the US and A. Borat is another character who can do or say basically anything and its almost guaranteed to be funny, even if hes doing nothing more than singing a song while sitting on a chair. There are dialogue jokes sneaking in during scenes that you might not catch because the film doesnt dwell on them, but theyre great if you catch them, like in the car dealer scene when Borat mentions in passing that he bought his underage wife (and her genitals hang like sleeve of wizard). The bigger set pieces, like the Running of the Jew or the Kazakhstan marriage proposal, are frequently hysterical.

This is a film thats cleverer than it first seems. Borat himself expresses some very prejudiced opinions about lots of groups, but especially Jews. However, the things he says are often so outrageous and over the top that they become more funny than offensive. His mannerisms help, as he comes across as so excitable and nave, suggesting that his bigotry comes from ignorance and not knowing any better, rather than a place of malice. On top of that, his act can often cause those he interacts with to become comfortable enough to express their own intolerances in response, as he is putting them at ease. Some of these can be quite subtle and then gradually build up. The rodeo scene is a good example, as Borat backs the War of Terror (notice the of instead of an on) and the crowd cheers enthusiastically, with the enthusiasm increasing each time, until the crowd starts to catch on and become uncomfortable around the point Borat calls for Warlord Bush to drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq. The multiple layers of irony here ensure Borat is great success. Wawawiwa, is very nice. High five!

Also, the DVD for this film really goes the extra mile. Certain discs (Unfortunately not mine) look pirated, a blank disc with the word Borat crudely scrawled in marker on it. The menus are designed to look like a dodgy pirate copy, with the options in clunky Google Translate English, muffled sound quality and scratchy, skipping visuals as you move between menus.I dare you to choose the Hebrew language option!

7. Forty
My country send me to United States to make movie-film. Please come and see my film. If it not success, I will be execute. The ultimate toer-of the line: Sacha Baron Cohen. Its a delicate thing to make comedy out of things like racism, misogyny, and antisemitism without being overly offensive. OK, some people do think hes overly offensive, but I think he handles the subject matter deftly and creates a lot of hilarious moments through Borats ignorance and fish out of water cultural naivety. The first time I saw it I was shocked (in the best way possible) at just how un-PC and tasteless the jokes were and Ive rarely if ever laughed so hard at a movie. Beyond all the outrageous situations, it really takes social criticism to the next level and for that I think its a really important film.

11. John
I don't know what to say about Borat at this point. It's Borat. Everyone has seen Borat. Everyone has had the entirety of Borat recited back to them.

11. Tangy
This is a movie I respect far more than I enjoy watching. The concept is honestly sheer genius and probably does satire better than any other movie on this list. Its literally just Borat going on a road trip where he just shows how messed up America is. It had me laughing way more than I expected. The unfortunate flip side of Borat though is the fact that it is a satire on the place I live and uh yeah it definitely served as a cruel reminder as to just how awful this country can be. Its not something I can casually watch and because of that it does lose a spot in my top 10.

21. Vis
Dont mistake the low placement on this list for me disliking the movie. I found it absolutely fascinating, and honestly terrifying in terms of watching for a variety of reasons. One, the fact that some of the people Borat met with willingly went along with his shit for FAR longer than any rational person ever should have done is insane to me. But also, the fact that Sacha Baron Cohen went out and put himself in these situations where people could have justifiably beat his assmajor kudos to the guy. That being said, its hard to rank this movie highly, because while I couldnt look away, I also REALLY wanted to look away most of the time, due to how cringey the humor was throughout the entire film. I guess it makes the satire hit harder though, because people are just willing to believe foreigners from some country theyve never heard of ARE just as ass-backwards as Borat isso he gets away with a LOT. I still cant believe I watched two horrendous men wrestling naked in the middle of a mortgage broker conference.

21. Plasma
Borat is hilarious and outrageous at times, but it also drags. My biggest problem is that theres no sense of cause-and-effect here. Stuff just happens, and the movie feels like its rolling along a conveyor belt that stops every five minutes for a new gag. If the gag is funny, great. If it isnt, Im bored and checking the clock. Theres honestly not much depth to this one. Its a wild fish-out-of-water satire that repeatedly shoots for shock value. D+

I think 3-4 feels more distinct because it not only hypes up the final case, but it also answers a ton of questions that had been sprinkled across the first 3 cases.

Don't get me wrong I still enjoy the events of 5-4, but my brain absolutely combines 5-4 and 5-5 into the same case.

I've been taking my time, but have been greatly enjoying this. I got through most the Chapter 2s.

Throne > Hikari > Partitio > Castti > Osvald > Agnea > Ochette > Temenos

1. ??
2. ??
3. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
4. Monty Python's The Life of Brian
5. Black Dynamite
6. ??
7. ??
8. ??
9. ??
10. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
11. ??
12. Spaceballs
13. ??
14. ??
15. Not Another Teen Movie
16. Enchanted
17. This is Spinal Tap
18. Duck Soup
19. ??
20. Modern Times
21. The Interview
22. Beverly Hills Cop
23. Zoolander
24. Mystery Men
25. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
26. Return of the Living Dead
27. Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
28. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
29. The Freshman
30. Stripes

Bleach

Drop
Tony Hawk
Octopath

Add
NEO: The World Ends With You
Shovel Knight

And with that we are officially in the Top 10!

Young Frankenstein (1974)
Airplane (1980)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Office Space (1999)
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Team America: World Police (2004)
Thank You For Smoking (2005)
Borat (2006)
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Outlier Ranking

Mythiot: 166
Suprak: 156
GavsEvans: 129 +
Plasma: 128 -
John: 113
forty: 112
Karo: 104
Vis: 97
Tangy: 97 +
Poke: 91 -

Gavs narrowly snatches third back from Plasma and I climb out of the bottom of the leaderboard, although I'm unsure for how long.

11. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
Score: 130

Forty: 1
Poke: 2
Mythiot: 3
Vis: 3
John: 13
Suprak: 15
Karo: 17
Plasma: 22
GavsEvans: 26
Tangy: 28

1. Forty
Are you suggesting coconuts migrate? What is my name? fortybelowsummer. What is my quest? To seek the holy grail. What is my favorite comedy movie? Monty Python and the Holy Grail! I cant say enough about how much I love this movie. Almost every scene is iconic, from the French taunter, to the killer rabbit, to the knights who say Ni to the bridge keeper. And thats not including many other 10/10 scenes. My personal favorite might be Arthur talking to the peasant man (hes 37 hes not old), but its so hard to choose. I know British humor isnt for everyone but to me it's perfect and no one nails satire with such absurdity, sarcasm, and self-deprecation. Ive seen Holy Grail a million times and still laugh at my favorite scenes. Number One yaaaaayyyy.

3. Mythiot
The Pythons silver screen debut (not counting their compilation filim) is a cornerstone of nerd culture for a reason. It oozes chaotic silliness and quotable lines like blood from a flesh wound or ink from an upturned well after an animator has a sudden heart attack. Overambitious with its shoestring budget like a stuffy European swallow laden with coconuts, this send-up of Arthurian legend faux-gallops from one scene to the next, caring little for narrative or innocent bystanders, or the majesty of the Swedish moose as it throws hilarious joke after joke toward you like barnyard animals from a French-occupied castle. The only weak spots were the tales of Galahad and Lancelot. Admittedly they are a lot funnier if youre familiar with the source material, but they bring the film to a halt and I just wanted them to GET ON WITH IT!

3. Vis
I love this movie. Its amazingly quotable, and it manages to keep itself fresh with each new scene and new styles of comedy throughout its runtime. Sometimes it plays the Arthurian setting straight, and lets the comedy come from the situations the characters find themselves in, but sometimes you get great fourth wall breaks, or absurdity and wordplay. For a movie made by a sketch troupe, its amazing that they took a central narrative and ran it to a satisfactory conclusion (with a complete non-conclusion that ties up the loose ends sprinkled throughout the film.) Finally, I want to give special commendations to the Lancelot castle-storming scene, which has long been my favorite sequence in the film. To this day, I will occasionally shuffle around and mime firing an arrow like Herbert in his tower, or just mimicking the Herbert voice. I just really love the film, and its a good sign that the early showing on this list is already strong.

13. John
It's really hard to just go into watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail, simply because of how it already exists in pop culture. I never watched the entirety of Holy Grail start to finish, but I still knew about every single joke the movie was going to make because almost every scene has been adapted and repeated out of context of the rest. I mean, it's for good reason I guess, as the jokes are mostlyfunny, though there's definitely something lost from not being able to experience it fresh (Life of Brian I hadn't seen nearly as much from going in, and it benefitted the humor a lot). I certainly enjoyed Holy Grail, though I can't really say it's something I'd consider a favorite

17. Karo
A group of dysfunctional knights with some unusual horses go on a quest for the One Cup to Rule Them All.
There are quite a few iconic scenes such as the holy hand grenade and the black knight, but unfortunately a lot of the film is unfocused and doesn't really mesh well together into a whole. This, combined with the very low production quality, makes it feel more like I'm watching a bunch of guys LARPing on YouTube.
It still is quite funny, and is charmingly weird in the way the comedy troupe generally is. Maybe it would have worked batter as a TV miniseries? -shrug-

22. Plasma
Allow me to dismount from my imaginary horse and share my thoughts on this one. First of all, British Comedy is not my thing. Second, I hated Holy Grail the first time I watched it about ten years ago because I knew most of the jokes going into it (my middle school classmates never stopped quoting this movie).

Anyway, I came into this rewatch with zero expectations. I expected to rank Holy Grail in my Bottom 5, but it turned out to betolerable. I like the way it toys with various fantasy tropes, and there were a few segments that genuinely made me laugh: Brave Sir Robin Ran Away, the bridge scene, etc. I even like how they commit to stupid little jokes like the imaginary horses. And I love the way the different storylines merge on a structural level. Good stuff.

That said, for most of Holy Grails runtime, I kept checking the clock and wishing this thing would end. There are too many dumb jokes and too much idiotic banter that overstays its welcome. D+

26. GavsEvans
Years ago, I went through a big Monty Python phase. I watched all the iconic sketches, learned the sketches to recite them, and watched all the films, with the exception of the Holy Grail. For this, I watched some scenes, like the Knights who say Ni and the Black Knight, but I never did get around to watching the full film until now. This list gave me an opportunity to right a wrong, and I was looking forward to this film because of that. Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed in this one, as I had seen the best parts already, so the rest didnt add as much as I would have liked.

The plot, such as it is, involves King Arthur and his knights going on a quest to find the Holy Grail, but that isnt really important. Its more of a framing device for the various sketches the knights get involved in. These can be funny in their absurdity, although there are some that drag on for too long or are simply too odd. They sure do like their anti-climaxes, with some scenes ending abruptly and moving on. The film ends, or more appropriately stops, on a particularly infamous one!

If you havent seen this film yet, there isnt much of a reason to rectify that to be honest. Find a highlight reel of the best parts and watch that instead. Then again, since the best parts are all the most quotable ones, you probably know them all already.

28. Tangy
I think this movie got one chuckle out of me this entire rewatch. Holy Grail might have earned its spot in pop culture fandom, but Im super over it at this point. Sure the Black Knight and Holy Hand Grenade are iconic, but having heard them repeated ad nauseam has ruined them for me. Making matters worse is theres a whole bunch of bits that just dont work imo. The Knights Who Say Ni and the witch scene are perfect examples. The comedy is literally just born out of characters being stupid and nonsensical for the humor of it. In fact now that I think about it, his movie kind of birthed Internet humor didnt it?

Overall I get why people adore this movie and Im in no way denying its importance, but it didnt land at all for me.

Biggest Laugh: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

GavsEvans123 posted...

With Black Dynamite being I think the first film to make everyone's top 20 at a minimum, we're now at the stage where there aren't going to be many films with bottom 10 finishes left,

Yup BD was the first. Enchanted came a little close to it.

However I will say there are only 4 movies total that don't have a Bottom 10 placement.

plasmabeam posted...

I thought Scorsese was the main reason behind his success? I've never really researched it, but Cage never seemed like a "Yeah, he earned that fame" type.

I think he's related to Coppola as well. Yeah, it seems like he just genuinely has fun acting, which helps him stand on his own.

Jakyl25 posted...

Yeah when I was at my lowest points there would be entire months I didnt brush

Back up to once a day now but its hard to find the motivation to do it twice

I've been doing okay getting back to once at night, but yeah it's definitely hard to find the motivation overall.

Outlier Ranking

Mythiot: 158
Suprak: 145
Plasma: 117
GavsEvans: 114
John: 111 +
forty: 102 -
Karo: 98
Vis: 89
Poke: 82
Tangy: 80

18. Gavs
After his informant brother is killed when his cover is blown, Blaxploitation hero, one man army and all-round cool cat Black Dynamite seeks revenge against his brothers killers. As he works his way up the chain, he eventually uncovers a nefarious conspiracy by The Man that goes up to the highest levels of the US government.

The obvious comparison in this ranking is Austin Powers, since both films are throwbacks to an earlier decade the 70s in this case. Both characters are also highly competent despite their silliness, not to mention irresistible to most women. From here, the two films diverge a bit more. Where Austin Powers spends some time fleshing out secondary characters and making them as memorable as Austin himself, Black Dynamite focuses mostly on the man himself, with many other characters being interchangeable or only appearing in one scene. Black Dynamite has less of a character arc than Austin did, a man displaced from his own time and having to acclimatise to a world that had changed and moved on without him.

In its favour, Black Dynamite has some decent fight scenes, which arent played entirely for laughs like the ones in Austin Powers. Michael Jai White is an expert in seven different martial arts styles, and he gets to show off his skills here. While Austin Powers is ridiculous from the start, the stakes of Black Dynamite start relatively grounded, then get gradually more ridiculous as he works his way up the villain hierarchy, culminating in the visits to Kung-Fu Island and the White House. Black Dynamites cinematic inspirations also influence the presentation, with things like deliberately cheesy performances, errors left in the final cut (the most noticeable one being a car continuing to roll forward after a bad guy has parked to shoot out of it) and the use of the same stock footage whenever a car explodes, with the two cars looking nothing alike.

The two films tackle similar themes, but there are differences in the approach they take, and which ones preferred will come down to the individual. With that in mind, Ill give this one to Austin Powers because that film isnt depending entirely on Austin for laughs, although there are areas where Black Dynamite is the superior of the two. If the two characters were to meet, Black Dynamite would definitely win the fight, then he and Austin would become friends and pick up all the ladies with their combined unstoppable sexual prowess. Now thats a crossover I can get behind!

19. Plasma
Give this movie creditit has more Kung-Fu Treachery than any other movie on this list. It also does a nifty job picking apart various crime tropes like melodramatic flashbacks, As-You-Know-Bob dialogue exchanges, and dying-buddy monologues. A lot of annoying cliches get skewered here, and the chalkboard brainstorming session is gold, Jerry, gold.

But for all the meta stuff BD does well, the movie as a whole feels clunky to me. The pacing is all over the place, and I found myself checking the clock again and again. Stylistically, the easiest movie to compare this one to is Not Another Teen Movie, but while NATM brought me constant joy, BD was too stop-and-go for my tastes. At least it ends pretty hilariously with the whole White House siege. D+

19. Mythiot
Very entertaining pastiche of blaxsploitation cinema about former C.I.A. agent, Vietnam vet, kung-fu master, and all-around cool guy Black Dynamite investigates his brothers murder, keeps drugs out of the hands of orphans, and uncovers a conspiracy so despicable itll make you shrink with fear. All while bedding all kinds of beautiful women. Its dumb, meandering, and doesnt always work, but its got plenty of great action and attitude to make up for it. The crazy train of logic that leads BD and company to find out the Mans evil plan and the final showdown with Tricky Dick himself are the highlights.

12. Black Dynamite (2009)
Directed by Scott Sanders
Score: 133

John: 1
Tangy: 5
Forty: 12
Suprak: 12
Vis: 15
Karo: 16
Poke: 16
Gavs: 18
Plasma: 19
Mythiot: 19

1. John
Black Dynamite may actually be a perfect movie.

5. Tangy
Black Dynamite knows exactly what kind of movie it wants to be a goes all out in doing so. Not only does it succeed as a parody of the Blaxpoitation films of the 70s, but it also manages to be a tribute. Michael Jai White used his extensive knowledge of the genre while writing the script and purposefully went for the low budget feel to make it as accurate as possible.

Then the comedy comes in. This movie had me laughing so much harder than I expected. Ive always been torn on movies that are so-bad-theyre-good. I like a lot of the classics like The Room and Troll 2, but the comedy in those comes from them trying to be serious. Most of the modern ones just feel kind of lazy, like now that people know theres enjoyment in seeing something bad, its like they dont even attempt to make it good. Thats why I love this movies humor so much, things like the boom mic being in the shot or actors messing up lines are actually intentional and works as both a reference and a joke. Very few filmmakers can do this well and I gotta hand it to both Scott Sanders and Michael Jai White for doing it so well.

Biggest Laugh: The car exploding before it even touches anything that would ordinarily make it explode. Double points for when it happened the second time.

12. Forty
Because whenever theres injustice, wrongs to be righted, innocents to be defended, Black Dynamite will be there, delivering ass-whoopings, and I will not hesitate to lay the hammer down on any clown that comes around. Because if they wanna fight, they best come see me, because Im Black Dynamite'' Is there any cooler cat than Black Dynamite? I think not. He beds women by the handful, kicks everyones ass with kung fu and nunchucks, dresses fly, and drives a pimped-out Caddy. All in glorious Super 16 format with funky music a whole lot of 70s jive. Hes basically every Blaxploitation main character with the added bonus of being a parody character with hilarious dialogue. BD honestly had some of the funniest scenes Ive ever seen (#1 being the crew figuring out the secret behind Anaconda through convoluted Greek and Roman mythology and then Gunsmokes little dick). It moves along quickly so it never overstays its welcome and its actually a really well-made film overall. All of the great quotes, slew of funny characters, and ridiculous action made this the biggest pleasant surprise for me.

15. Vis
I think this is a harder movie to enjoy if youre not fully aware of the blaxploitation genre. Im certainly aware of it, but its just not a genre Ive ever invested time into watching, outside of Jackie brown (which is an homage to the genre more than anything). As such, the first half wasnt my favorite part of this watchthrough. The first few minutes of over-the-top personalities were fun, but then the movie reached a point where the plot felt very standard in terms of Black Dynamite going to war against drugs on the streets, out of revenge for the death of his brother. This is fine, but it didnt make for particularly a particularly compelling or interesting movie plot. Id say that the exact moment the movie takes a turn for the better is at the montage leading up to the streets getting cleaned up. Once the movie hits that point, it just doesnt stop being enjoyable.

First off, Ive gotta give credit for the hilarity of just randomly flying a helicopter with a magnet to grab a mobsters car, and then dropping him and reusing a car crash shot from earlier in the film. But then you get the pleasant, suburban scene where two girls cheerfully announce My mom said my daddys name is Black Dynamite! Mine too! Leading to Run along now girls, its a very common name. And then the actual plot kicks back in, because the ghetto is still under attack, and it turns out theres a new malt liquor designed to shrink black mens dicks (which gets an explanatory scene that goes on JUST long enough to be weird and funny). Throw in some unnecessary kung fu fighting, and an ending that has Black Dynamite beating the shit out of Richard Nixon, and this is what Im talking about. That halfway mark is when the movie feels like it understands that the genre is crazy on its own, and it needs to ramp up the insanity to reach a proper level of entertainment for a spoof. And it succeeds in that regard, for sure.

16. Karo
Sometime in the 1970s, the ghettos hippest kung fu hero fights a never-ending battle against drug dealers, penis shrinkage and Richard Nixon.
The movie is an intentionally poorly made homage to the blaxsploitation era, complete with bizarre cinematography, sloppy editing, and absurd overacting. There's even one scene where one of the characters talks without his mouth moving.
I will say I really did not like this film at first, but it sort of won me over in the end. Though, I do feel that this kind of thing is more the domain of Quentin Tarantino, and you are not going to beat Tarantino at his own game.

I'm too depressed to care tbh

Bleach

Yes

I gotta say I'm loving how varied these scores are.

Outlier Ranking

Mythiot: 163
Suprak: 160
GavsEvans: 119
Plasma: 116
forty: 115
John: 108
Karo: 104
Vis: 99
Poke: 91
Tangy: 85

No movements, although it's kind of crazy with how neck and neck Mythiot and Suprak are.

13. Zoolander (2001)
Directed by Ben Stiller
Score: 147

Poke: 3
Forty: 5
John: 8
Vis: 9
Karo: 15
Gavs: 17
Plasma: 18
Tangy: 23
Mythiot: 23
Suprak: 26

5. Forty
Just because we have chiseled abs and stunning features doesnt mean that we too cant not die in a freak gasoline fight accident. I love this movie, possibly more than it deserves. Like Not Another Teen movie, it came out in 2001 when I had just graduated high school and was part of the prime target audience. I literally owned 2 copies of it at the same time (I dont remember why, but I did). Its pretty much the dumbest of the dumb comedies, but unlike a lot of stuff from former sketch comedy actors, its truly hilarious. The plot is pretty thin, with the estranged family and the assassination attempt, but thats fine because its so fun watching these characters in their crazy wardrobes being exceptionally dim-witted. Love Derek, Hansel, and Maury, love all the cameo appearances. The fashion world isnt hard to make fun of, but it also touches on the inhumane working conditions in the industry. Nothing deep rooted but silly, superficial and an all-time favorite of mine. As a side note: Its funny how the idea of Derelicte seemed ridiculous but now celebrities really be out there dressing like actual bums.

8. John
There are a lot of quotable movies on this list, but Zoolander takes it a step further by having a facial expression that is somehow, without any words, somehow still quotable. There was a while there where Ben Stiller comedy just couldn't be beat. I watched Dodgeball over the course of this list just because I love it and it fits the vibe, and he just really manages to crack me up. It's not that the character is all that original; the "famous guy that's so oblivious to reality that he's unrealistically dumb" has been done before, but Derek Zoolander still stands out somehow.

9. Vis
Id never actually seen this movie before this watchthrough, despite often quoting scenes (namely from the trailers) with my family. Having finally seen it though, its a pretty solid movie. It is hard at times to enjoy and appreciate a main character that is dumb to the point that Derek Zoolander (and Hansel, honestly) is dumbbut this also leads to the comedy of him being completely bowled over by anyone with a rudimentary understanding of common sense. It does lead to a point of absurdity, when you think about the amount of world-building that had to go into a dumb comedy about a legitimately dumb male model, in order to justify political assassinations via male models as unwitting killers. Yet it somehow works, and the over-the-top use of breakdance fighting, gasoline fighting, walk-offs, and Will Ferrell playing his best Will Ferrell, just makes for something so goofy and strange, that its hard to imagine how it was created.

15. Karo
A self-absorbed (and potentially brain damaged) male model is made into an unwitting hitman via hypnotism and 80s music, and then things start to get really crazy.
The vapidity of the fashion industry is lampooned savagely and without mercy. All the models are just so incredibly stupid, and it is amazing that they have managed to stay alive long enough for half of them to die in a 'freak gasoline fight accident' 15 minutes into the movie.
it is stupid, knows that it is stupid, and fully embraces the fact that is stupid. Does that make it less stupid? Well, no, but it does make it more watchable. It is not great cinema but it is still entertaining.

17. Gavs
This tale of the really really ridiculously good-looking male model Derek Zoolander being trained as a sleeper agent is one of the wackier films on the list, and also one of the more quotable ones. Derek can be so stupid that it leads to some very funny scenes, with my favourite being the centre for ants. His naivete is always good for a laugh. He may hurt peoples feelings at times but he means well in the end, since he wants to help kids who cant read good and who wanna learn to do other stuff good too.

The other characters are similarly larger than life. Dereks rival Hansel (hes so hot right now) is only slightly more intelligent, while Mugatu comes across as an absurdly hammy Cruella DeVille. These characters and others bouncing off each other is often enough to be entertaining. There are plenty of celebrity cameos too, maybe half of which have a joke associated with them.

That said, this film feels quite thin at times, with some slow patches between the big laughs. It makes sense when you consider that Zoolander started out as a sketch character and this movie was the characters first feature length outing. There are lots of celebrity cameos, roughly half of which are more than Its certainly worth watching once, though it might not hold up to repeat viewings.

18. Plasma
It scores points for being bizarrely original but loses points for being obnoxiously stupid. Best moment: the gas station explosion. Cant believe they actually went through with that. Bravo, Ben Stiller. C-

23. Tangy
Wow, Im kind of sad at how little I enjoyed Zoolander this time around. It was a classic for me back in high school. Although interestingly enough, I did still find new things to enjoy about this movie, so I guess Ill start with those. That Hansel. So hot right now. This is another case of an actor completely understanding their role. Wilson manages to give off this laid-back yet pretentious aura. You know hes kind of full of shit, but hes so chill you dont care and start buying into it yourself. This is also the only Ferrell performance I really like. Hes so dramatic in every scene and is absolutely giving it his all, so I have to give him credit there.

So heres kind of my main issue. Ben Stiller is fun in small bursts, but when hes directing AND starring in the movie I start getting sick of him. His comedy ranges from iconic to cringe and everything in between. Center of Ants might be one of my favorite movie moments, but it doesnt make up for the excess of unfunny jokes. Like what was with that massage scene? Did people really find that funny? Also I dont know if I can say he grew as a character at all. He goes through an arc, I just dont believe that hes actually learned anything. As great as some of these moments and characters are, they dont make up for the flaws.

23. Mythiot
Just as flashy, fun, and gasoline-gushingly stupid as the male models at the center of the films absolutely bonkers story. The humor verges on being excessively obnoxious at times, but I cant dislike a film where male models are revealed to be the perfect sleeper assassins of choice for the rich and powerful.

A Hat in Time
Bloodborne
Cuphead
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Gravity Rush 2
NieR: Automata
Octopath Traveler
Pikmin 3
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Splatoon
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2*
VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartending Action
What Remains of Edith Finch
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

*I'm a little 50/50 on whether this counts or not. I sort of count it alongside Pokemon remakes like HGSS/ORAS

FL81 posted...

Blue doesn't count since y'all are just remembering his anime counterpart's characterization

Uh, I think you're the one who's misremembering

https://youtu.be/fnWS_7xCXlw

https://youtu.be/j3FzkEoIQBw

https://youtu.be/96-3VUxfNKc

After reading a lot of these write up I'm kinda curious about Disenchanted now. Although I heard most people hated it

LA

Outlier Ranking

Mythiot: 153
Suprak: 147
GavsEvans: 115 +
Plasma: 111 -
forty: 107
John: 103
Karo: 102
Vis: 95
Poke: 81
Tangy: 75

17. John
I put off watching Enchanted for a long time. It's primarily a love letter to classic prince/princess Disney and change-of-heart romantic comedies, neither of which I ever particularly cared for, much less needed to see a love letter to. But ultimately I have to admit, it's a pretty funny movie. I do love Amy Adams in general, and her consistent attitude and characterization throughout is pretty infectious. I can't really put it much higher than this, since in the end it does sort of fall into the trap of being the very thing its parodying (as some parodies tend to) but I enjoyed it much more than I would've expected. Side note: Between this and Harry Potter and Sweeney Todd, Timothy Spall gets the worst type-casting.

19. Forty
Just because she has on a funny dress doesnt mean shes a princess. Shes a seriously confused woman whos fallen into our laps. I would say Enchanted exceeded my expectations. As a moderate Disney fan, I figured I would appreciate the fun family friendly charm of a princess transported to modern day New York City, but I ended up liking it quite a bit. Its a good premise and it manages to avoid being cheesy, driven by great performances by Amy Adams (adorable), James Marsden (dashing!), and McDreamy (also dashing!). Along with Timothy Way More Than Wormtail Spall, they really embody what Disney characters would be like if they were brought to life. I knew I was in for a treat when Giselle summons, instead of woodland creatures, rats, pigeons, flies, and roaches to help clean the apartment. The obligatory musical numbers are entertaining, particularly the excellently over the top Thats How You Know. The villain was less than menacing and the happily ever after ending predictable, but it sticks to a tried-and-true formula that works and is a lot of fun.

23. Vis
Its funny that, despite being from the Disney Gauntlet Crew way back in the day, Id never actually watched Enchanted until this viewing. And while this ranking is quite low on the list (with only five movies left), I dont want that to be an indictment of the film. I feel like there is a LARGE chunk of this list that could be interchangeable on any given day. It just so happens that I wasnt quite feeling Enchanted today. After the success of the Disney Renaissance (helmed by quite a few princess movies on top of their existing princess brand), I feel like reached a point where commentators and critics started pointing out some of the cheesier aspects of their princess/fairy tale formula. As a result, you get movies like Enchanted and Frozen, where Disney is poking fun at their own properties, surebut theyre still DISNEYS properties. The satire winds up being kinda surface-level as a result.

Dont get me wrongthe concept of a Disney princess waking up in our world is interesting, but the commentary on true love versus love at first sight falls flat when the movie seems to want to have its cake and eat it to. Giselle and Edward arent meant for each other, so its better that her true love is a guy shes known for TWO days instead of just one. Also, Edward gets dumped, but thankfully HES able to make up for it by scoring Nancy, who was also dumped, by Robertand they LITERALLY met AT the ball. So basically, the love at first sight trope is still very much alive and well? However, thats the most surface-level thing. I appreciated some of the littler aspects, like a Disney princess commanding the plague-ridden animals of New York City, or the villains lackey learning to respect himself and standing up to her. But yeah, its a bitdont parody yourself unless youre REALLY gonna go all-in, Disney.

14. Enchanted (2007)
Directed by Kevin Lima
Score: 148

Karo: 6
Gavs: 7
Mythiot: 12
Plasma: 15
Tangy: 16
Suprak: 16
Poke: 17
John: 17
Forty: 19
Vis: 23

6. Karo
What would happen if disney princess characters ended up in new york city? This movie, that's what.
What happens is that Princess Jizzelle is pushed down a magic wishing well that leads to the NYC sewer system for some reason, where she struggles to comprehend the real world.
It is a delight to watch, especially to someone like me who likes these kind of disney musicals (especially the Alan Menken kind), and seeing them sent up gently in this manner was quite fun.

7. Gavs
Disney take the opportunity to poke some light-hearted fun at themselves with this spoof of the princess movies that made their name. Fairy tale princess Giselle is sent to our world, where she becomes the ultimate manic pixie dream girl for jaded divorce lawyer Robert. The contrast between the endlessly optimistic Giselle and the cynical big city is lots of fun, especially when Giselle starts to influence the city like summoning city vermin to clean up Roberts apartment. She even manages to be overjoyed at feeling anger for the first time, which ironically doesnt last long as a result! The dashing prince coming to the city to rescue Giselle is also great in how over the top he is.

Just parodying the traditional Disney tropes would have been enough, but like Galaxy Quest, Enchanted doesnt stop there, and goes on to become a sincere rebuilding of what came before. Giselle and Robert fall for each other as they spend time together, a new concept for Giselle as she hails from a world where everyone falls in love at first sight. Frozen gets all the credit for pointing out the problem with immediately rushing to marry someone youve just met without getting to know them first, but this film did it first! Im not ashamed to admit that I got a bit misty-eyed when Robert started to sing at the ball, knowing how significant this was. This film was the biggest surprise of the list for me.

My one complaint is really more of a nitpick. I didnt like how Nerissa kept breaking the fourth wall during the climax, talking about the story was coming to an end. Once would have been fine, but it was almost everything she said after she turned into a dragon. As it turns out, there was a reason Maleficent stopped talking once she turned into a dragon!

12. Mythiot
Manages to hold up very well despite the overabundance of classic Disney parodies that have come before and since it came out. Mainly due to Amy Adams lovable turn as a bubbly nave Aurora-esque princess-to-be lost in our world who holds on to her optimism and brings magic and wonder to New York and a cynical single father. The 2D animation in the beginning and interspersed throughout the film is so good it feels kind of depressing knowing that Disney would eventually give up trying to bring it back.

15. Plasma
This movie is a total mess, and I dont even know where to begin with my analysis, so Im just gonna list bullet points and see where my thoughts take me:

• Im glad I went into this one completely blind, because the twist of going from animated to live-action legitimately shocked me.

• There are tons of inconsistent character reactions in regards to worldbuilding. Gisele is initially dumbfounded by her new reality, yet the next morning shes singing about vacuum cleaners and taking a shower. I get that this is a fantasy tale, but little things like that take me out of the story.

• You know what the problem with this movie is? I mean, it has tons of problems, but the big one is that theres this tonal inconsistency. The movie cant decide whether it wants to be serious or ironic. Like, it wants to explore some serious issues, but it treats the actual surface-level situation so lightly. If someone like Gisele appeared in our world, no way would any responsible father let her stay over his apartment with his six-year-old daughter. I get that this is a fantasy/satire movie, but still Couldnt the dad have dropped her off at a police station or mental health clinic? Then have Gisele run back to him or somethingANYTHING other than Okay, Ill let Delusional Princess Girl sleep in the same apartment as my young daughter.

• Another glaring issue: coincidences. This movie is loaded with them. The characters dont drive the plot, and anytime something bad is about to happen, Chipmunk Ex Machina comes to the rescue. I suppose I can forgive the coincidences to some extent because the movie is satirizing Disney Princess stories where the heroines are routinely saved from danger by convenient occurrences, but still. Cmon.

• Amy Adams carries this movie. She da real MVP.

• I liked that I was conflicted about rooting for Gisele to return home versus staying in reality. I didnt expect that kind of dilemma from a movie like this.

• Have to admit that I didnt expect her to get together with Robert at the end. Their romance didnt feel organic or honest in any way. Robert and Gisele seemed like friends who could learn from one another, but not lovers.

• Despite all my complaints, I was never bored by this movie. Its a total mess, but at least its fun. Ill probably end up ranking it a few spots higher than it deserves. D+

16. Tangy
Damn, its kind of a shame that Frozen did this same theme, but way better (funnily enough both include Idina Menzel). Enchanted is a cute little movie that plays with the tropes of the classic Princess movies, with varying degrees of success. On one hand I adore the comedy Adams and Marsden bring to the table. Its clear theyre both having a blast in their roles and are the backbone of this movie. I also think the concept is aces, the beautifully animated prologue to the movie juxtaposes super well with the griminess of NYC, so thats another point in the films favor.

Where it sort of goes wrong for me however, is just how watered down the movie is. Leave it to Disney to take the safest route possible when mocking their own work. Plus as I mentioned earlier Frozen attempted the same thing, but did a much better job at breaking down most of the tired tropes, while still giving us great songs that reflect it. Dont get me wrong, How Do You Know? is an absolute jam, but its just kind of catchy and thats it. Sure its supposed to be teaching Robert how to show his affection, but its not like that actually matters in the long run, especially since he ends up dumping Menzel anyway. Which leads to my other complaint. NONE OF THESE CHARACTERS ACTUALLY GROW (except Nathaniel of course, hes literally the only one with a character arc). They just fucking switch partners and use true love as an excuse.

Despite the major issues I have with this movie, it is still cute and a fun time, but its definitely not earning any points for being clever.

Biggest Laugh: Prince Edward getting ran over by the bikes mid-song.

Cincy

My personal headcanon is that 1-3 were staged stories where nobody actually died. Then the fanbase got out of hand and it gradually shifted into the reality TV show, where the cast members started committing actual murders.

Lmao the Phantom Thieves have completely sold out.

swordz9 posted...

Theyre in it long enough to be obnoxious.

Strife2 posted...

Nagito and Kokichi would be fine if they would shut the fuck up for five seconds.

Honestly DR has a problem with dialogue in general. It is sort of the appeal, but why do we need every character reiterating the same information over and over again. Do I need to mention how many times Hope and Despair are muttered?

Kirigiri is one of the worst characters in the franchise. Her only purpose is to act mysterious and then solve the case for you.

Outlier Ranking

Mythiot: 151
Suprak: 145
Plasma: 110
GavsEvans: 108
forty: 102 +
John: 100 +
Karo: 94 -
Vis: 86
Poke: 78
Tangy: 73

13. Karo
So this is like a parody of these overly wholesome holiday movies only with a lot of family dysfunction and spontaneous combustion.
Basically the dad is obsessed with trying to make the perfect christmas and of course whatever can go wrong, goes wrong and much hilarity was had. After a lot of bickering, explosions, and the committing of some pretty serious felonies, they all come together as a family which is kind of cute.
It's an okay movie I guess.

27. Forty
And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight hes gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nut house. I feel like nostalgia will play a significant role in these rankings, more so than, say, the organized crime list. I had never seen Christmas Vacation before (oddly the only National Lampoon Vacation I had seen was Vegas) so I dont have any of the fond memories that others may have. If I had watched it every year with my family as a kid or something I almost certainly would have it higher. That isnt to say, though, that its a bad movie only propped up by fond memories. It has some good laugh out loud moments (more quiet chuckles), and prime Chevy Chase is good enough. I just didnt find all the slapstick and mild vulgarity to be that funny and it felt like there were opportunities to be funnier that werent capitalized on. Overall, a bah humbug for me on this one.

28. John
Nothing about this movie was particularly enjoyable for me. Chevy Chase's "everyman" character is specifically a protagonist for another generation; he's played up to be funny and relatable in his series of unlucky events, but he's ultimately just not either. He's just kind of an asshole. Everyone around him is an asshole. Poor people are portrayed as idiots. The gags are mostly boring and sometimes outright cringeworthy.