Board 8 > Board 8 Watches and Ranks Satire Films: The Ranking!

(+) Yeah! (+)

Sticking with NATM.

oh come on

look man I don't know why NATM is still in, I didn't even dislike the movie, it's just the type of me that always does poorly on these lists

so I'll guess it one more time

Johnbobb posted...

look man I don't know why NATM is still in, I didn't even dislike the movie, it's just the type of me that always does poorly on these lists

so I'll guess it one more time

Yeah, this. Scary Movie did poorly on the Horror list, after all. And that was WON by a horror comedy.

Guess Popstar

Harpo's schtick gets old really fast. Groucho is sharp-witted but oh God, why the music?

Alright I can pivot to something new

Seems like a reasonable place for Popstar

Inviso posted...

Yeah, this. Scary Movie did poorly on the Horror list, after all. And that was WON by a horror comedy.

Yeah, but Scary Movie was really bad.

I'm rooting for the NATM Cinderella Run to continue, so I'll guess Popstar again.

22. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
Directed by: Adam McKay
Score: 176

Karo: 4
GavsEvans: 5
Suprak: 6
Mythiot: 15
Pokewars: 20
Inviso: 24
Fortybelow: 25
Tangy: 25
Plasma: 26
John: 26

4. Karo
When a local TV station hires its first female for its news team, a misogynistic news anchor has to deal with the fact that women are coming out of the kitchen and into his newsroom.
Will Ferrell carries the movie with his jackass lead character, and the tone of the story is one of just the right amount of ridiculousness that leads to such wonderful scenes such as the news anchor battle royale,
All in all an excellent comedy that often doesnt get the respect it deserves.

6. Gavs
This film reminds me of Zoolander, since they have similar styles of surreal humour with a satirical idea beneath it. Between the two, I prefer Anchorman because it places more emphasis on the satire. The commentary on working conditions in the fashion industry in Zoolander was a minor element of the film (possibly because its hard to make third world exploitation funny), but the depictions of sexism in the workplace get more focus in this film as a consistent aspect of Veronicas storyline and the reason she struggles to get her colleagues to take her seriously despite her best efforts, so theres more substance for the film to hold the viewers interest between the big comedy set pieces.

That all sounds quite heavy, but dont worry, Anchorman is still very funny. News anchors get the same treatment here that male models did in Zoolander, giving them all bizarre quirks and their own little subculture. Ron Burgundy is the latest stand-out comic creation on this list, being as charismatic as he is chauvinistic, and having the ego to match those traits. Brick steals the show whenever he chips in with his non-sequiturs that are tenuously related to the current conversation at best. Then theres the big brawl between the newsreaders which keeps escalating in severity and absurdity, and gets funnier with each one.

Anchorman is an excellent example of a film that combines good satire with big laughs, and improves on similar films that came before it, which is enough to secure it a high ranking on my list. Stay classy, Board 8!

15. Mythiot
Its a tad overrated, I wouldnt call it the funniest movie ever made, but Anchorman is still very entertaining in that mid-2000s comedy kind of way. Set in the 70s if you couldnt tell by Will Ferrells epic mustache, the films about an eclectically goofy local news team who are shocked that a (gasp) GIRL is joining the staff and arent happy about it. The main characters are jackasses, but lovable enough that you know theyre going to learn their lesson by the end. Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate have pretty good chemistry, and the cartoon sequence that metaphors for sex is a highlight. Best parts are definitely the quickly escalating brawl between all the different news network teams and the rescue from the bear exhibit at the end. (Baxter is good boy and even gooder swimmer and negotiator)

24. Vis
This movie has some great quotes, and scenes like the anchor street fight are extremely memorable, but rewatching it all these years later, I dont know if it holds up quite as well as I remembered it originally. This was a comedy that came out when I was in my peak teen/tween years, and naturally it was the funniest thing in the world at the time. But watching it now, it just feels like more of the same from the Frat PACK OF Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Paul Rudd, etc. The jokes are still there, and I got some laughs out of it, but I think theyre just a little TOO on the nose. Its like the movie wants to parody the sexism of workplaces in the 1970s, and they make the main characters SUPER sexist, but then they choose to also give them all the funny lines and make Ron Burgundy the main character.

Meanwhile, Veronica Corningstone, by all rights, should be the main character. She is the outsider creating conflict by her arrival on the scene. Its like Sheriff Bart in Blazing Saddlesif the point of your movie is to parody the stupidity of narrow-minded idiots, you need to make the victim the main character who triumphs in the end. Instead, Veronica is largely devoid of comedic lines, and shes largely painted as a stick in the mud compared to the fun, comedic characters around her. Even though the male characters are CLEARLY jackasses, Veronica never gets to one-up them in a way that feels satisfying. Actually, I take that back. Punching Chief in the balls when hes trying to grope her is fair play. But the ultimate revenge she gets on Ron, AFTER his buffoonery gets him self-maced and whipped with a TV antenna, just feels so disproportionate of a response, and it makes her come across like the villain, while Ron suddenly becomes the sympathetic character.

I dont know if Im saying this rightI just dont know if a movie parodying sexism works when your main character is a sexist who: has a downfall and is rescued from that downfall through NO effort on his part (meaning NO real growing or learning or changing), and ultimately, he ends the movie a complete hero, rescuing his hapless, female costar and I guess kinda sharing the spotlight with her at the last second. If the movie wasnt so quotable, and the characters werent so bombastically memorable, this would fall flat for me, I guess.

25. Forty
I could be wrong, but I believe diversity is an old, old wooden ship that was used during the civil war era. This isnt a bad movie at all but for me its appeal has really gotten diminished over time by oversaturation. There was a time there when I swear everyone was quoting it. I love lamp! Glass case of emotion! Whales vagina! I guess its unfair to penalize Anchorman for being SO quotable, but I just have this overall negative feeling about it now. It doesnt help that I find Will Ferrell to be mostly obnoxious, although other than Mugatu this is probably his best role. Ricky Bobby is pretty good too. And there were some really good skits on SNL. OK, so I dont hate the guy, but hes worn out his welcome over the years I guess. Anyway, Anchorman is fine (I just remembered Jack Black punting the dog and that will always be funny, along with the news team battle) but it will probably hang out in the bottom half of my list.

25. Tangy
Ive tried to watch Anchorman on several different occasions now and Ive never managed to get past the first 10 minutes. So I saw this project as a good opportunity to finally watch it in its entirety and yeah, its not for me. I dont find Burgundy likable in the slightest, which is a shame, because I usually love this archetype (Zapp Brannigan being the prime example of course). Unlike Zapp though, Burgundy rarely ends up being the butt of the joke. Making matters worse is the fact that when he finally does get his comeuppance he sits around and pouts about it. Like how are we supposed to sympathize with that? Then on top of that Veronica gets very little screen time, with hardly anything to do. Like how is it possible to completely fumble your own theme like that?

Thankfully this movie does have a saving grace and thats the comedy itself. The movie is super quotable for a reason and Im not going to pretend I didnt laugh at several of the scenes. I also do like the rest of the new team. Brian, Champ and especially Brick are a lot of fun and were my main source of enjoyment. Not only do their personalities feel super distinct, but they also get clowned on by Veronica. Id probably enjoy this more if they dropped Ferrell entirely and just made Veronica the lead.

Biggest Laugh: Baxter getting yeeted off the bridge.

26. Plasma
I dont know what it is about popular mid-2000s comedies (40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad, The Hangover, etc.), but the humor always fails to click with me. Anchorman is no exception, and after hearing countless great things about this one, I found myself mostly disappointed. There are a few bizarrely hilarious scenes like the burrito incident and the four-way news crew stand-off, but the movie is mostly fueled by random silliness that left me yawning. Without any humor to latch onto, I was left with a paint-by-numbers period piece about newsroom sexism. D

26. John
Anchorman was alright. It had its moments but weirdly didn't grab me the way similar movies from the same era have.

Outlier Ranking

Suprak: 81
Mythiot: 80
GavsEvans: 70
Plasma: 58
Vis: 57
Karo: 53
forty: 44
John: 41
Tangy: 26
Poke: 25

HOUSE WINS!!! We get another somewhat shocking result while NATM keeps its miracle run going. Stay classy, Las Vegas!

VEGAS ODDS ON #21:

+700 Modern Times
+700 Zoolander
+700 Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
+850 Spaceballs
+850 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
+850 Not Another Teen Movie
+1000 Enchanted
+1000 Black Dynamite
+1250 Borat

+200 Any other movie (+2500 if guessed correctly)

Leaderboard:
1) Poke $2850 (+500 Mystery Men, +500 The Freshman, +1250 The Interview, +600 Duck Soup)
2) Mega $1750 (+500 The Freshman, +1250 The Interview)
3) Forty $600 (+600 Duck Soup)
4) Suprak $500 (+500 Mystery Men)
4) Gavs $500 (+500 Mystery Men)

The House Won On:

• Stripes (+1000 odds)
• Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (+500 odds)
• Beverly Hills Cop (+1000 odds)
• Return of the Living Dead (Unlisted; +2500 odds)
• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Unlisted; +2500 odds)

BetrayedTangy posted...

24. Vis

I dont know if Im saying this rightI just dont know if a movie parodying sexism works when your main character is a sexist who: has a downfall and is rescued from that downfall through NO effort on his part (meaning NO real growing or learning or changing), and ultimately, he ends the movie a complete hero,

BetrayedTangy posted...

25. Tangy
Making matters worse is the fact that when he finally does get his comeuppance he sits around and pouts about it. Like how are we supposed to sympathize with that?

You both nailed it. The lack of character development at the end killed this movie (although IMO it was dead before then). I don't know how that script made it into production... Burgundy learns nothing yet still gets the girl and the happy ending? C'mon now.

BetrayedTangy posted...

22. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Suprak: 6
Plasma: 26

Your move, friend.

Still guessing NATM.

I mean I'm glad it went out but I officially have no idea how to predict this

fuck it, I'll say Spaceballs

Guess Popstar

Anchorman is good for some things but very silly and didn't hold up as well as some other pieces around same format.

Guess Popstar as well

I think it's time for...

Modern Times

fortybelowsummer posted...

I think it's time for...

Modern Times

It better not be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFeVfwDvTyM

Next prediction, I'll take a chance on Austin Powers. It's been on the board for a while, and if Anchorman is out, I'm thinking similar films won't be sticking around much longer.

RIP Johnbobb

21. Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
Directed by Joel Gallen
Score: 172 (Tie)

Poke: 4
Plasma: 5
Forty: 9
Karo: 14
Tangy: 15
Vis: 20
John: 22
Gavs: 24
Suprak: 29
Mythiot: 30

5. Plasma
The best football movie Ive ever seen aside from The Room.

Not Another Teen Movie was a joy to watch because it constantly subverts expectations and does so in brutally ridiculous ways. Much like Airplane!, NATM takes place in an alternative universe where all absurdity is taken in stride. Whether its projectile-vomiting toilets, concussion countdowns, or Captain America in a whipped cream bikini, the cast just rolls with it, and thats what makes this one so mesmerizingly meta.

While there are a few jokes that fall flat (the Lacey Chabert handjob joke being one), most of this is comedic gold. I even love the throwaway observations, like when the guy from How I Met Your Mother points out that all the kids at the prom are dancing experts. This movie is loaded with truth.

Only thing I didnt like about NATM was the ending. After the movie subverted expectations for its entire runtime, I was bummed that it ended with Captain America and Janie getting together. That betrayed the movies spirit, and pretty much anything wouldve been a better alternativea plane crash, Vietnam Dad murdering Captain America, someone taking a dump on Mia Kirshners chest, anything. A-

9. Forty
No, not Janey Briggs. She's got glasses. And a ponytail. Ugh, she's got paint on her overalls. What is that? There were a whole lot of crappy parody movies in the 2000s but this one is one of the gems. It will always have a special place in my heart because it came out the year I graduated high school. I probably give it more credit than it deserves because of that, but its been a comedy classic to me ever since I saw it. It pays tribute to all of the classic movies of my youth and teen years, from the John Hughes movies to American Pie, Varsity Blues, and Shes All That. You name it, they probably poke fun of it in NATM. Its silly and stupid, and it doesnt have any kind of smart subtlety but I think it still holds up pretty well today and it will always have that ingredient of nostalgia for me.

14. Karo
In a school where half the students look too old to be in high school, some of the jocks decide to rip off My Fair Lady with a bet the they can turn any girl into prom queen. Thus he ends up dating Janey, a girl that everyone pretends is not attractive for some reason.
It could benefit from having some concept of subtlety rather than just whipping out the ol' humor sledgehammer and caving in some skulls. Like they sometimes literally up and explain the joke they are making word for word when they are right in the process of making it.
But when the jokes hit, boy do they ever hit. The High School Musical parody was glorious, and the gag where they have a counter on the scoreboard listing how many hits remaining before that one football player dies from concussive brain injury was like a top 5 joke in this whole project.

15. Tangy
Going into the project I was fully expecting this to be the cringiest movie here and I was right, but thats actually a big reason as to why I enjoy it! Every high school movie in existence is cringy and NaTM comes after all of them. Every character, trope and plot point is a reference to some other movie and I have to give them credit on that. So in a way its a perfect satire.

That said, the movie is still hit or miss when it comes to the comedy itself and naturally something like that is going to hurt my overall experience with it. Plus, its not like the commentary is particularly deep or engaging. So yeah thats going to hurt it quite a bit too.

Biggest Laugh: I seriously dont know, theres too many good ones. Evans with the banana, the entirety of the pool scene and like all of Kirshners bits are freaking hysterical.

20. Vis
Im honestly surprised at how low Ive ranked this movie, as of the 2/3 point in my watchthrough, because I didnt hate it. Yes, the poop jokeswhich appear a bizarre number of times in the moviedont really contribute to the movie in a positive way, but other than those, I feel like the comedy lands just right for what this movie is going for. Teen romance or teen romantic comedy or teen sex comedies are always absurd, because the teens in those movies have no proper understanding of the real world. Its a film genre ripe for parody, and I feel like, having seen a decent number of the Scary Movie franchise, along with several others from the creative mindsNot Another Teen Movie is the best of that genre of parody film. It goes for low-hanging fruit, sure, but at least it GOES for those fruit, and doesnt spend large portions of the movie on dated references that dont connect with the genre. Its funny enough, and if youre aware of the movies being parodied, its funny. It certainly works as a standalone, but its definitely better supplemented by other films.

22. John
Some of this movie really didn't age well, and other parts (particularly the gross-out humor) are just unpleasant. But as dumb as this movie is, and it's DUUUUMB, it's at least fully aware of how dumb it is, and I fully admit it made me laugh a good bit. The Jamie's Got A Gun scene is hilarious, the cameos by a vast array of 80s romcom stars was great, and some of the parodies just really worked. The American Beauty reference cracked me up and for every terrible unaware stereotype there's another stereotype being played with (like the token black character telling another token black character he needs to leave). I can't rate the movie particularly highly but it did make me laugh.

24. Gavs
Unsurprisingly, this film was critically slaughtered on release. Compared to the Seltzer and Friedberg movies that came to define parodies later in the decade and ultimately become a factor in killing the genre, this one has a bit more effort put into it, but theres still a ton of the toilet humour and sex jokes youd expect from the genre especially the latter, given the genre being parodied here.

Every character is based on some sort of character archetype from teen movies, like the jock who changes for the better after character development (played by a pre-fame Chris Evans in his acting debut), the bitchy cheerleader, or the token black best friend who mostly says things like Damn! Shit! Thats wack! There are some clever jokes and lines of dialogue, so it is disappointing that the more lowbrow jokes keep undermining them, which can make this a tiresome watch at times. This is one of the more inconsistent films on the list, switching several times between pretty funny at best and some of the worst moments on the list at its worst.

One more thing: yes, that is a banana in Americas ass. This must be Ant Mans favourite movie!

30. Mythiot
I have a feeling you have to have grown up when raunchy teen movies were popular in order to appreciate Not Another Teen Movie, but on the other hand, I cant imagine finding most of these jokes funny even if I did get most of the references. Not Another Teen Movie is one of the early death-throes of the spoof genre before Friedberg and Seltzer gave it an undignified death later in the decade. The gags go for broke being as loud, broad, gross and in your face with their metaness as possible and almost none of them landed for me. I do admit I found the Mr. T and Molly Ringwald cameos funny.

Outlier Ranking

Mythiot: 89
Suprak: 88
Plasma: 74
GavsEvans: 73
Karo: 60
Vis: 58
forty: 56
Karo: 53
Poke: 42
John: 42
Tangy: 32

While Mythiot and Suprak continue to duke it out for biggest outlier, Plasma, Forty and Poke all get huge boosts.

Finally got my betting points.

While there's some heavily outdated humor and too much scatological jokes, I have to give NATM credit for three things:

1. Its expansive array of parodies across the high school spectrum of the 80s and 90s are done extremely well. She's All That, Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, American Pie, Never Been Kissed, Cruel Intentions, Can't Hardly Wait, American Beauty, Bring It On, Varsity Blue, Rudy, 10 Things I Hate About You, Lucas, I think even The Faculty just by having the same foul-mouthed too-intense coach. It's stuffed full, but it's done well.
2. The cast. Chris Evans. Chyler Leigh. Eric Christian Olsen. Mia Kirshner. Lacey Chabert. Mr. T. Melissa Joan Hart... as someone who grew up at this time, pretty much everyone is recognizable in some way. And due to the structure of the movie and how close it is to She's All That, I had to double-check that Dule Hill & Elden Hensen... and Kieran Culkin weren't part of the cast either?! Wow. My memory is blurred.
3. Some of the jokes are just burned in my memory. The opening toy scene. Jake Wyler's picture. The albino hippie. The slow clap guy. Melissa Joan Hart doing the yearbook thing again. The two token black guys. The spilled water on the dress cry. The over-dramatic paintings. The concussion clock. The Breakfast Club detention scene. The banana. Stolen cheers. The makeover scene. "Prom Tonight." Choreographed dance.

Now I'm itching to watch this, She's all That, and Can't Hardly Wait again.

Even the parodies of films I hadn't seen when I first watched NATM are hilarious. The stealing of the black cheerleaders' routine being so blatant is hilarious. "Nice comeback, Priscilla, yeah!"

Janey's got a gun, nice cameos, Mia Kirshner being a sexy freak, Reggie Ray's concussion counter (oh man, H. Jon Benjamin is in this?) It all gels well into a solid parody film.

no fucking way

and on a TIE????

keep it on spaceballs i guess

Guess Popstars

plasmabeam posted...

Your move, friend.

Plasma: 5
Suprak: 29

https://images.app.goo.gl/KHZuhkxamsdwXWPt6

Oh, Johnbobb...you poor thing. But hey, at least Inviso got paid!

VEGAS ODDS ON #21:

+700 Modern Times
+700 Zoolander
+700 Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
+850 Spaceballs
+850 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
+1000 Enchanted
+1000 Black Dynamite
+1250 This is Spinal Tap
+1250 Borat

+200 Any other movie (+2500 if guessed correctly)

Leaderboard:
1) Poke $2850 (+500 Mystery Men, +500 The Freshman, +1250 The Interview, +600 Duck Soup)
2) Mega $1750 (+500 The Freshman, +1250 The Interview)
3) Inviso $850 (+850 Not Another Teen Movie)
4) Forty $600 (+600 Duck Soup)
5) Suprak $500 (+500 Mystery Men)
5) Gavs $500 (+500 Mystery Men)

The House Won On:

• Stripes (+1000 odds)
• Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (+500 odds)
• Beverly Hills Cop (+1000 odds)
• Return of the Living Dead (Unlisted; +2500 odds)
• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Unlisted; +2500 odds)

Gonna guess Popstar next.

Awww man THAT IS WHACK. Decent run though.

I guess it would make sense for Popstar to be next

I'll jump on Popstar

Big ups to NATM for the deep run. I'm going to miss you now that you're out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LucQede966E

I guess Modern Times next.

20. Spaceballs (1987)
Directed by Mel Brooks
Score: 172 (Tie)

Poke: 6
Tangy: 12
Vis: 13
Suprak: 13
Gavs: 15
Forty: 18
Karo: 19
Plasma: 23
Mythiot: 24
John: 29

12. Tangy
Spaceballs is an incredibly nostalgic film for me. It was probably the first parody movie I saw and a ton of the jokes have stuck with me ever since. I think what makes this movie so entertaining for me is the titular Spaceballs themselves. President Skroob, Colonel Sandurz and especially Dark Helmet are an absolutely delightful comedic trio and I cant get enough of their scenes. Which is a damn shame, because we also have some protagonists to follow and uh yeah, theyre not great. Sure they occasionally get some fun jokes, but most of the best scenes take place on Spaceball One.

I also want to dedicate a whole paragraph to Rick Moranis Dark Helmet, because he is one of the funniest characters on this list. The fact that he has the emotional intelligence of a child, while holding the power of Darth Vader is absolutely hysterical and is a pretty accurate representation of the Vader we met in the prequels. His scenes are easily the best part of the movie and I try to recite one of his quotes every chance I get.

I also adore the visual gags, especially in relation to the writing. Comb the desert and the radar being jammed are great examples of pretty simple jokes being taken to the extreme and it works so well.

Biggest Laugh: Michael Winslow talking on the radio and Helmet getting pissed off and throwing it.

13. Vis
For a movie thats clearly aping off of Star Wars, I appreciate them taking moments every so often to parody other fantasy-adventure, or sci-fi films and series, just to switch things up a little bit. But overall, this was a fun movie. I think its at its best when its self-aware and poking fun at the fact that its the equivalent of a Star Wars movie, and all of the Hollywood shenanigans that come along with that. Joking about George Lucas shameless merchandising, or the fact that sequels only exist as a quest for more money were both quality gags, as were the random nods to the film being a film in the first place. Randomly capturing stunt doubles, or killing a boom mic operator were fun little gags. But even beyond those, you have plenty of fun quotes from over-the-top characters, and the only real flaw is that, while Bill Pullman works as a rough-and-tumble male lead, he and Princess Vespa arent EXACTLY the most charismatic members of the cast. Still, this is certainly a fun and memorable film that accomplishes EXACTLY what it set out to do.

15. Gavs
Having spoofed several other film genres already, Mel Brooks now turns his attention to the science fiction genre, primarily Star Wars. The result is fairly successful, if not up to the level of classics such as Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein.

Like proper Star Wars, the main cast are a bit blander in comparison to the secondary characters. Dark Helmet is the real star of the show. Reimagining Darth Vader as a loser who desperately tries to seem intimidating despite falling victim to regular physical pratfalls and playing with dolls in his spare time is a fun twist on Darth Vader. Pizza the Hutt makes me nauseous because of how he bubbles and oozes, so I should count myself lucky that hes only in one scene. Yogurt makes the most of his limited screen time, contributing the memorable running gags involving merchandise and the Shwartz.

The biggest hit against this film is that it isnt as focused as Young Frankenstein, which was really dedicated to the Frankenstein mythos and classic horror, spoofing specific scenes and tropes. By comparison, Spaceballs feels more surface level and scattershot, with less passion for the source material. That said, its still funny enough for me to be interested in Spaceballs 3: The Search for Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money, should it ever be made. With two more Star Wars trilogies and roughly 17,463 TV series released in the decades since Spaceballs, theres a lot more material to work with now and just think of all the Baby Yogurt merchandise!

18. Forty
Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb. Another top contender for most quotable movie on the list, Spaceballs is from a long time ago in a galaxy where there were only three Star Wars movies. There are also some nods to Star Trek, Alien, and Planet of the Apes, so this is definitely the movie for you if you like Sci-Fi and dont take it too seriously. Theres a lot of Mel Brooks schtick, one-liners, and fourth wall breaking here which is mostly a lot of fun but not necessarily laugh out loud funny. Theres no subtlety and the actual plot pretty much gets lost, but thats ok if you just sit back and enjoy the gags and silliness. Its not Mel Brooks' best, but its a definite cult classic and one that Ive enjoyed regularly throughout the years.

19. Karo
About 35 years ago in a galaxy somewhat far away, a space cowboy and furry John Candy must rescue a princess from 1/2 of Darth Vader using their flying vintage camper.
This is your pretty standard Mel Brooks affair, the fourth wall is taken out behind the shed and beaten with horsewhips, and there a few really good lines that are memorable and made me laugh.
The problem is that this film does not as much satirize the elements of the Star Wars series to the degree it just does a straight ripoff of the plot of Star Wars only with everything dumb and silly, and that gets old really fast.
For every great joke like Pizza the Hutt, we get two more in the vein of Chonkerbacca jamming the radar by spreading fruit jelly on the communications array and then I have to turn off the movie so I can go and punch something.
This feels like it should be a movie I would really really like, but I just... don't.

23. Plasma
In a galaxy very very very very very far away, Spaceballs might pass for a good movie, but here on Earth this flick is, at best, an inconsistent mess. There are some genuinely funny gags scattered throughout (Pizza the Hut, Yogurt, the merchandising jokes), but the good stuff is buried in a sandpit of lazy material. I honestly cant believe some of these jokes made it into the final script. The writers seem to grab the low-hanging fruit every chance they get, especially when it comes to sex jokes (I bet she gives good helmet).

Story-wise, this one is agonizingly predictable. Satire Leia ditches her arranged wedding ceremony while Satire Han undergoes a heros journey, and they get married at the end. Thats it. No funny twist, no clever conclusion, nothing. As a gigantic Star Wars fan, I wanted much more out of this. D

24. Mythiot
Im both disappointed and very amused that Mel Brooks decided his piss-take on Star Wars would work best by jettisoning Luke Skywalker entirely and giving his role to Han Solo, or Lone Starr, here. Admittedly, Spaceballs suffers quite a bit from feeling like Brooks wasnt quite as affectionate for the source material as his other spoofs and is more annoyed by its omnipresence then anything. Nevertheless, its still quite a bit of fun and filled with delightfully stupid gags.

29. John
I'll be completely honest, I've just never really found Spaceballs funny. Like I know it's got so much nostalgia for Star Wars fans and Mel Brooks fans and general 80s pop culture fans, but I just don't get the appeal. There's a few good scenes in a film that is otherwise mostly just corny in the lamest kind of way. I love Blazing Saddles and I enjoy Young Frankenstein a good bit as well, but this just doesn't click with me at all.

Outlier Ranking

Suprak: 95
Mythiot: 93
GavsEvans: 78
Plasma: 77
Vis: 65
Karo: 61
forty: 58
Poke: 56
John: 51
Tangy: 40

Mythiot and Suprak trade 1st place again, with some slight movement in the middle and the bottom three standing strong.

Fuck yeah, avenged

Johnbobb posted...

Fuck yeah, avenged

This had me cracking up the whole time. The tiebreaker difference was literally one point.

BetrayedTangy posted...

20. Spaceballs (1987)
Directed by Mel Brooks
Score: 172 (Tie)

Should be higher, although Blazing Saddles and Producers are much better

Johnbobb, I've never been happier to give a payout.

VEGAS ODDS ON #20:

+700 Modern Times
+700 Zoolander
+700 Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
+850 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
+1000 Enchanted
+1000 Black Dynamite
+1250 This is Spinal Tap
+1250 Borat
+1500 Monty Pythons The Life of Brian

+200 Any other movie (+2500 if guessed correctly)

Leaderboard:
1) Poke $2850 (+500 Mystery Men, +500 The Freshman, +1250 The Interview, +600 Duck Soup)
2) Mega $1750 (+500 The Freshman, +1250 The Interview)
3) Inviso $850 (+850 Not Another Teen Movie)
3) Johnbobb $850 (+850 Spaceballs)
4) Forty $600 (+600 Duck Soup)
5) Suprak $500 (+500 Mystery Men)
5) Gavs $500 (+500 Mystery Men)

The House Won On:

• Stripes (+1000 odds)
• Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (+500 odds)
• Beverly Hills Cop (+1000 odds)
• Return of the Living Dead (Unlisted; +2500 odds)
• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Unlisted; +2500 odds)

I've never been so stressed out about the ranking of a movie I felt so neutral about

anyway gonna immediately throw caution to the wind with a far left field guess of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

BetrayedTangy posted...

Vis: 20
John: 22

Hey you guys had it practically dead on in your rankings!

BetrayedTangy posted...

15. Gavs
The biggest hit against this film is that it isnt as focused as Young Frankenstein, which was really dedicated to the Frankenstein mythos and classic horror, spoofing specific scenes and tropes. By comparison, Spaceballs feels more surface level and scattershot, with less passion for the source material.

19. Karo
The problem is that this film does not as much satirize the elements of the Star Wars series to the degree it just does a straight ripoff of the plot of Star Wars only with everything dumb and silly, and that gets old really fast.

24. Mythiot
Spaceballs suffers quite a bit from feeling like Brooks wasnt quite as affectionate for the source material as his other spoofs and is more annoyed by its omnipresence then anything.

This, this, and this.

Johnbobb posted...

anyway gonna immediately throw caution to the wind with a far left field guess of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

I'll join you on that guess since I want to shoot for a 2500 and it seems possible

Boo, Spaceballs is great. Your Schwartz is not as big as mine. Dark Helmet is comedy gold. Rick Moranis does steal the show and I just love the standard Mel Brooks sight gags like combing the desert. "We ain't found SHIT!"

Stick with guessing Popstar

:(

Admittedly, Spaceballs was one of two movies I watched often enough as a kid to fall asleep to, so I'm permanently nostalgia-biased. I do think it holds up rather well, though!

Guess Borat