A well-done parody movie is almost a relic of the past these days. Sure, you’ve got your Scary Movies 1-12(?) and whatever flavor of the Epic/Date/Sports Movie Marlon Wayans is appearing in this year, but there just aren’t many — if any — parody or satire films that live up to the Mel Brooks and Jim Abrahams classics of the past.
Netflix has an unbelievably long list of spoofs and satires available for streaming, with some of those great satire and parody classics currently available. There’s no Blazing Saddles, but we do have Naked Gun (two of them actually) as well as Airplane! and some Monty Python at our streaming disposal. I hope you like puns and slapstick, because these 12 movies are loaded with them.
1. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil 4 stars out of 1716626 ratings
I’ve already covered Tucker & Dale vs. Evil in our roundup of Netflix’s best comedies and horror films. If you haven’t watched it by now, then there’s probably not much I can do to convince you at this point. There’s really no better spoof of teenage slasher horror films out there, so I don’t know what’s stopping you from enjoying this indie splatter fest. Rotten Tomatoes 84, IMDB 7.6
2. Scrooged 3.9 stars out of 550309 ratings
Nothing spurs the holiday spirit quite like “Robert Goulet’s Cajun Christmas” and the other terribly tacky specials from the fictional IBC TV network in Scrooged. The 1988 dark comedy based on A Christmas Carol with Bill Murray playing a jaded TV executive offered a fresh spin on the holiday tale and expertly skewered the corporate commercialism of the season. Murray is sleazy and hilariously sarcastic in his role and Bobcat Goldthwait and Carol Kane turn in terrific performances as well. Rotten Tomatoes 72, IMDB 7.0
3. Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life 3.8 stars out of 1,526,540 ratings
Meaning of Life took a different step than Monty Python’s previous films, Holy Grail and Life of Brian, opting for a sketch format rather than a continuous storyline. The Python silliness focuses on the different aspects of life in various sketches and historical periods in history broken up into seven different chapters. It’s more outrageous than any of the other Python films, and if you couldn’t tell by the image above, it’s got some seriously gross moments. Hilarious, but maybe not a movie you want to watch while eating. Rotten Tomatoes 83, IMDB 7.3
4. M*A*S*H 3.8 stars out of 1,081,753 ratings
M*A*S*H made it into our lists of patriotic Netflix offerings and the war satire laid the blueprint for how making a good military comedy should be done. The Robert Altman directed movie about a group of doctors working in a field hospital during the Korean War went on to receive five Oscar nominations in 1971 as well as win a Golden Globe for “Best Musical or Comedy.” Then there was that massively successful spin-off TV series. Rotten Tomatoes 84, IMDB 7.7
5. Airplane! 3.7 stars out of 3977226 ratings
There are essentially two kinds of people in this world, those who enjoy Airplane!, and those who hate life and all of its pleasures. There are few movies out there that make as brilliant use of puns as Jim Abraham’s 1980 comedy. The airline disaster spoof follows the heroics of an airline crew after they’re stricken with a case of food poisoning, and is one of those rare comedies that you can watch numerous times and find jokes that you might have previously missed. (Its sequel also happens to be available for streaming, too.) Rotten Tomatoes 89, IMDB 7.8
6. The Naked Gun 3.6 stars out of 2,310,651 ratings
It’s probably been 15 years since I’ve seen a Naked Gun film, but what I remember from when I was a kid is that they had some of the greatest dirty jokes — PG-13 dirty at least – my ears had ever heard. The trilogy was created by the Airplane! team of Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams and was actually a spin-off of the short-lived TV series, Police Squad! The cop spoof follows Leslie Nielsen in what is arguably his greatest role as perpetual screw-up cop Frank Derbin trying to foil an assassination plot. And in case you forgot, the film also features pre-convicted felon O.J. Simpson. Rotten Tomatoes 84, IMDB 7.6
7. Saved! 3.6 stars out of 1,831,814 ratings
Saved! is a fairly well-executed satire that takes an amazingly acute deception of high school life, while offering a humorous look at just how polarizing religion — in this case evangelical Christianity– can be. Jena Malone plays the perfect high school Christian girl who finds out her boyfriend is gay and attempts to cure that gayness with sex. Her plan backfires and she finds herself pregnant and shunned from her friends, played by Mandy Moore, forcing her to start hanging out with the “bad” crowd — a skater and the school’s lone Jew. Rotten Tomatoes 79, IMDB 6.9
8. High Anxiety 3.6 stars out of 243,290 ratings
If you read our Mel Brooks facts piece, then you already know that this is the film that Alfred Hitchcock helped write with Brooks. (If you didn’t read it , then do so. Now!) The movie’s storyline with Brooks playing a psychiatrist with a fear of heights taking over as the director of the PsychoNeurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous isn’t what’s important here. What you should know is that Brooks expertly spoofs 10 of Hitchcock’s most famous films and won a Golden Globe for “Best Musical or Comedy.” Rotten Tomatoes 68, IMDB 6.7
9. To Be or Not to Be 3.6 stars out of 144,890 ratings
Netflix might be holding back on Mel Brooks’ masterpieces like Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, but Brooks’ Nazi spoof still serves up plenty of his trademark humor. Brooks and his real-life wife, Anne Bancroft play a married couple who are trying to etch out a living in 1930s Poland with their Hitler comedy act when WW II happens and forces them into hiding. To Be or Not to Be might be Brooks’ most underrated movie, but it certainly has its moments and delivers some genuine gags. If you’ve already seen High Anxiety and can’t hold out for Men in Tights, this is your best option. Rotten Tomatoes 77, IMDB 6.7
10. Zoolander 3.5 stars 3,672,191 ratings
Nearly everything about the fashion industry is already incredibly silly and vapid, Zoolander just took it up a notch by trying to be as deliberately dumb as possible. The complete stupidity of Ben Stiller’s character is what made the movie about a washed up male model trying to make a comeback while being a pawn in an assassination plot so enjoyable to begin with. The spoof is full of cameos from the likes of David Bowie, Lenny Kravitz, and Jerry Stiller, and Ben Stiller is currently working to put together a sequel for Derek and Hansel. Rotten Tomatoes 81, IMDB 6.6
11. The Joneses 3.5 stars out of 1,414,434 ratings
I saw The Joneses a few years ago, and while I can’t remember really anything about the movie, I do remember feeling that it was enjoyable enough. The movie works as a satire on America’s obsession with wealth and having the latest material goods, with David Duchovny and Demi Moore playing the part of happily married husband and wife with two happy kids in a happy neighborhood. Their new neighbors are accepting of them, but it’s soon revealed they’re hiding something beneath the surface. Rotten Tomatoes 46, IMDB 6.5
12. Top Secret! 3.5 stars out of 593,829 ratings
RELATED: Why Top Secret Should Be A Blueprint For Today’s Spoofs
Top Secret! didn’t do particularly well in theaters, which is kind of surprising considering it came from the same minds that gave the world Airplane!. Still, it managed to develop a cult audience and show that Val Kilmer could hold his own in a comedy. The movie works equally well as a spoof on spy movies as it does the Elvis films of the early 1960s. Kilmer plays an Elvis-style rock singer who gets mixed up in a secretive plot to rescue an imprisoned scientist in East Germany. Rotten Tomatoes 80, IMDB 7.2