I love movies and TV, and I love satire.
Thus, I absolutely love the hit YouTube series, Honest Trailers. The guys at Screen Junkies never fail to deliver hilarious, brutally honest commentary on all of our favorite (or least favorite) shows and movies. Everyone's got their own personal favorites, and I am no exception. Here are five Honest Trailers that will leave you stitches:
5. Boyhood
This Richard Linklater directed film is considered to be one of the most ambitious movies of all time. Filmed over the course of 12 years, the film chronicles main character Mason's life from his days as a little boy to him going off to college. This Honest Trailer points out that, while the movie is great and incredibly beautiful, it won't work if it was shot over the course of a couple of months like most movies. Jon "Epic Voice Guy" Bailey is given a day off in this video (which has a hilarious payoff at the end), as most of the trailer is done to the tune of a parody of the film's signature song, "Hero" by Family of the Year.
Most Honest Line: "Watch him grow, from a cute kid to an emo. He just kinda walks around and... never really does anything else"
4. The Wolf of Wall Street
Wolf of Wall Street is film that offers endless possibilities for a satire. Thankfully, Screen Junkies hit it out of the park with their Honest Trailer for this movie. The trailer keenly points out that Leonardo DiCaprio is basically playing a corrupt, drug-fueled version of himself, and that the film contains many popular tropes used in Martin Scorsese's other movies. The trailer also makes fun of the film's excessive use of the F word, as they try to cram it in every other sentence. The trailer also makes an argument against the accusations that the film "glorifies" Jordan Belfort's life, pointing out that the film still portrays Belfort as a terrible human being who rightfully loses everything. The trailer ends perfectly, with a montage of actors and celebrities that somehow won Oscars before Leo did.
Most Honest Line: "Experience the film critics f****** slammed for glorifying the lifestyle of a corrupt Wall Street stockbroker, even though he's a f****** miserable, wife-beating, drug addict who loses his business, family, and fortune. They do make quaaludes look f****** awesome, though."
3. Fifty Shades of Grey
The only positive thing that crosses one's mind when watching the Fifty Shades of Grey movies is knowing that Screen Junkies will annihilate them in Honest Trailers. The Honest Trailer for the first movie rightfully calls out the franchise for being a ripoff of Twilight that manages to be even worse (which makes sense, since the story started as Twilight fan fiction). The trailer also chastises the film having very tame sex scenes, even though it's an adaptation of a book where the only draw is raunchy sex scenes. By the way, if you thought Gilbert Gottfried reading lines from the book was funny, Jon Bailey puts him to shame at the end of this video.
Most Honest Line: "Worst date night ever. I'm never getting laid."
2. La La Land
Everyone loves a good twist, and the twist in this Honest Trailer is done to perfection. We all know of the infamous ending to the 2017 Academy Awards, where La La Land was announced as the winner for Best Picture, only for it to be discovered minutes latter that presenter Warren Beatty was given the wrong envelope. The award was than quickly given to the real winner Moonlight. Of course, Screen Junkies go all in on this, as it spends half the video covering La La Land, only to switch to Moonlight near the end. Might seem like low hanging fruit, but its incredibly well done.
Most Honest Line: "From the filmmaker behind the movie about the jazz guy who likes jazz so much he ends up alone (Whiplash), comes a movie about a jazz guy who likes jazz so much he ends up alone! Man, what did jazz do to Damien Chazzelle?"
1. Shrek
Come on, you knew that Shrek was going to get an Honest Trailer at some point. This trailer sheds light on the fact that the film is clearly mocking classic Disney movie tropes, even though it uses those tropes itself. Add references to the infamous Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life memes and EpicLloyd from Epic Rap Battles of History singing a parody of "All Star", and you've got my personal favorite Honest Trailer.
Most Honest Line: "When [Shrek's] gas based way of life is threatened, he'll set off on a quest with: Donkey: a character who is sadly more popular than Eddie Murphy these days."
