The most amusing thing about Quasi is how the guys of Broken Lizard have finally owned up to being a bunch of dorks who are actually *really* into Monty Python, notably Life of Brian and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That’s an oddly charming concept considering the comedy troupe are frat symbols known for making meatheaded comedies like Super Troopers and Beerfest. We all remember that jock who had to take an arts extra-curricular…
How do you satirize a genre that’s become a spoof of itself? It isn’t an impossible trick but, to pull it off, it takes a keen eye for detail and a filmmaker who can thread the needle between appreciation and cynicism. 2014’s They Came Together, a comedy from the creators of Wet Hot American Summer that hilariously destroyed the rom-com genre, is the bellwether for me, and this year’s clever seasonal spoof Cup of Cheer…
Lake Michigan Monster is an irreverently humorous riff on z-budget monster movies of the 1950s, complete with shoestring special effects, deliberately tacky plotlines, and unusual characters. A bizarre product of writer/director Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, Lake Michigan Monster arrives at a time of great need for strong laughs at a brisk and breezy running time.
What happened? I was supposed to like Fifty Shades of Black. As someone who wasn’t afraid to stand up for Marlon Wayans’ Haunted House spoof series, Wayans’ riff on Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Fifty Shades of Grey should’ve been up my alley. So, indeed, what happened?
The sad state of the parody film is reflected in Fifty Shades of Black, the latest from A Haunted House director Michael Tiddes and Scary Movie alumnus Marlon Wayans. A spoof of the Fifty Shades of Grey film released last year, Fifty Shades of Black relies mostly on an inventory of aged pop culture references and unfunny scatological humour rather than interrogating the problems with its source material.
By: Addison Wylie Superfast is a spoof of the Fast and the Furious franchise brought to audiences by infamous filmmakers Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. How long do you think it takes for them to set up a joke where someone swaggers onto the street and gets hit by a car? Not too long. The aim of the Superfast game is to reenact a scene and point out the obvious. I would’ve gone in another…
By: Addison Wylie Reviewing The Starving Games won’t take very long, so leave your coat and shoes on. This halfhearted send-up to The Hunger Games has been pieced, glued, taped, and mashed together by infamous spoofmeisters Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. It crawls and wheezes to feature length, yet only has enough material to fund a commercial bumper on the MTV Movie Awards – even that is pushing it. Friedberg and Seltzer have never hit a…
By: Addison Wylie Mel Brooks hasn’t directed a film since 1995’s Dracula: Dead and Loving It. After watching the comedy for the first time, it’s quite possible this is where Brooks may have fallen out of love with filmmaking – a tragic end to our coverage of TIFF’s retrospective. Now, of course, I could be speaking out of school. Brooks has served as a producer on numerous projects (including some upcoming work in 2015), and…
By: Addison Wylie The suspiciously released comedy Best Night Ever could easily be retitled Wedding Movie. Or, Hangover Movie or Bridesmaids Movie to be a bit more on the nose. The reason why the film doesn’t go by those titles is because (A.) those suggestions are terrible and (B.) the directorial duo are most likely trying to distance themselves away from schlocky spoof movies. That duo: Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Friedberg and Seltzer need…
By: Addison Wylie The Haunted House films have their haters. But, these comedies also have those happy-go-lucky appreciators who laugh like hyenas with each crass joke. The difference between those two audiences is that the haters will openly vent about how these movies stink, while the others are too embarrassed to admit they chuckled. A Haunted House was a guilty pleasure of mine. It was a minor comedy that found success during its theatrical run,…