The Greatest Satires
September 11, 2026
Every satire reviewed on this site, ranked. Brooks, Verhoeven, Altman, Ashby and the Zuckers, and a run of films that turned out to be documentaries.
Tag: Satire
Satire works when the target is real and the writer is willing to be unfair to it. This tag collects reviews of satirical films and fiction, and what separates satire that lands from satire that only sneers.
1990sMan Bites Dog (1992) Review
September 11, 2026
Man Bites Dog (1992) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A Belgian film crew follows a serial killer, films his work, and gradually starts helping. Made by three film students for almost nothing, and it is the…
2000sDead Set (2008) Review
September 11, 2026
Dead Set (2008) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Charlie Brooker locked the Big Brother house against a zombie apocalypse, cast the real presenter as herself, shot it in the actual studio, and then refused to let…
1990sLast Action Hero (1993) Review
September 10, 2026
Last Action Hero (1993) rates 6 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Columbia made a deconstruction of the action film starring the biggest action star alive, marketed it to children, and opened it one week after Jurassic Park. The…
1980sIshtar (1987) Review
September 10, 2026
Ishtar (1987) rates 6 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Elaine May made a screwball comedy about two men with no talent, spent fifty-one million dollars doing it in the Sahara, and the name became shorthand for disaster before…
2000sSouthland Tales (2006) Review
September 10, 2026
Southland Tales (2006) rates 5 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Richard Kelly took an unfinished cut to Cannes because nobody turns down a competition slot, was booed, recut it, and watched it earn under four hundred thousand dollars.…
2020sShe-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022) Review
September 10, 2026
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022) rates minus one out of ten on the rewatch scale. A legal comedy in a world with superhumans is a genuinely good premise and the series is not interested in it. What it is interested…
1990sNatural Born Killers (1994) Review
September 10, 2026
Natural Born Killers (1994) rates 6 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Oliver Stone made a satire about media appetite for violence that is itself a two-hour delivery system for violence. Tarantino wrote the story, disowned it, and asked…
1960sThe Manchurian Candidate (1962) Review
September 10, 2026
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) rates 10 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Frankenheimer made a political thriller that is also a comedy, a nightmare and a story about a mother, released it thirteen months before Dallas, and Angela Lansbury…
2000sDistrict 9 (2009) Review
September 10, 2026
District 9 (2009) rates 9 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A first-time director shot an alien occupation film in a real Soweto township for thirty million dollars, cast his friend who had never acted, and got a Best…
1970sBlazing Saddles (1974) Review
September 10, 2026
Blazing Saddles (1974) rates 9 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Mel Brooks made an anti-racist film by putting the ugliest language available in the mouths of idiots and letting the sheriff outthink them. Made for two point six…
1980sAmerican Psycho (2000) Review
September 10, 2026
American Psycho (2000) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Mary Harron read a novel everybody called unfilmable and found the comedy in it. Made for seven million dollars, mostly in Toronto, and it is far funnier and…