20. Spaceballs (1987)
Decades beforeFamily GuyandRobot Chickendid their hilarious parodies ofStar Wars, Mel Brooks had already riffed on the franchise withSpaceballs. There’s a lot that doesn’t hold up with this movie, but it’s still a fun watch, especially for fans of the genre.
In fact, Mel Brooks pokes fun at just about everything in this tacky cult classic:The Wizard of Oz,Planet of the Apes,Alien,2001: A Space Odyssey… you know, all the sci-fi landmarks.
A purposefully over-expositional critique of mass consumption,Spaceballsis great for cinephiles and non-cinephiles alike. The satirical points elevate it to something more than just empty-headed entertainment!
Related:The Best Movies Set in Outer Space
19. Repo Man (1984)
Repo Mansums up the 1980s sci-fi era in a hilarious way, and it all circles around Emilio Estevez as Otto Maddox, a down-on-his-luck punk rocker who takes a job as a repo man.
Turns out, one of Otto’s repossessions has radiation-emitting aliens in the trunk, and anyone who’s exposed to that ends up meeting an 80s low-budget sci-fi end. (LikeSpaceballs,Repo Manis an allegorical satire of consumerism beneath all its B-movie silliness.)
Director Alex Cox struggled to get his black comedy out there, especially with it taking place during the Atomic Age of the 1960s, but once he did, it was a surprising overnight hit.
18. Coneheads (1993)
Third toWayne’s WorldandThe Blues Brothers,Coneheadsis up there as one of the best movies based on anSNLskit that still holds up today!
Steve Barron’s ridiculous extra-terrestrial comedy really embraces how weird its own concept is, and it doesn’t waste any effort trying to appeal to conventional tastes.
InConeheads, Dan Aykroyd (who also starred inThe Blues Brothers) plays an alien stranded on Earth, who gives himself a human name and takes on a job as a repairman to fit in with people.
17. Mars Attacks! (1996)
What do you get when you combine a star-studded A-list cast (who had no business being in a movie this bad), a B-movie plot, and a big studio budget? You get the infamousMars Attacks!movie.
Whoever had the foresight to greenlight this project was laughing in the end, as it’s now super famous despite bombing at the box office.
Based on the Topps trading cards,Mars Attacks!is a one-of-a-kind film that’s more like an experience than a movie. It made history for its absurd premise and not-so-special effects, depicting an alien invasion where humans are all gullible, foolish buffoons.
Related:The Best Movies Based on Toys and Games From Real Life
16. Paul (2011)
British and American comedy collide in Greg Mottola’s nerdy road moviePaul. A slightly less crude version of Ted fromTed, Paul is the name of a generic-looking, anthropomorphic gray alien (voiced by Seth Rogen).
Writers and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost play geeky sci-fi lovers who stumble upon Paul while traveling to the US for a Comic-Con event. Other big names like Kristen Wiig, Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, and Jesse Plemons also appear in contrast to our English protagonists.
Not so surprising is the fact thatPaulis a parody of the sci-fi genre, specifically Steven Spielberg films. Mottola even draws attention to this by giving Spielberg his own voice cameo in a flashback to 1980!
15. Idiocracy (2006)
Idiocracyis just as its title states: stupid characters getting into even stupider situations. Except, its parodic message is actually pretty smart.
Joe Bauers (played by Luke Wilson) is the guinea pig for human hibernation in 2005, but he’s accidentally put to sleep until 2505. This is the first of many mistakes, as Joe wakes up to a dystopian world where humanity has quite literally devolved into… well, idiots.
Due to technological advancements that rendered human intelligence unnecessary, humanity’s atrophied brain muscles have collectively turned into couch potato sludge.
Not an entirely unrealistic outcome, which viewers found more eerily plausible with the election of Trump as President.
Related:The Best Movies About Dystopias
14. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Some people criticizeThe Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxyfor not adhering strictly to the books, but don’t listen to them! Because if you did, you would be missing out on a really good time. Not everything has to be so serious and perfectionist!
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxyperfectly captures the lighthearted, adventurous mood of the novels, giving Douglas Adams’s written ideas a cinematic shape he’d likely be proud of.
Martin Freeman is the universe-surfing everyman Arthur Dent. He’s just an ordinary British guy with his cup of tea and dressing gown, who’s perpetually confused throughout his hyperspace adventures.
13. Don’t Look Up (2021)
Don’t Look Uphas a point to make, and this message ended up dividing critics. Some found it timely and insightful, while others thought it was too on-the-nose. But the message is there.
It’s clear that this apocalyptic black comedy was conceived in a post-COVID world, illustrating a society split between believers and nonbelievers as a disaster threatens Earth.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence play the two astronomers who discover an incoming comet and embark on a media tour to warn mankind of the possibility of human extinction.
“Don’t look up” is the political slogan of those who choose to ignore the impending threat and chalk it up to government conspiracy. (It’s a catchphrase that brings to mind real-life anti-vaxxers.)
Its depressingly conceivable premise is emphasized through dark comedy more than drama, and who better to direct a political and societal commentary film than Adam McKay?
Related:The Best Movies With Ensemble Casts
12. Men in Black (1997)
Men in Blackis an undeniable sci-fi comedy classic. Funny thing is, it could have all ended up a little differently if director Barry Sonnenfeld hadn’t stuck to his guns when it came to casting.
The producers wanted Chris O’Donnell and Clint Eastwood to play the lead roles, but thankfully Sonnenfeld got his way and we were all spared the disaster that this movie could’ve been.
Instead, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith headline as the suit-and-sunglass-wearing duo who work for the MIB, a secret organization that polices aliens and wipes them from the public’s memory. Kind of like wizards hiding from muggles, but funnier.
Related:The Best Movies Featuring Smart and Clever Monsters
11. Galaxy Quest (1999)
Galaxy Questis the gold standard ofStar Trekspoofs. But even if you aren’t a Trekkie, there’s a lot to enjoy in this movie! Dean Parisot pays homage to theStar Trekfandom while also poking fun at them.
Tim Allen sits in the captain’s seat as Commander Peter Quincy Taggart, smack-bang in the middle of the starship. Or, rather, the set of a starship. Taggart is actually just a TV show character played by the attention-seeking Jason Nesmith.
When humanoid aliens ask for his help, he assumes they mean for promotional purposes—not that they’re actual aliens asking him to face off an intergalactic warlord. Ha!
10. They Live (1988)
In John Carpenter’sThey Live, alien overlords are controlling the masses through subliminal messages. The thing is, these alien overlords all look like regular people.
Roddy Piper plays the Los Angeles drifter Nada, who finds a pair of sunglasses that shows him which people are normal and which people are actually the aliens who are manipulating us to consume, breed, and conform. Like extra-terrestrial X-ray goggles!
Who knew a social commentary condemning Reagan-era consumerism could be so entertaining?They Liveblends sci-fi, comedy, action, horror, and thriller into one, providing a potent allegory about mass media that’s been sneaking its way into pop culture ever since.
9. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
There are three installments in theBill & Tedmovie franchise, but of course I have to go with the first one! Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter play dimwitted besties who will turn the world into a musical utopia, provided that they pass history class…
Rufus (played by George Carlin) is sent back in time from the year 2688 to ensure that neither of them fails. He does this by time-hopping between different time periods and giving them real-life inspiration from folks like Napoleon to Abraham Lincoln.
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventureis the quintessential slacker comedy—easily mistaken for a stoner film due to its laid-back, brain-dead teenage protagonists—and a hallmark of 80s cinema.
Related:The Best Bromance Movies
8. Asteroid City (2023)
Asteroid Cityisn’t just Wes Anderson’s most recent movie as of this writing, but it also has one of the biggest ensemble casts of any of his films. Most of the stars didn’t even get paid much—they simply did it for the joy of being in an Anderson movie.
Asteroid Cityis the auteur’s first sci-fi entry, unfolding as a metanarrative about a mythical UFO sighting in a Southwestern desert.
Minimal dialogue, pastel colors, retrofuturism, and gorgeously symmetrical cinematography. You don’t even need me to tell you it was directed by Wes Anderson!
Sure, it’s far from his most acclaimed work, butAsteroid Cityis still a mile better than any lazy mainstream sci-fi flick. It had a lot to live up to compared to Anderson’s prestigious filmography.
7. The World’s End (2013)
Director Edgar Wright has describedThe World’s Endas “a boys night out movie, gone wrong.” That’s an understatement, given all the crazy sci-fi shenanigans that happen throughout it!
Simon Pegg stars as Gary King, a 40-year-old man who drags his old friends back to their hometown to complete the pub crawl they failed to finish 20 years prior. They resolve to see it through this time, and nothing’s going to get in their way—not even aliens.
The World’s Endis a fun and contemplative conclusion to Wright’s Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy that started withShaun of the Dead, each one also starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
6. Sorry to Bother You (2018)
Sorry to Bother Youstarts out as a fashionable tale of institutionalized racism, in which Cash (played by LaKeith Stanfield) must use his “white voice” to make telemarketing sales.
As his fake, whitewashed identity allows Cash to climb to the top floor, his relationships and integrity slowly deteriorate.
The thing is,Sorry to Bother Youis a red herring movie that’s best suited for those who have an open mind and a love for the bizarre. When the sci-fi elements kick in, you’ll be seriously floored.
In fact, it’s so weird that it wouldn’t surprise me if viewers walked out of theaters when the characters starting snorting dupe cocaine and turning into “Equisapien” horse people who are begging for mercy in the bowels of the Earth (as a metaphor for capitalist labor). Yeah, it’s weird…
Related:The Best Movies About Jobs and Work
5. About Time (2013)
About Timeis technically a comedy-drama and the only pick on this list that will probably make you cry. But it’s also funny in that quaint British, Hugh Grant kind of way. (It is, after all, a Richard Curtis film!)
None of the romance inAbout Timeis sappy or clichéd. Rather, Tim Lake (played by Domhnall Gleeson) is a hopeless romantic living in an idyllic coastal family home in Cornwall, and the whole story is brimming with genuine heart and warmth.
About Timeis more than just about finding love, which he does do with Mary (played by Rachel McAdams). Tim’s father (played by Bill Nighy) reveals that all the men in his family have time-traveling abilities, which comes with various pitfalls and lessons we can all learn from.
Related:The Best Movies With Time Travel
4. Ghostbusters (1984)
Ghostbustersis the ultimate sci-fi comedy, right down to its core. There are lasers, supernatural entities, Bill Murray… and it was made in the 1980s! It doesn’t get any more classic than that.
When a paranormal event occurs, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! The detective organization made up of dismissed parapsychology professors, played by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis.
As one of the first-ever blockbusters,Ghostbustersbecame hugely popular and influential. It has since spawned four sequels and reboots, most of which feel like flogging a dead horse. The original remains the best of the franchise and one of the best sci-fi comedies ever.
Related:The Best 80s Comedy Movies, Ranked
3. Poor Things (2023)
Poor Thingsisn’t a movie to watch if you’re easily freaked out. Nominated for multiple Oscars,Poor Thingsis about a baby’s brain that gets implanted into a woman’s body (played by Emma Stone).
You can’t sayPoor Thingsisn’t original. The lavish set designs that combine the past with the futuristic (and the colorful with the black-and-white) feel like magical paintings come to life, pulling us from Victorian London to Lisbon to Alexandria.
The implantation is conducted by the mad scientist-looking surgeon Godwin Baxter (played by Willem Dafoe), who records Bella’s progress from infant to prostitute to socialist intellectual.
2. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Science fiction allows filmmakers to push the boundaries of imagination and come up with all sorts of wild concepts. InEverything Everywhere All at Once, this means verse-jumping across timelines to save the world from being destroyed by an Everything Bagel.
For all its absurdist comedy and surreal cinematography,Everything Everywhere All at Onceis actually a super heartfelt introspection into the human heart and mind.
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert explore themes of generational trauma, spirituality, presence, existentialism, sexuality, neurodivergence, and shared ethnic identity.
The small team behind this complex and grand production is shocking—and they were no doubt shocked by winning Best Picture, too!
Related:The Best Movies About Multiverses
1. Back to the Future (1985)
Back to the Futurecame together almost supernaturally perfect. Making a film this good is as hard as trying to capture a bolt of lightning, and in the words of Dr. Emmett Brown: “Unfortunately, you never know when or where it’s ever going to strike.”
The Spielberg-esque adventure was actually directed by Robert Zemeckis, who conceived the idea with Bob Gale. Both longed for a successful collaboration, and man did they get it!
Michael J. Fox stars as the skateboarding teenager who accidentally travels back in time to the 1950s, where his own mother falls in love with him. The sequels that followed were good fun, but they don’t hold a candle to this pinnacle of blockbuster and sci-fi cinema history.
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