25 Best Satire Movies of All Time, Ranked

The world can be a ridiculous place sometimes, as anyone who exists within it would surely be well aware of. That being said, perhaps some individuals are quite aware of how ridiculous things can be, because problems and issues that are worth pointing out exist in all areas of life and all – as Daft Punk might say – around the world. It might be some relief to hear, then, that satire – as a genre or subgenre of sorts – is here to highlight the ludicrous, with the medium of film being one where satirical stories shine.

Satirical movies are often funny, but they’re not necessarily all comedies, because satire can look at provocative or controversial issues while taking them seriously. Other satirical films get a whole lot sillier, and possibly cross over into what might be better defined as a parody movie. And then others still fall somewhere in between “serious takedown” and “joke-a-minute parodies,” with some of the best satirical movies of all time – all encompassing slightly different strategies and tones – being ranked below.

25 ‘Triangle of Sadness’ (2022)

Directed by Ruben Östlund

Ruben Östlund is a filmmaker best known for his satirical dramedies, with two of his films even being acclaimed enough to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The first of these was the bizarre 2017 film The Square, with the second being the slightly more comprehensible Triangle of Sadness from 2022. It deals with similar themes surrounding wealth and class warfare as seen in something like 2019’s Parasite, but makes fun of most of its characters rather than humanizing them.

That makes it more satirical, in some ways, than the also highly-acclaimed Parasite, even if that film might be overall more nuanced. Still, Triangle of Sadness – with its strange plot involving a chaotic series of events impacting all on board a luxury cruise – is entertaining, and does work as an uncompromising attack on the wealthiest of the wealthy in society. Perhaps its cartoonish nature means some of its targets (indeed, audience members) may be able to distance themselves from the caricatures on screen, but the film is nevertheless funny and quite enjoyable.

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24 ‘South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut’ (1999)

Directed by Trey Parker

Standing as both a great musical movie and a biting piece of satire, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is arguably South Park at its very best, even if the original show does indeed have many commendable aspects. The 1999 movie was made not long after the show initially began airing, and has a premise that involves the show’s four main characters seeing a Canadian movie that’s filled with bad language and offensive content, which starts influencing their behavior.

The adults of the titular town don’t approve of this by any means, and as such, declare war against Canada. From there, things get somehow even more chaotic. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut makes fun of just about everything and everyone, as one would expect from something carrying the South Park name. However, it’s the film’s criticism against movie censorship and moral panics that proves the most pointed and arguably funny out of anything else here.

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23 ‘Tampopo’ (1985)

Directed by Jūzō Itami

Tampopo is a very strange movie, but had it been a very normal movie, there’s little chance it would have achieved the sort of international acclaim and ongoing cult following it got, and continues to have. It’s an acclaimed Japanese comedy that largely revolves around food, with various subplots and side characters sometimes colliding, and sometimes going their own way. But the principal storyline here is about two truck drivers helping a woman make her roadside fast food stop into a more celebrated noodle shop/dining establishment.

It’s impossible to watch Tampopo without feeling hungry, but it’s also hard to imagine someone watching it without having a good time and finding it very funny overall. It pokes fun at various Western movie conventions, becoming well-known for establishing itself as a “Ramen Western,” as opposed to the already established Spaghetti Western. Many of the other satirical references might be lost on those who aren’t familiar with Japanese customs, but Tampopo’s nevertheless funny and unique either way.

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22 ‘They Live’ (1988)

Directed by John Carpenter

You could call John Carpenter a horror filmmaker, especially seeing as what might be his two most well-known films – 1978’s Halloween and 1982’s The Thing – both fall into that genre, but he’s also much more than just a director who likes scaring viewers. Take They Live, for example, which combines action, horror, science fiction, and satire/comedy to thrilling effect, being an alien invasion movie – of sorts – unlike any other.

They Live revolves around a homeless man named John Nada who, one day, discovers a pair of sunglasses that lets him see the truth about the world around him. To be more specific, the sunglasses make clear certain subliminal messages seen throughout society, and also reveal that alien invaders are behind such messages, using them to control the human race. It’s far-fetched and thought-provoking in equal measure, being a compelling condemnation of the media/world powers while also just being very entertaining and gloriously action-packed.

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21 ‘Wild Tales’ (2014)

Directed by Damián Szifron

No one is safe from a movie like Wild Tales, which sets its sights on humanity’s worst impulses and mocks them thoroughly throughout a tremendously engaging comedy/thriller film that’s also an anthology movie. There are half a dozen stories told over the course of two hours in Wild Tales, and each concerns people in highly intense situations where something seemingly small spirals out of control, often because an element of revenge is involved.

It’s safe to say the tales are indeed wild, and the film overall goes to some places in some of its stories that may make certain viewers uncomfortable. Yet it’s clearly all heightened and intended to be over-the-top/satirical, so those willing to go into the film with something approaching an open mind should find a great deal to be entertained – and occasionally shocked – by.

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20 ‘PlayTime’ (1967)

Directed by Jacques Tati

PlayTime may have been made well over half a century ago at this point, but many of its observations about the chaos of everyday life still ring true. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that things have gotten progressively stranger and more “otherworldly” since the 1960s, with the unique world conjured in this film still feeling eerily true to life when watched today. Narratively, there’s not much to PlayTime, either – it’s more just something that wants to immerse you in an unusual way of life.

Monsieur Hulot – played by the film’s director, Jacques Tati – walks through an unusual version of Paris, and finds himself baffled, amused, and engaged by the otherworldly nature of such a Paris, much in the same way viewers will. It’s an intricate and often funny movie, serving as a more gentle and less angry satirical film than most, with all these qualities serving to make PlayTime one of the best movies of the entire 1960s.

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19 ‘Four Lions’ (2010)

Directed by Chris Morris

It’s hard to sugarcoat a description of Four Lions’ plot without making it sound quite shocking and provocative, because the film is those things… but with good reason. It unpacks certain issues incredibly prevalent and widely discussed throughout the 2000s – namely, terrorism, radicalism, and responses to such things – in a darkly hilarious way. This is because the main characters here are aspiring to become terrorists who will wage jihad through suicide bombings, only all are incompetent, to say the least.

It’s therefore easy to call Four Lions one of the most alarming and potentially controversial satirical films in recent years, but those open to viewing something dark and uncompromising might well find a great deal of value within. There’s an argument to be made that effective satire has to provoke and challenge the viewer to some extent, and no one could fault Four Lions for not doing those things, and then some.

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18 ‘One Cut of the Dead’ (2017)

Directed by Shinichiro Ueda

The overall storyline of One Cut of the Dead – taking the whole film into account – is so wonderfully unpredictable that spoiling it would feel like a cinematic sin (call it “sinematic”). However, giving an outline of the first act doesn’t feel like it crosses any boundaries. What someone unfamiliar with One Cut of the Dead should know is that this is a zombie movie about making a zombie movie, and that for a good chunk of its runtime, it consists of one unbroken take.

As things progress, the film overall gets considerably more interesting and clever, with later scenes that brilliantly recontextualize earlier moments that might’ve seemed a little strange at the time. To describe what One Cut of the Dead satirizes and/or makes fun of would be giving away some of its best surprises, but just know that it’s overall very funny, remarkably clever, and also unexpectedly heartfelt, overall feeling like an instant cult classic.

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17 ‘Starship Troopers’ (1997)

Directed by Paul Verhoeven

First and foremost, Starship Troopers can be enjoyed as a rather simple and satisfying sci-fi/action movie, with it providing decent entertainment value if one wants to view it as a blunt and potentially dumb flick. However, digging a little deeper into Starship Troopers reveals a biting satirical edge that makes this so much more than just a movie about an interstellar war between humanity and a race of giant alien bugs.

In telling a story about a fictional and futuristic war in space, Starship Troopers satirizes things like militarism and fascism in a manner that went over some people’s heads upon release, which is a sign that perhaps your satire is too subtle… which is strange, considering that when watched today, those things feel pretty apparent. In some ways, it’s a blunt and ridiculous movie filled with gore and melodrama, but in other ways, it’s shockingly clever and dark, ensuring Starship Troopers is one of the most surprisingly effective big-budget satirical movies of all time.

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16 ‘The Lobster’ (2015)

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

Taking place in a humorous depiction of a dystopian society, The Lobster is a bleak yet somewhat funny look at the trials and tribulations of finding love in the modern world. It does this by taking place in a future that seems even more desolate and strange than the world humanity’s currently living within. The central premise of The Lobster revolves around single people who are forced to find a partner, or risk getting turned into an animal of their choosing if they fail to do so within a certain amount of time.

It’s possible to call The Lobster a great – albeit quirky and strange – romantic movie, but it’s also a wonderfully effective takedown of modern love, with a warts-and-all approach to all the difficulties finding a partner entails. Some might consider it too uncomfortable or even despairing to find it genuinely watchable or entertaining in any way, but others might find themselves transfixed and engaged by all the strange twists and turns the film has to offer.

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15 ‘The Dinner Game’ (1998)

Directed by Francis Veber

A classic 1990s movie that has perhaps been a little overlooked in recent years, The Dinner Game is an incredibly funny and fast-paced farcical comedy. It clocks in at just 80 minutes long, meaning it feels as though it doesn’t waste a second telling its story. Said story revolves around some wealthy and snobbish people holding a dinner event where they compete to bring along the “biggest idiot” to said event, only for one participant to get more than he bargained for with his choice.

It received a U.S. remake in 2010 called Dinner for Schmucks, but that one should be avoided, especially considering The Dinner Game is so much better (and half an hour shorter to boot). This 1998 film is one of those great satirical films that’s extremely funny while also having a good deal to say about the complicated nature of class and what is and isn’t considered socially “polite,” meaning it’s a movie as eye-opening and thought-provoking as it is amusing.

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14 ‘RoboCop’ (1987)

Directed by Paul Verhoeven

In the years before Starship Troopers, Paul Verhoeven was also responsible for making some other great movies that weren’t always considered satirical at first. RoboCop belongs in this camp, because while it does work as a fun and action-packed futuristic movie about crime, law enforcement, and the idea of justice, it’s also darkly funny and incredibly satirical… all doing so in a way that some might not even realize or pick up on at first glance.

The main character of RoboCop is a police officer who comes close to dying after getting attacked by a gang of criminals, with his life being saved after he becomes the titular RoboCop; part man, and part machine. Verhoeven uses this premise to showcase scenes of extreme violence while also satirizing brutal tactics used by police in real life, as well as making fun of consumerism in a futuristic – and borderline dystopian – society. It’s a classic film in every way, though its sequels should be avoided.

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13 ‘Life of Brian’ (1979)

Directed by Terry Jones

The British comedy group Monty Python was known for their frequently ridiculous and sometimes controversial films/TV shows, and Life of Brian might well be the funniest and most boundary-pushing film the group ever made. It’s one of the best movies of 1979, and tells a story about a very ordinary – and not messianic – man named Brian, and what happens when he’s mistaken for Jesus Christ (he’s born at the same time as Jesus, after all).

Life of Brian attracted controversy upon release for purportedly making fun of Jesus Christ, but that’s not really what Monty Python targeted here. Instead, the film is more concerned with making fun of those who use religion for fraudulent or insincere reasons, as well as unpacking what can happen when vast numbers of people don’t consider something critically. It’s a pointed and provocative film, but its targets are fair, and it doesn’t deserve to be labeled anti-religious, the way it sometimes is.

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12 ‘Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’ (2006)

Directed by Larry Charles

For better or worse (it might well be a matter of opinion), 21st-century satirical movies don’t get much more iconic than the hilariously titled Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. It’s one of 2006’s greatest films, regardless of genre, and is a mockumentary about a journalist from Kazakhstan who travels to the U.S. to document life there, only to find it’s not at all what he expected it to be.

Writer/star Sacha Baron Cohen took one of his pre-existing characters from Da Ali G Show and went all-out in this movie version, having the character travel across America and expose all sorts of prejudicial attitudes along the way. It is crude, brutally uncompromising, and also extremely clever, though Borat’s willingness to go places that many other comedic/satirical movies would be afraid to go does mean that it might not be to everyone’s taste.

Rent on Apple TV

11 ‘Fight Club’ (1999)

Directed by David Fincher

Fight Club is up there with the most popular satirical movies of all time, and the fact it sometimes gets misinterpreted might mean it’s more effective as that kind of film than it initially seems (perhaps being comparable to Starship Troopers in that way). It’s one of many great movies directed by David Fincher, and focuses on a down-on-his-luck man – known simply as the Narrator – and what happens when he discovers someone – a man named Tyler Durden – who seems to be his total opposite.

The unlikely pair form a fight club, and from there, things spiral out of control, with violence and eventual anarchic revolutionary plans following. Fincher’s movies often have darkly comedic or satirical edges to them (as seen also in 2023’s crime/thriller movie, The Killer), but Fight Club is his most aggressively satirical. It targets the wrong kind of masculinity, radicalism, and consumerism, doing so in a way that still feels fresh, clever, and biting, all these years on from release.

Rent on Apple TV

10 ‘The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie’ (1972)

Directed by Luis Buñuel

Throughout his lengthy filmmaking career, Luis Buñuel made some movies that can indeed be called weird, including the infamous short (and silent) film Un Chien Andalou (made back in the 1920s). He was always pushing boundaries, long after the silent era was over, as is demonstrated by something like 1972’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.

Essentially, the film revolves around a group of seemingly well-off people who all sit down for some sort of dinner, only to find a series of unpredictable events interrupting them, ensuring the actual dinner itself never properly starts. Buñuel’s typical surrealist edge is on offer here, and it pairs well with The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie’s strange sense of humor and willingness to mock certain types of people in society. It’s a challenging and unusual film, but an admirably bold one, and a highlight from the 1970s.

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9 ‘Ace in the Hole’ (1951)

Directed by Billy Wilder

Of all the filmmakers who worked throughout the Golden Age of Hollywood, few were as skilled at implementing satirical elements into their films as Billy Wilder. 1950 saw him release Sunset Boulevard, which was so darkly comedic that most would call it a drama, though it had things to criticize regarding Hollywood and the way it treats certain individuals within it. His next film, 1951’s Ace in the Hole, on the other hand, was something that felt more blatantly satirical in nature, from start to finish.

In many ways, Ace in the Hole feels super ahead of its time, because while movies criticizing the media and bad-faith journalists might not feel too radical nowadays, such a topic was less well-explored 70+ years ago. It follows one man who’ll stop at nothing to get the most gripping story he can, even if it means exploiting – and perhaps endangering – a man who’s trapped in a cave. It likely paved the way for something like Nightcrawler, and did so 60+ years earlier to boot.

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8 ‘The Truman Show’ (1998)

Directed by Peter Weir

Toward the end of the 1990s, Jim Carrey found himself wanting to branch out from the sorts of comedic roles he’d become best known for. The Truman Show was an essential part of this transition, retaining some mild comedic elements (at least more than later films he starred in, like The Majestic and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), but also being pretty serious in parts. It made sense; the idea of a man living a life that was a lie – and one being broadcast to the whole world – is amusing, but the real-life consequences/implications of such a thing also aren’t ignored here.

Just as the aforementioned Ace in the Hole felt ahead of its time, so too did The Truman Show, which explored the ramifications of a reality TV show – and the obsession such a show could cause – before reality TV was even a full-on/popular genre. It’s an extremely clever and powerful movie overall, but whether the story can actually make for a good TV adaptation or follow-up (one has apparently been discussed) remains to be seen.

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7 ‘Brazil’ (1985)

Directed by Terry Gilliam

After making some hilarious and oftentimes provocative/satirical stuff with Monty Python, filmmaker Terry Gilliam began branching out on his own in the 1980s and beyond, directing his own films without the entirety of Monty Python involved. In the case of something like Brazil, it does co-star fellow Monty Python member Michael Palin, but it’s otherwise something (mostly) completely different.

It’s a science fiction movie and a relentlessly anxiety-provoking comedy all at once, feeling about as Kafkaesque as a story without a man-to-bug transformation can feel. The world in Brazil is desolate, nightmarish, and seemingly out to constantly ruin the life of Sam Lowry, the protagonist who cannot catch a break throughout an increasingly surreal 143-minute runtime. It’s all possibly too much, but maybe it needs to be, to highlight the madness of bureaucracy and the direction the world could be going; these things do serve to make Brazil an excellent work of satire.

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6 ‘Heathers’ (1989)

Directed by Michael Lehmann

One of the greatest movies of the 1980s – cult classic or otherwise – Heathers is a vicious, dark, and hilarious movie about the cutthroat nature of high school, gleefully making fun of various characters who all want to be popular, no matter what. It’s named after three girls – all named Heather – who form a group the film’s main character wants to be a part of. Things take a turn for the bleak when she realizes, via the “help” of another student, that she could get what she wants by murdering the trio of Heathers instead.

It’s one of those “they wouldn’t make this today” kind of movies, but that unapologetic quality is also what helps Heathers still feel vibrant and appropriately shocking, even 30+ years later. As far as dark comedies set in high school go, they simply don’t get much better than this, as it’s a savagely funny takedown of the sorts of (admittedly exaggerated) behaviors and thoughts exhibited by some real-life teenagers.

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