How do movies like "Talladega Nights" go over outside America?

[bengangmo]

New Zealander here - I didn’t get a great deal of the jokes in TN, and didn’t see them as particularly funny for those that I did get. Some of the sterotypes I was probably missing maybe so couldn’t identify very well.

New Zealander’s definitely make fun of themselves all the time - just witness the great comedy of the likes of Billy T James or the (not so funny) Topp Twins

[Alessan]

Incidentally, in case you doubt Israelis are capable of making fun of themselves, watch this *Hahamishiya Hakamerit *(Chamber Quintet) sketch:

- YouTube

[Isamu]

@bengangmo

For this you could also check out the likes of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert or Bad Boy Bubby

Uhh, I don’t know that I’d recommend Bad Boy Bubby as a send up of Australian culture. :eek: For those that want to have a brief look:

YouTube e5kbgzlFyqs (link broken due to NSFW)

But if you had said Death in Brunswick, I could get behind that.

[alphaboi867]

@bengangmo

…New Zealander’s definitely make fun of themselves all the time - just witness the great comedy of the likes of Billy T James or the (not so funny) Topp Twins

Or Flight of the Conchords.

[Superfluous_Parentheses]

I have no idea how that movie went over money-wise over here in the Netherlands, or even if it was in cinemas at all, but I have seen it and I thought it was pretty funny.

Anyway:

It’s a comedy that pokes fun at a stereotype that I assume (rightly or wrongly) is pretty close to the stereotype non-Americans have of Americans-- materialistic, ignorant, goofily Christian and car-obsessed. (I thought it was hilarious, btw.)

Do people in, say, the UK “get” it? Are they surprised that Americans would make fun of themselves in this way? Do they think it’s totally serious, and only they get the jokes? Or what?

How exactly do you think we aquire those stereotypes? Anyone with a a passing interest in American movies and pop culture would get that it’s a completely over the top parody. It’s not like american sarcasm is subtle

Finally, are there films made in other countries that rip on (some of) their own citizens the way this one does?

Of course there are. Poking fun at the thick stereotypes of parts of your country is easy.