'The Naked Gun' And 9 Other Hilarious Spoof Movies

One of the best parts about The Naked Gun legacy sequel is that its star, Liam Neeson, plays it straight. Instead of mocking police dramas by going full-blown wacky, Neeson acts like he’s starring in one of his iconic action films, like Taken or The Commuter. Watching all the comedy happen around him, while he’s seemingly oblivious to the absurdity of it all, adds a new layer of humor to the franchise and makes it feel fresh and incredibly funny. Neeson is also joined in the cast by other serious entertainers who aren’t normally associated with comedies, like Pamela Anderson, CCH Pounder, and Busta Rhymes.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! stars comedy legend Leslie Nielsen and has a very weird legacy. It’s based on the short-lived police spoof series Police Squad!, which also starred Neilsen, and spoofed classic police procedurals like M Squad (1957) and Felony Squad (1966). Nielsen used his trademark blend of slapstick comedy and clueless humor to expertly skewer TV’s long history with overly-generic, trope-filled crime series. For diehard fans, the film received two sequels, Naked Gun 2 ½ and Naked Gun 33 ⅓. 

Galaxy Quest is so brilliant because it spoofed two things at once. The film is a satire of Star Trek and follows the washed-up cast of an old sci-fi TV series called Galaxy Quest. But it also spoofs the Trekkie fandom as a whole, including what it’s like to go to conventions (or “cons”) and deal with an overeager superfan (played by Justin Long in his first major role). In the movie, the Galaxy Quest cast gets mistaken for an actual space crew by a group of aliens who are at war. It’s a lot of fun to watch the group get swept up into some very real deep space warfare despite having no real knowledge about it. The cast is also loaded with talented stars like Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and the late Alan Rickman. 

Horror is such a unique genre. It’s both mainstream, with huge billion-dollar franchises, but it also has a devoted fandom who have essentially created their own subculture. So it was only natural to make a movie spoofing all the most iconic and beloved horror films ever. Scary Movie roughly follows the plot of Scream… but instead of being tense and scary, it’s an absolute joke (in the best way possible). Along the way, it spoofs other iconic horror movies, too, like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Halloween, The Blair Witch Project, and more. Scary Movie received four sequels, with a fifth film coming in 2026. 

Before The Naked Gun, Leslie Nielsen starred in another iconic spoof, Airplane!. On the surface, the movie is a honed-in spoof of two iconic air disaster films: Zero Hour! (1957) and Airport 1975 (1974). In the film, a commercial airline’s in-flight meal kills the pilots (don’t order the fish!), so it’s up to a flight attendant and a PTSD-riddled air force pilot to fly the plane and land it safely. But some of Airplane!’s best humor doesn’t come from spoofing films, but from simply mocking the hurdles, hassles, and harassments of air travel. It’s a hysterical movie that hits especially hard for anyone who finds themselves flying the unfriendly skies a little too often. 

Sure, there’s Star Wars… but who needs Jabba the Hutt when there’s Pizza the Hutt; who needs Yoda when there’s Yogurt; and who needs Darth Vader when there’s Dark Helmet? Written, directed, and starring comedy legend Mel Brooks, Spaceballs is a laugh-out-loud tribute to Star Wars. Plus, unlike many other spoofs that are more niche, since virtually everyone has seen Star Wars, it’s a parody that a wide range of audiences can understand and enjoy. It also has an absolutely stacked cast with Joan Rivers, Bill Pullman, John Candy, Rick Moranis, and even Dom DeLuise all joining Brooks for this hysterical space opera. 

Unsurprisingly, The Brady Bunch Movie is a spoof of… The Brady Bunch. It gets its humor by placing the family (complete with their safe-for-1960s-television attitudes) in 1990s Los Angeles. The jarring dichotomy ends up making the Bradys look hilariously fake and petty, squabbling over minor issues like “Did Jan use Marcia’s hairbrush?” while everyone around them struggles with real-world problems like drugs and crime. The film has also given birth to the now iconic “Sure, Jan” meme, and RuPaul’s role as the school’s guidance counselor continues to be a fan favorite. 

In a super meta movie, 2006’s Another Gay Movie is both a parody of American Pie (2001) and the American Pie parody Not Another Teen Movie (2001). It also mocks the teen sex comedy genre as a whole, flipping it all on its head by focusing on a group of gay teens. The move was revolutionary in 2006, and with America’s regression in recent years, the film is, once again, feeling oddly relevant and boundary-pushing. But this isn’t a film that set out to preach a message. In fact, quite the opposite. Despite spoofing teen sex comedies, Another Gay Movie is actually one of the raunchiest and wildest teen sex comedies out there. 

Austin Powers has become an iconic and beloved character all on his own (“Ooooh, behaaave!”). But many fans often forget that the films are actually parodies of the James Bond franchise. That’s why the movies are set in the ’60s (and later the ’70s), because that’s when 007 first made the leap from novels into cinemas. But beyond just being a spoof, Mike Myers created a seriously fun and funny character with Austin Powers, and the films are so good that viewers don’t need any previous exposure to 007 to understand or enjoy them. But audiences who do will see a whole new layer to the franchise. 

What happens when comedy geniuses Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright decide to spoof George A. Romero’s iconic 1978 zombie film Dawn of the Dead? The world gets Shaun of the Dead. In the 2004 spoof, the zombie apocalypse goes down around a group of bumbling, fumbling idiots, leading to absolute chaos and hilarity. Shaun of the Dead is loaded with British talent, like Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, and Penelope Wilton, and on top of its source material, it also pokes fun at other horror movies like 28 Days Later and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.