FARK.com: (8343865) 1991's Hot Shots served as toothless popularizer of modern parody movies, which are lazy, supremely unfunny exercises. "There's not a single joke, or even an acknowledgment, of the rampant homoeroticism for which the original film is now infamous"

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		1991's Hot Shots served as toothless popularizer of modern parody movies, which are lazy, supremely unfunny exercises. "There's not a single joke, or even an acknowledgment, of the rampant homoeroticism for which the original film is now infamous" (thedissolve.com)		156
		More: Obvious, chick flick, parody, Jennifer Coolidge, Moore, epic film, common courtesy, Aaron Seltzer, Michelle Pfeiffer

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4299 clicks; posted to Entertainment » on 21 Jul 2014 at 7:20 AM (8 years ago) | Favorite | share:

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Mugato

2014-07-21 9:00:26 AM

LowbrowDeluxe: Not Another Teen Movie was a perfect parody of 80's teen dramas.

"Farking teenagers"

-Molly Ringwold, last line of the film

/that movie has nothing to do with the "____ Movie" movies.

zedster

2014-07-21 9:01:46 AM

exparrot: Mugato: zedster: The Not ___ Movies other then Not a Teen Movie failed to get this. They were an amalgamation of jokes and pop culture references without an underlying movie

I'd contend that there aren't even any jokes. From the ones I've unfortunately seen, they all consist of "Hey remember that scene from that movie 6 months ago? That's the joke!". Sort of like Seth Macfarlane without the subtlety. They are nothing like Hot Shots, Airplane, Top Secret, etc. They are to the ZAZ movies like Sharktapus is to Jaws.

Are there any others besides 'Not another teen movie'?
I know there were 3000 scary/hero/epic movies, and 2000 American Pie spinoffs but I wasn't aware of any others in that series.

Not from the same people, I was more using it as a genre then there is the failed parody of a parody in the form of Not Another Not Another Movie

Really the genre has been killed by the death of the US box office, as films have to gross in China now witty comedy gets killed since it doesn't translate well. Making a good action flick that can work in world markets, think Pacific Rim, is going to magnitudes easier than comedy. You are left with the lost common denominators, gross out and slap stick. Hollywood has slowly been backing away from big and even medium budget comedies instead hoping to make 60+ on 20~30 million comedies while pushing 80 million dollar action blockbusters. So between over saturation, world markets, and the smaller budgets there's more incentive to produce shlock then take chances, at least in the American market. There is still hope with imports like Wright/Pegg/Frost

Gunny Highway

2014-07-21 9:02:53 AM

buntz: This is why Young Frankenstein works but Dracula: Dead and Loving It doesn't. Mel Brooks started making his movies like the modern spoofs instead of doing what he did best.

I'm sorry, I know everyone loves it, but it started with Spaceballs. It was funny, but a lot of it was "Hey, can you guess what we're spoofing here?"

Also, the problem with his later movies is he started explaining the jokes.

In Robin Hood, the character Blinkin walks in and Dave Chappelle says "Hey Blinkin!" and the blind guy says "Abe Lincoln??"

That's the joke and where it should end. But then Dave says "No, I said "Hey Blinkin" and now the joke is ruined.

just for fun, what is the joke there and why was it ruined by responding?

I am pretty sure Blinkin responds, "Did you say, 'Abe Lincoln?'"

RedPhoenix122

2014-07-21 9:09:13 AM

Crewmannumber6: Spanky McStupid: The author probably had a point but he lost it over Macho Grande.

Over Macho Grande?

No. I don't think I'll ever get over Macho Grande.

buntz

2014-07-21 9:11:31 AM

Gunny Highway: I am pretty sure Blinkin responds, "Did you say, 'Abe Lincoln?'"

And he replies "No, I said "Hey Blinkin'"

He explained the joke. It wasn't necessary. The funny was the blind guy thought he said "Abe Lincoln"

Same thing started happening in Naked Gun 2 and worse in 3.

Jane tries to slap Frank and he catches her left hand. Then her right hand. So a third hand comes up and slaps him. On the Police Squad show and first Naked Gun, Frank going on as if nothing weird just happened IS the joke.
But after the slap gag Frank stops and makes a face. He's confused where the third hand came from. The whole joke is Frank is never aware of the craziness around him. And as soon as he is aware of it, it's no longer funny, it's forced.... in my opinion.

brap

2014-07-21 9:11:34 AM

zedster: The Not ___ Movies other then Not a Teen Movie failed to get this. They were an amalgamation of jokes and pop culture references without an underlying movie.

This is why I can't sit through an episode of Family Guy.

Crewmannumber6

2014-07-21 9:13:58 AM

buntz: Gunny Highway: I am pretty sure Blinkin responds, "Did you say, 'Abe Lincoln?'"

And he replies "No, I said "Hey Blinkin'"

He explained the joke. It wasn't necessary. The funny was the blind guy thought he said "Abe Lincoln"

Same thing started happening in Naked Gun 2 and worse in 3.

Jane tries to slap Frank and he catches her left hand. Then her right hand. So a third hand comes up and slaps him. On the Police Squad show and first Naked Gun, Frank going on as if nothing weird just happened IS the joke.
But after the slap gag Frank stops and makes a face. He's confused where the third hand came from. The whole joke is Frank is never aware of the craziness around him. And as soon as he is aware of it, it's no longer funny, it's forced.... in my opinion.

Comedy is like a frog. When you dissect it, it dies.

firesign

2014-07-21 9:14:57 AM

bark_atda_moon: Sybarite: [38.media.tumblr.com image 500x264]

I know it was supposed to be funny, but that was probably one of the sexiest non-nude scenes of all time.

Speaking of that, and comedies that aren't for everyone, how about the one with Jenna Fischer in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, where they keep breaking into a fight in the middle of it? Again, supposed to be funny, but yeah...

Scorpitron is reduced to a thin red paste

2014-07-21 9:16:14 AM

Hot Shots, Part Deux is much better than the first one.

not Another Teen Movie is actually not bad.

The culprit may be the third Naked Gun and Leslie Nielsen's lamentable cash ins. Spy Hard, Dracula Dead And Loving It and that lazy garbage.

Bondith

2014-07-21 9:21:26 AM

Gunny Highway: That must be a loud school.

/shots at Farley?
//the nintys are officially dead, maaaaan

He started it.

Well, actually, he probably didn't, but he's the oldest one I can remember who substituted volume for wit.

Pineapple Express is another example. There's a endless sequence early in the movie with people running around in a forest screaming at each other. The dialogue scenes aren't much better.

/and then my psychobiatch of an ex looked over at me and said "When things are funny, you're supposed to laugh."
//"I'll keep that mind if something funny happens."
///Is what I should have said, and then maybe she'd have gotten the fark out of my life a little earlier and saved me some grief

Gunny Highway

2014-07-21 9:25:03 AM

Maybe the response is just a way to keep the dialog moving along. I can't remember what is said next.

mjbok

2014-07-21 9:32:59 AM

LowbrowDeluxe: Not Another Teen Movie was a perfect parody of 80's teen dramas.

I really thought this movie was funny, and it stands up to multiple viewings.

//Damn. That is whack.

Bondith: johncspartan38: Love the Hot Shot movies. Another parody movie people are forgetting that I love is Loaded Weapon 1

Wilderness Girls!

You came!

//That's personal.

browntimmy

2014-07-21 9:33:26 AM

Raider_dad: The "is it safe" joke came out of nowhere and had me rolling,

Heh, I first saw Hot Shots a few years ago and had a very similar opinion as this author, I even remember complaining about that same "Is it safe?" joke on some other board somewhere. Sure there's funny parts but I don't want to sit through 9 mediocre or cringe-worthy jokes for every good one. I want to watch something that is better than what I or most Farkers could write.

Nadie_AZ

2014-07-21 9:36:05 AM

I worked at a theater when Hot Shots came out. One of my favorites that year, along with Point Break and Terminator 2.

/kickin it old school
//with popcorn
///and sizzling stomach bacon and eggs

You'd turn it off when I was halfway across

2014-07-21 9:43:03 AM

I can't think of a example off the top of my head, but I'm fairly sure the "something surreal happens, Frank pauses for a beat, then continues on as though everything was normal" happens in Police Squad.

But I think it was more often from the answers he got when he was questioning people than physical comedy.

Mateorocks

2014-07-21 9:45:36 AM

Dwight_Yeast: Hot Shots was worth it for the scene where the Sheens shout "I loved you in 'Wall St'" at each other from passing PT boats.

Otherwise, not as funny as Airplane.

That was Hotshots: Part Deux.

Zuzax

2014-07-21 9:46:36 AM

Mugato: ...Sort of like Seth Macfarlane without the subtlety...

For a moment there I thought you were serious.

gunga galunga

2014-07-21 9:48:10 AM

If Airplane was released today...

INT. - PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT

(The stewardess is handing out meals.)

STEWARDESS: Here's your fish, Gordron Ramsay.

GORDON RAMSAY: This fish is raaaaaaawwwww!!!!!

STEWARDESS: Will you please stop playing Words With Friends, Alec Baldwin?

ALEC BALDWIN: You're a rude, thoughtless, little pig.

PASSENGER: Hey, look! Ted Cruz is filibustering first class.

TED CRUZ: I do not like Obamacare.

(The action turns to slow motion. Quicksilver runs in and gives Ted Cruz a wedgie. Just like he gave a wedgie to that security guard in the latest X-Men movie. That's the joke.)

PASSENGER: Hey, look. It's the queen from Frozen.

(The queen from Frozen sings a drawn-out hip hop version of "Let It Go" to pad the movie's running time by a few minutes.)

FROZEN QUEEN: I'll turn this plane into an eternal winter.

WINTER SOLDIER: Did somebody say winter?

PASSENGER #2: Hey, look! It's the Winter Soldier.

(Captain America appears and the two of them fight for five minutes to pad the movie's running time a bit more.)

born_yesterday

2014-07-21 9:55:52 AM

stoli n coke: I'm Gonna Get You Sucka.

God, I loved that movie.

A10Mechanic

2014-07-21 10:00:42 AM

This one scene, where you start to hear Charlie Sheen's voice, was a classic...

Raider_dad

2014-07-21 10:08:44 AM

browntimmy: Raider_dad: The "is it safe" joke came out of nowhere and had me rolling,

Heh, I first saw Hot Shots a few years ago and had a very similar opinion as this author, I even remember complaining about that same "Is it safe?" joke on some other board somewhere. Sure there's funny parts but I don't want to sit through 9 mediocre or cringe-worthy jokes for every good one. I want to watch something that is better than what I or most Farkers could write.

that makes sense, like realizing you saw all the funny parts in the previews.

LucklessWonder

2014-07-21 10:39:55 AM

Hot Shots is kind of funny. Hot Shots: Part Deux is farking hilarious.

/Airplane and the original Naked Gun are a billion times funnier than either, if a little dated now.

Valiente

2014-07-21 10:41:05 AM

Jesus Christ on a stick, what a moaning sack the writer is.

rocky_howard

2014-07-21 10:42:28 AM

"There's not a single joke, or even an acknowledgment, of the rampant homoeroticism for which the original film is now infamous"

Probably because back then and even in the years after that, it WASN'T known for the "rampant homoeroticism" and that's only a recent development in the Internet era where immaturity has reached its apex and the schlockiest of jokes are told at the expense of the most inane of things.

There's a reason why you used the word "now", idiot-article-writer

The Banana Thug

2014-07-21 10:46:19 AM

Marlon Wayans' A Haunted House was hilariously funny, definitely a parody with references to more recent horror movies, but done in a way where the jokes would stand on theit own. The Wayan Bros get a lot of flack for being involved with some subpar parodies, but this one should be a classic. My guess is the weaker sequels will dilute the brand.

Yanks_RSJ

2014-07-21 10:47:47 AM

How am I supposed to be an Admiral without my cap? Put Rabinowitz in a life raft, have him row in circles until we return. We'll tape his favorite shows, he won't miss anything.

Gosling

2014-07-21 10:51:46 AM

I walked out on Scary Movie 2. I've completely sworn off parody movies ever since.

Dr Dreidel

2014-07-21 10:53:00 AM

Wasn't Airplane itself a send-up of some movie that had come out a few years (or 10) prior? The late 70s were certainly ripe with "airplane/line disaster" movies - Airport!, Airport! '77, etc - but I thought I remembered reading that ZAZ got the idea from a particular film.

There's no clear line even between modern parodies and the "classic" ones like Young Frankenstein or Loaded Weapon or Airplane. The fact that we've gone from specific parodies (of a particular movie) to genre parodies (Scary/Disaster Movie) and back (Airplane could be thought of as either one, assuming I'm right about its origins), to me, says more about how we think about movies - as individual units or as expressions of types.

My suspicion is that when Hollywood puts out more Screwball Comedy #1866504-type films, we prefer parodies of type; and when they actually spend some time on good individual movies, we get good individual parodies (didn't we have a recent slate of Oscar-winners that weren't remakes, reboots, or really dumb?). I could easily see it going the other way, though.

farkeruk

2014-07-21 10:57:01 AM

It's careful to consider selective memory here. Very few parody movies are as good as Airplane. Of all the films I remember seeing, Hot Shots and Hot Shots Part Deux were actually reasonable examples. Not in the Blazing Saddles, Airplane, Austin Powers league, but people forget movies like Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Spy Hard or Flesh Gordon that were really not very good. I'd rather watch the Family Guy Star Wars spoofs than those movies again.

kindms

2014-07-21 10:57:38 AM

The Banana Thug: Marlon Wayans' A Haunted House was hilariously funny, definitely a parody with references to more recent horror movies, but done in a way where the jokes would stand on theit own. The Wayan Bros get a lot of flack for being involved with some subpar parodies, but this one should be a classic. My guess is the weaker sequels will dilute the brand.

Keynan / Damon = usually good like "I'm gonna get u sucka"

the younger wayans = suck on a massive scale. The young ones just rode coattails if their funnier older family members. They haven't done anything that can remotely be described as funny.

Englebert Slaptyback

2014-07-21 11:02:11 AM

Dr Dreidel

Wasn't Airplane itself a send-up of some movie that had come out a few years (or 10) prior? The late 70s were certainly ripe with "airplane/line disaster" movies - Airport!, Airport! '77, etc - but I thought I remembered reading that ZAZ got the idea from a particular film.

If you RTFT you will see that this has been covered in some detail.

Crewmannumber6

2014-07-21 11:03:04 AM

I don't blame Marlon Wayans for making throw away comedies after having been in Requiem For A Dream. That had enough pathos for a lifetime.

Crewmannumber6

2014-07-21 11:03:42 AM

Englebert Slaptyback: Dr Dreidel

Wasn't Airplane itself a send-up of some movie that had come out a few years (or 10) prior? The late 70s were certainly ripe with "airplane/line disaster" movies - Airport!, Airport! '77, etc - but I thought I remembered reading that ZAZ got the idea from a particular film.

If you RTFT you will see that this has been covered in some detail.

Mentat

2014-07-21 11:06:22 AM

Topper Harley: I could never find time for love. It's too heavy. It's an anchor that drowns a man. Besides, I got the sky, the smell of jet exhaust, my bike.
Pete 'Dead Meat' Thompson: A loner?
Topper Harley: No. I own it.

farkeruk

2014-07-21 11:09:18 AM

Dr Dreidel: Wasn't Airplane itself a send-up of some movie that had come out a few years (or 10) prior? The late 70s were certainly ripe with "airplane/line disaster" movies - Airport!, Airport! '77, etc - but I thought I remembered reading that ZAZ got the idea from a particular film.

There's all sorts of references to Airport in Airplane. The original film is a great deal about all the passengers stories. The sick little girl (who gets sung to by the air hostess), the nervous old woman, the wiser older woman who can speak a foreign language, the cute kids who form a friendship etc. They mined a lot of that.

Dr Dreidel

2014-07-21 11:11:46 AM

Crewmannumber6: Englebert Slaptyback: Dr Dreidel

Wasn't Airplane itself a send-up of some movie that had come out a few years (or 10) prior? The late 70s were certainly ripe with "airplane/line disaster" movies - Airport!, Airport! '77, etc - but I thought I remembered reading that ZAZ got the idea from a particular film.

If you RTFT you will see that this has been covered in some detail.

[mle.mymiddleearth.com image 350x350]

[fancy-lad.jpg]
"Your exhortation that I undertake the aforesaid action is met with incredulity, as I have not occasion for such an endeavour."

zarberg

2014-07-21 11:17:44 AM

Pyrex pickle blowfish ...

phillydrifter

2014-07-21 11:18:24 AM

Dwight_Yeast: Otherwise, not as funny as Airplane.

"Airplane!" was actually found to be the funniest movie of all time, according to some scientific fact. (Google it; I'll wait.) I tried to submit it here on fark just a few days ago but someone had already tried to submit the same story about a year ago and it wasn't listed.

I think it's funny though that Airplane has actually been certified as the #1 comedy of all time according to some scientific research or other. It deserves it. (And Mel Brooks deserves 3 of the top 5 comedies of all time: Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, HOTWp1)

/spaceballs wasn't really that funny -- there, i said it

Cybernetic

2014-07-21 11:19:51 AM

Top Gun really needs to be parodied with a bunch of "Ambiguously Gay Duo"-style dialogue.

Thudfark

2014-07-21 11:20:05 AM

Wake me up at, oohhh, six hundred

MightyPez

2014-07-21 11:20:52 AM

Bondith: Gunny Highway: That must be a loud school.

/shots at Farley?
//the nintys are officially dead, maaaaan

He started it.

Well, actually, he probably didn't, but he's the oldest one I can remember who substituted volume for wit.

Pineapple Express is another example. There's a endless sequence early in the movie with people running around in a forest screaming at each other. The dialogue scenes aren't much better.

/and then my psychobiatch of an ex looked over at me and said "When things are funny, you're supposed to laugh."
//"I'll keep that mind if something funny happens."
///Is what I should have said, and then maybe she'd have gotten the fark out of my life a little earlier and saved me some grief

Heh, reminds me of a woman I dated for a very short period of time. She was really into local comedy and helped write for them. She took me to a show and I didn't laugh at all. She looks over at me and says, "Why Aren't you laughing?"

"Because they're not telling jokes!"

It was a painful experience. The headliner and her best friend was a 42 year old guy that lived with his parents and smoked pot all day. He was probably the least funny person there.

Crewmannumber6

2014-07-21 11:21:58 AM

At least 4 times a year one of my sons will find occasion to tell me "The vultures are circling the carcass. The Crips are looting the liquor store!"

and whenever I see them reading, I ask them what it is. Invariably they answer Great Expectations, prompting "Is it any good?" "It's not all I'd hoped for."

/proud father

Madison_Smiled

2014-07-21 11:24:11 AM

Could somebody read the article for me? My eyes are ceramic.

NeverDrunk23

2014-07-21 11:24:12 AM

What I disliked in Naked Gun 2 was the villain. Almost after every strange or amusing comment he makes this stopped perplexed look while almost everyone else is just running with it. He felt like an outside character who entered the Naked Gun world. He just didn't fit in.

DjangoStonereaver

2014-07-21 11:29:29 AM

The thing that sets parody films prior to SPACEBALLS apart from those that came before is, to me, pretty
clear: affection for what is being spoofed.

Starting with SPACEBALLS, it became clear that Mel did not have the same affection for what he was
spoofing that he held for Westerns or Universal horror films. As a result, he did not have as great an
investment in telling a good story (as others in this thread pointed out), and he made up for the lack of
a story by sticking in lots more gags (though, admittedly, almost all of them were specific to sci fi movies,
like the bit after the head of Megamaid crashed on the planet with the two PLANET OF THE APES
characters see it and lament "There goes the neighborhood")

But, while SPACEBALLS overall is one of Brooks' worst (though not the worst; that would be DRACULA
DEAD AND LOVING IT), it does have his best gag. The diner scene with John Hurt as the guy with
indegestion.

Tricky Chicken

2014-07-21 11:34:04 AM

Amazon Women on the Moon.

also,

What do you do with an elephant with three balls?

moothemagiccow

2014-07-21 11:41:03 AM

Gosling: I walked out on Scary Movie 2. I've completely sworn off parody movies ever since.

Why not swear off movies altogether?

realmolo

2014-07-21 11:41:41 AM

phillydrifter: Dwight_Yeast: Otherwise, not as funny as Airplane.

"Airplane!" was actually found to be the funniest movie of all time, according to some scientific fact. (Google it; I'll wait.) I tried to submit it here on fark just a few days ago but someone had already tried to submit the same story about a year ago and it wasn't listed.

I think it's funny though that Airplane has actually been certified as the #1 comedy of all time according to some scientific research or other. It deserves it. (And Mel Brooks deserves 3 of the top 5 comedies of all time: Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, HOTWp1)

/spaceballs wasn't really that funny -- there, i said it

"Spaceballs" sucks.

Frankly, most of the Mel Brooks movies are...mediocre. Moments of greatness, but overall, they're just boring and obvious.

But "Spaceballs" is quite obviously the movie where Brooks gave up even *trying* to be clever. It's terrible.

Lego_Addict

2014-07-21 11:51:55 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnoPZqC6Bfs

I think the tailor ran out of material for the article writer's pants. They are probably too tight.

Edward Rooney Dean of Students

2014-07-21 12:00:21 PM

realmolo: But "Spaceballs" is quite obviously the movie where Brooks gave up even *trying* to be clever. It's terrible.

I always thought I was the only one that didn't really think Spaceballs was funny. I really WANT to like it, but I just can't. Oh well. I'll always have Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles.

/Teri Garr, so hawt...

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