Top 10 Made-For-Internet Oscar Parodies of All Time

by Brendan Lopez

The 81st Academy Awards are now a distant memory, and all of the 24-karat, non-chocolate filled statues (sorry, Queen Latifah) have been distributed to Hollywood elite. The majority of the year's nominated films examined controversial subjects such as sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church, gay rights, government corruption, and even professional wrestling. However, even though the films took themselves incredibly seriously this past year, we're going to take this opportunity to examine the lighter side of Oscar. Maybe it's because we don't place too much import on an exclusive and illogically influential voting system. Or maybe it's because we're still pissed that Step Up 2 the Streets didn't get any award recognition.

#10 No Country for Old Socks

The Film

Many argue that last year's Best Picture winner, No Country for Old Men, adapted from Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same title, is the Coen Brothers' best film to date. A meditation on American morality (or the lack thereof), it crackles with award-worthy performances by the always-convincing Josh Brolin and the always-grumpy Tommy Lee Jones. (I'm pretty sure Jones' face is going to suddenly cave in one day if he gets about five more wrinkles.) The most notable performance in the film is Javier Bardiem as the killer Anton Chigurhr. He redefines evil with a cattle gun and an unabashed mullet that haunts audiences long after the movie ends.

The Parody

No Country is probably one of the more sinister films to come out of Hollywood in the past decade. This sinister quality is the primary reason why the sock version of the film (yes, that's right: sock version), is so entertaining. Although Chiguhr would instantly murder anyone who even suggested his resemblance to a sock, I have to say that his mullet has never looked more flattering.

#9 A Redneck Slumdog Millionaire

The Film

The most hyped film at the 2009 Academy Awards, Slumdog Millionaire has captivated audiences and critics alike. Acclaimed director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty) teamed up for this transcendent Mumbai-based fairytale of a boy who did anything and everything for love. "It is written", the film's theme and driving force, suggests that amidst life's ups and downs, one's fate - true love, happiness, winning a million dollars on a game show – awaits.

Parody

Any film that tries to leave its audience with meaningful life lessons is susceptible to Internet parodies. Slumdog Millionaire is no exception. While picking a favorite Slumdog parody is harder than winning Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? when you're completely uneducated, I have to tip my cap to Blind Lyle Films for their production of their redneck Slumdog trailer. Their film tells the story of Nede Beumont, an overweight woman from trailer park America who's about to experience the biggest day of her life.

#8 Behind the Scenes of Juno with Diablo Cody

The Film

In last year's Academy Awards, stripper turned screenwriter Diablo Cody created quite a stir with her Best Screenwriting win for Juno. Exploring the story of a precocious high school girl pregnant with Michael Cera's baby, Cody's Twitter-eqsue teenspeak was a hit with Academy members. While I question whether "I'm fo' shizzle" should be emblematic of Oscar-worthy dialogue, I also question what self-respecting strip club would pay Diablo Cody to take off her clothes. So what do I know?

The Parody

Character actor Jackie Clarke is spot-on in the role of Diablo Cody, mocking her creative process and general kookiness. Clarke's Cody can barely get through half a sentence without rhyming, mashing-up words, or gabbing some nonsense about herself. The self-aggrandizement reaches a new height when she points out Juno's true message: "Before you can love another person there's someone else you have to love: me!"

#7 The Curious Case of Forrest Gump

The Film

Adapted from an F. Scott Fitzgerald story, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, traces the life of a man who's born in his eighties and ages backwards. Female audience members watch Brad Pitt get hotter and hotter until they realize that they're suddenly pedophiles – and need to quickly stop thinking that he's hot. Written by Eric Roth, the pen behind Forrest Gump, this reverse-aging tale gives new meaning to the phrase, "I want to grow old with you."

The Parody

According to this Button viral video, four-time Oscar nominated screenwriter Eric Roth literally has a formula for success: story of a man + flashbacks + a handicap at birth + a mother who gives advice you might find on the back of a fortune cookie + a girl way out of his league = Oscar city. Like the video suggests, if you only see one version of Forrest Gump this year, make sure it's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

#6 Brokeback to the Future

The Film

Brokeback Mountain, the heart-wrenching love story involving a ranch hand and a cowboy, was nominated for eight academy awards in 2005 including Best Picture, Best Director (Ang Lee) and Best Actor (Heath Ledger). Based on a short story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proloux, Brokeback Mountain centers on the painful consequences of denying a forbidden love. The nuanced performances of Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams combine for one of the most stunning Westerns of all time…. and it's also great for sleepovers with your football team!

The Parody

Set to Gustavo Santaolalla's Brokeback music, Brokeback to the Future brilliantly recasts Back to the Future's Doc Brown and Marty McFly as two macho men bound by their love that cannot exist. The dialogue from the two films, as this mash-up illustrates, is somewhat interchangeable. Marty McFly: "Have you ever been in a situation where you know you had to act a certain way but when you got there, you didn't know if you could go through with it?" I always sensed that Doc and Marty had a little something going on beneath the table. I suppose time travel does funny things to a relationship.

#5 There Will Be Bud

The Film

Watching Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 masterpiece, There Will Be Blood, is like participating in a street fight or in a relationship with Chris Brown: it's adrenaline-driven, relentless, and ultimately ends with bruises. In the role oil tycoon Daniel Plainview, Daniel Day Lewis conveys a lust for oil and self-gratification that audiences will remember for years to come. His performance, and the film as a whole, portrays the true American Dream: getting what you want, when you want it, and then dealing with the consequences when you're already filthy rich.

The Parody

The Benver Droncos produced a hilarious and skillfully crafted trailer that substitutes one commodity, oil, for another, weed. What the Droncos lacked in location and set design, they deftly made up for with their inventive, and undoubtedly high, imaginations. For example, notice the bowling video game on the TV at 1min 59sec. And of course, the Daniel Day Lewis/ Daniel Plainview impersonation is flat out amazing.

#4 Top Gun Recut

The Film

Who can forget the 1987 Oscar-winning song "Take My Breath Away" which accompanied Maverick (Tom Cruise) and Charlie (Kelly McGillis) gently tongue-wrestling in front of her San Diego bachelorette bungalow? Or the scene in which Maverick gets the entire bar to serenade Charlie with "You've Lost That Loving Feeling"? Or the topless, slathered in suntan oil, slow motion volleyball game with Kenny Loggins "Playing with the Boys" pumping up the moment? No 80s film better defines the term "so bad it's good" than this Holy Grail of schmaltzy entertainment.

The Parody

This mash-up is brave enough to say what every other Top Gun fan was already thinking: Tom Cruise's Maverick has got it bad for Val Kilmer's Iceman… and I mean bad. Although you might be tempted to judge Maverick for his obsession, and wonder why he doesn't focus all his emotions on the smoking hot Kelly Gillis, I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt. Come on, if you regularly played volleyball with testosterone-driven fighter pilots and your life's soundtrack consisted of Kenny Loggins, wouldn't you also be a tad confused? My video highlight is Tom Cruise's horrendously oafish smile at 1min 21 sec: it's fleeting, but dang if it ain't special.

#3 28 West Side Days Later Story

The Film

In 1961, West Side Story cleaned up Oscar night with ten wins out of eleven nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise) and Best Score. Transplanting the classic love story of Romeo and Juliet to the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the classic film revolves around two rival gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, fighting for control of the streets. When Tony, the leader of the Jets falls for Maria, the sister of the leader of the Sharks, all hell breaks loose - people sing, people dance, and oh yes, people die.

The Parody

While some might cite the possibility of dementia when people start singing and dancing in the middle of a gang fight, perhaps there's another explanation: zombies. This parody combines West Side Story with a variety of elements from the contemporary zombie flick 28 Days Later. It's well produced, carefully edited, and now I'll never be able to watch West Side Story again without a nightlight.

#2 Lazy Sunday

The Film

The 2005 film The Chronicles of Narnia, winner for Best Achievement in Make-Up (yes, that's a real category), captured C.S. Lewis' tales of the mystical land of Narnia. The film focused on the first of Lewis' tales, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, in which the four Pevensie children step through their wardrobe and discover all sorts of strange and wonderful creatures. This land is ruled by the evil White Witch, memorably played by Tilda Swinton.

The Parody

While technically made for television, "Lazy Sunday" was the first SNL digital short to go viral on the Internet. Extolling the virtues of "getting high," cupcakes, and Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling's love in The Notebook, the video helped frame Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island crew as the saviors of Saturday Night Live.

 

#1 The Uncler

The Film

Mickey Rourke stars in The Wrestler, an independent film about a professional wrestler who's not ready to fade into obscurity. Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Rourke) trudges through VFW halls, strip clubs, and broken relationships, struggling to come to terms with what's left of his life. Although snubbed by the Academy, Bruce Springsteen provides a beautiful title track that, if you're not careful, makes you forget that Mickey Rourke kinda looks like a monster.

The Parody

This recent Uncle Sam/Mickey Rourke parody, featured on Funny Or Die, is successfully grounded in both its earnestness and ridiculousness. While it probably took a good number of Miller lights and/or bong hits to realize the synergies between Uncle Sam and Mickey Rourke, the end result is extremely coherent. And even though Alyssa Milano, who plays Uncle Sam's love interest in the video, doesn't take off her shirt (alla Marisa Tomei in the real film), at least she's wearing a Statue of Liberty costume as she's dancing with her stripper pole. I've always had a thing for women who look like national monuments.

 

This article was also posted on DailyFill.com

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