Gems of Meta-Cinematic Comedy: 8 Hilarious Movies About Movies. By Fatimah Akanbi.
Nothing thrills a cinephile like movies about cinema itself. Thanks to the world of meta-cinema, we get to indulge ourselves in the love of movies twofold and enjoy some brilliant fourth-wall breaking as the realities of film-making are blended into a fictitious landscape.
Meta-cinema has been around for quite a while, and its legacy has held on for decades, continuing to entertain movie lovers with its honest, often satirical dissection of the cinematic culture. And so, meta-cinematic films tend to come with effortless comedic energy because the audience are always in on the joke; sometimes even part of the joke. In this list, we take a look at 8 comedic movies about movies that are just priceless.
Last Action Hero (1993)
This movie very well opens inside the screen at a cinema. Very thematically committed. It follows Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien), a young boy in New York City who receives a magic ticket as a gift from his theatre-owner friend and gets miraculously transported into his favourite movie, in which Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a miserable cop called Jack Slater.
Last Action Hero is loaded with pop culture references and adequately pokes fun at character archetypes in movies. We’re also blessed with comments on Arnold’s whole Schwarzenegger-ness—including a joke on his iconic line from The Terminator and how to mispronounce his name. The movie is wacky in the most meta way possible. And despite that, it manages to strike an emotional chord, asking how much it might hurt a fictional character to discover that his life has been messed up deliberately by those behind the script.
Simone (2002)
Al Pacino plays Viktor Taransky, a filmmaker who creates a computer-generated actress called Simone to complete his film after his lead actress walks out on him. When Simone becomes a fan-favourite, Viktor lands in trouble after trouble trying to hide her non-existence from the public.
It’s amazing how prescient this movie is, considering that we live in a time when artificially generated performances are creeping up all over the place in the entertainment industry. It also goes on to criticise the favouritism of audiences, in how the public continues to love Simone no matter what Viktor does to make them boycott her. Nevertheless, the wild goose chase premise makes the film an endlessly hilarious watch.
Bowfinger (1999)
Steve Martin writes and stars in this must-watch Hollywood satire as the eponymous Bobby Bowfinger. Bobby is a cash-strapped filmmaker who’s trying to shoot his dream movie but fails to convince the superstar, Kit Ramsey (played by Eddie Murphy) to join his cast. So instead, he decides to shoot the film around the actor without his knowledge.
Bowfinger is in one way a movie about ambition, desperation and trickery, and on the flip side, an absurd yet honest commentary on the business of filmmaking. It’s rib-cracking comedy through and through, a satirical reflection on what it takes to make it in the whirlwind of Hollywood. The movie received positive reviews from both critics and audiences and has gone on to become a cult classic.
Be Kind Rewind (2008)
This buddy comedy follows the misadventure of two video rental store clerks. After one of them gets himself magnetised and accidentally wipes out all the tapes in the store, they try to recreate the erased films by acting them out on their own.
The movie is a fun meta-cinematic flick and a playful parody of beloved classics like 1984’s Ghostbusters. It perfectly captures that role-playing your favourite movie feeling. It’s also a tribute to the long reign of video tapes, releasing at a time when tapes have begun going extinct and CDs were rapidly taking over the video entertainment market.
Tropic Thunder (2008)
A ragtag group of actors venture into a jungle to shoot a Vietnam war film. When one of them is captured by a gang of drug dealers, the others devise a plan to rescue him using their only resources—props and acting. But they have to make it out in one piece.
Ben Stiller co-wrote, directed and starred in this wacky war-film parody alongside Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr (who was just fresh off the release of Iron Man a little earlier that year). The movie is wild, action-packed and leans fully into the absurdities of the whole adventure. It also digs well into the mentalities of the characters, making them not only fun to watch, but also worth sympathising with.
The Truman Show (1998)
Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) is a small-town insurance salesman who is unaware that his whole life has been a long-running reality TV show. When he finally begins to suspect it, he searches for a means of escape.
The Truman Show has just the kind of chaotic humour you would naturally expect from anything with Jim Carrey in it. Primarily, it delivers bold social commentary on how the media often feeds voyeuristic interests and erodes privacy. The movie sits gracefully between comedy, satire and meta parable on modern entertainment culture. It was critically acclaimed and a massive commercial success upon release.
Birdman (2014)
Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is a has-been actor, once famous for playing a superhero called Birdman. He tries to salvage his declining career by making a Broadway show, while attempting to rebuild his strained relationship with his daughter, Sam (Emma Stone).
The whole movie runs in a fluid sweep, giving viewers the impression that it was all filmed in a single continuous take. That’s quite a stylish visual choice by Director Alejandro González Iñarritu. Birdman is a masterpiece of dark comedy and another great Hollywood satire, albeit with more intense psychological intrigue than many others and a surreally ambiguous plot.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Set in 1969 Los Angeles, Quentin Tarantino’s award-winning historical comedy features Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton, a washed-up Hollywood star, and Brad Pitt as his trusty stunt double, Cliff Booth, as they try to stay afloat in the fast-changing film industry of the time. It’s partially based on true events.
The movie transports us back in time into an elegant, nostalgic tail-end of the 60s, telling a tale of the ups and downs, twists and turns of old Hollywood with an excellent comedic overtone. It’s packed with lots of references to real-life actors of the era (including Steve McQueen and Bruce Lee). The chemistry between DiCaprio and Pitt is explosive, making the near-brotherly bond between Rick and Cliff absolutely magical. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is lauded as one of the greatest movies of the 21st century, and Tarantino himself called it his favourite of the movies he’s made.
