Parody films are ephemeral by nature. Even the most influential parodists of the 20th century, like Mel Brooks and the team of Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker, have filmographies littered with spoofs that were outdated by the time they hit home video.
But a few select parodies manage to not only remain vital—and, therefore, funny—decades after their release; some have even outlasted the films they were parodying in the first place. (How many of the young people watching Airplane! for the first time in 2016 have any idea that the Airport movies even existed?) Timeless source material helps, of course—Star Wars jokes will land as well in 2016 as they did in 1987, for example, because Star Wars continues to assert an oversize influence over American pop culture—but the strength, and often silliness, of the jokes themselves, is what makes a parody last. Here are our picks, all at least a decade old, otherwise how would you know if they still hold up?
