The 10 Best James Bond Parodies, Ranked According To IMDb

When it comes to parody movies, they should be held to a lower standard in terms of rating, as anything in the 6.5 range could easily be considered the gold standard of the genre. James Bond has been a favorite character amongst comedy actors and screenwriters to parody for going on 60 years now, but they generally weren’t worth audiences’ time until the ’90s.

Any Bond parody released before the ’90s was widely negatively received and were more like pale imitations passing themselves off as “parodies.” But thanks to the likes of Rowan Atkinson and Mike Myers making the world laugh with a simple facial expression, they revolutionized the Bond parody subgenre.

10 Austin Powers In Goldmember (2002) – 6.2

The positive reception of each Austin Powers movie got worse and worse with each consecutive release. And with Goldmember being the third and final movie, it has, by far, the lowest score of the series.

But despite its lower score, there’s still a lot to love about the threequel, most of which are all of the new characters, including Beyonce as Foxxy Cleopatra and the titular villain. And the film has one of the most creative meta jokes of any movie of the 21st century. The intro sees Steven Spielberg directing Austin Powers’ biopic, with none other than Tom Cruise playing Powers.

9 Johnny English Reborn (2011) – 6.3

Just like many great movie trilogies, the second film in the Johnny English series is the best, but only by a hair, as the other two sit at 6.2. Despite its lower score, Rowan Atkinson’s take on parodying Bond is one of the best and most satisfying.

The movie focuses more on the character than it does on the gadgets, eccentric villains, or over-the-top set pieces, but it works. The contrast between Atkinson’s deep, calm voice and his stupid actions is the big appeal of most of Atkinson’s work, along with his facial expressions, and it’s all on full display in Johnny English Reborn.

8 Get Smart (2008) – 6.5

Get Smart is almost like if Michael Scott made his own version of a Bond movie in the world of The Office, just like how Threat Level Midnight is a dopey half-parody of a detective movie.

Though Maxwell Smart isn’t quite one of Steve Carell’s best roles, it’s still an enjoyable ride full of goofiness that The Office fans have come to expect. The movie is filled with scenes of Carell accidentally repeatedly shooting himself with a pocket-sized bow and arrow, swallowing darts, and dancing over laser beams with a mouse in his pants.

7 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) – 6.6

Though still a parody of James Bond movies, and still featuring Dr. Evil as Powers’ arch-nemesis, who is the perfect parody of Bond villains, the second movie goes deeper into the surrealism of the series. Vanessa is now a fembot controlled by Dr. Evil, and there’s now a clone of the villain who is one-eighth of the size and called Mini-Me.

The whole movie is absolutely absurd, and it was maybe a little too absurd for fans of the original. But regardless of the score, it was still loved enough by audiences for it to be one of Mike Myers’ biggest box office hits. The Spy Who Shagged Me grossed an astounding $312 million, which was almost 10 times its budget.

6 Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) – 6.7

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is the sequel to a critically acclaimed movie, has a huge superhero-scale budget, and embraces the 007 tropes as much as it makes fun of them. And that’s why the series is held to a higher standard than the rest of the James Bond parody movies.

Though there are plenty of merits to the movies in the mid-6 range, like Get Smart and Goldmember, and they are loved by their fanbases, The Golden Circle is largely seen as a disappointment despite having a higher score. Where the first movie improved upon some James Bond tropes, many felt that the sequel had bloated action and it lost its satirical edge. But it’s still fun to watch for the Statesmen and that epic opening set-piece.

5 OSS 117: Lost In Rio (2009) – 6.9

Despite being considered one of the best Bond parodies, very few people will have heard of the OSS 117 series. It’s a French parody and Lost In Rio is the second of three movies. Though his name might not be the first on everyone’s list of known actors, the French actor who portrays Agent 117 is Jean Dujardin, an Academy Award winner known for The Artist and The Wolf of Wall Street.

And even though Dujardin very much looks the part of a charming and charismatic super spy, the humor comes from how narrow-minded he is when it comes to race, religion, and gender, much like Bond himself. But in Lost In Rio, it’s played to brilliant comedic effect.

4 Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (1997) – 7.0

The very first Austin Powers movie, International Man of Mystery achieved something completely unprecedented. Where every Bond parody that came before it had a relatively thin plot and was making cheap jokes that Bond movies themselves were already poking fun at, the 1997 movie elevated the sub-genre.

Austin Powers wasn’t simply a parody with some funny James Bond references, it was a time-traveling movie with as many elements of sci-fi as spy thriller influences. Not only that, but Powers had his own characteristics, way of speaking, and a fashion sense that was so far removed from 007, which made the genre so fresh.

3 OSS 117: Cairo, Nest Of Spies (2006) – 7.1

Nest of Spies is the first in the OSS 117 series, and it remains the best, so far. Not only is it hilarious and far superior to most of the Hollywood alternatives at the time, but it has an exotic setting and the jokes are clever.

Interestingly enough, the OSS 117 novels actually predate Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel by four years, but the 2006 movie and its sequels aren’t exactly faithful to the source material. If they were, they would be far more serious and similar to the newer Bond movies. Instead, they’re spoofs of 007, both the character and the films.

2 That Man From Rio (1964) – 7.1

There are countless James Bond parodies from the ’60s, but they all simply retread the tropes of Bond movies by giving love-interests names that are innuendos and mimicking the villains, and there’s nothing beneath the surface. They all have shockingly negative IMDb scores except for one, That Man From Rio.

The movie is so much more than simply a Bond spoof, as it has striking cinematography, takes place in some beautiful locations, and is full of captivating action scenes. The movie was even nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards and was one of the main inspirations behind Indiana Jones, according to Roger Ebert.

1 Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) – 7.7

Kingsman: The Secret Service is full of Bond parodies, but they can also be seen as homages. The bulletproof umbrella and the poison-filled fountain pen could both easily have shown up as gadgets in the Pierce Brosnan movies.

What The Secret Service succeeds at doing, more so than the other parodies, is making fun of James Bond tropes while still being compelling and a rather great spy movie itself. It uses the cliched tropes to build a whole universe and cinematic franchise. It has the brawny henchman, the theatrical antagonist, and, of course, the outrageously evil plots.