Discuss: Blatant Movie Rip-Offs
Filed under: Fandom
Back in 2000, a week after it was out, my roommate and I went to see Road Trip. It was to be the funny cap to a long day -- she had thrown me a daytime surprise party, and we rushed to the theater once everyone left for a little movie fun. At the time, Tom Green was still pretty popular, and it seemed like the right end to the day. But while everyone else giggled, I grew more and more incensed. I had seen this film before. But the first time around, it didn't have a weird guy tonguing a mouse -- it had a super-cute pair by the names of Ivy Miller and Wyatt Tripps. Road Trip was a barely disguised copy of Overnight Delivery, which had come out two years before.
Maybe if it was five or ten years after the other, I would've let it slide as some sort of tribute. But even with a slightly different spin, it was too similar -- the loyal boyfriend, the fear of cheating, the needing to get back a letter sent to the girlfriend down South, the troubled road trip, the swiping of a vehicle, the violence needed to get the package back ... It was like Todd Phillips was given an outline of the first and just filled in the blanks in a different way.
It's far from the first time a movie mimicked a previous feature without being a remake, and sadly, it won't be the last. In a world full or remakes and reimaginings, what non-remakes drive you nuts? What blatant movie rip-offs make your head spin?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-31-2009 @ 5:20PM
Joe said...
Comedy Central has been playing Overnight Delivery pretty regularly and I remember thinking when I watched it, it was basically Road Trip but obviously done a few years before.
Still a fun movie to watch just to see the two stars well before their star status rose to where it is today.
Two movies that I instantly think of that are rip-offs of movies from the past are actually two current movies
a) "The Goods" a rip-off of Robert Zemeckis' "Used Cars"
b) "Gamer" a rip-off of the Schwarzenegger film "Running Man"
Now I know Gamer hasn't been released yet, but that's what I instantly thought when I saw the preview for the first time.
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8-31-2009 @ 8:11PM
NP said...
Ditto. The first time I saw the Gamer trailer, I thought to myself: "I've seen this before. It was called The Running Man." Even though the premises are a bit different, there are some big similarities.
8-31-2009 @ 9:39PM
MosquitoControl said...
Nah.
I mean, yes, the theme is there with Running Man, but it's certainly tweaked enough by being combined with Surrogate.
And it's all very reminscent of Death Race, which was a remake of Death Race 2000, which had similar themes, which are actually somewhat old.
It's not enough of a rip off for note.
9-01-2009 @ 11:35PM
jeff said...
Come on, The Good and Used Cars are nothing alike other than the backdrop of a used car dealership. Thats like saying Inglorious Basterds is the same as Schindler's List.
Both may be comedies but completely different styles, stories, and seriously how is the setting the only thing in common and you think its a ripoff?
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8-31-2009 @ 5:38PM
moviechump said...
How about The Fast & The Furious. It plagiarized Point Break more than when I plagiarized the encyclopedia word for word on my 7th grade paper on George Washington. Just replace bank robbing with High end Audio theft and replace surfing with street racing. Replace Lori Petty with Jordana Brewster. Replace Swayze with Vin Diesel. Then finally replace Keanu with Paul Walker...wait they are the same person, I forgot. IT'S THE SAME MOVIE!!!
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8-31-2009 @ 5:46PM
buddha_stalin said...
Mac and Me is a pretty huge rip-off of E.T.
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8-31-2009 @ 7:12PM
Moviezzz said...
Thank you for this. I thought I was alone in being really bothered by how much ROAD TRIP stole from OVERNIGHT DELIVERY. Since few saw OVERNIGHT, I thought it would always be that way.
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8-31-2009 @ 8:13PM
NP said...
I remember the first time I saw American Beauty I thought it was just Happiness with the sharp edges filed down...
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8-31-2009 @ 9:02PM
mshea413 said...
The Hangover and Dude, Where's My Car
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8-31-2009 @ 9:38PM
taybo20 said...
BLATANT, Forrest Gump and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I actually walked out of the theatre feeling somewhat ripped off...
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9-15-2009 @ 5:02PM
KodyRs said...
I totally agree with Forrest Gump and Benjamin Button. The funny thing is they are both written by the same person, so the guy just rip offed himself.
8-31-2009 @ 10:29PM
Gouletor said...
Let's not forget the animated remake of Doc Hollywood, Pixar's Cars
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8-31-2009 @ 10:44PM
greg said...
X-Men 2 and Star Trek 2
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9-01-2009 @ 12:58AM
Quentin said...
Disturbia and Rear Window
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9-01-2009 @ 9:19AM
NP said...
That one spawned a lawsuit even.
9-01-2009 @ 9:21AM
NP said...
About the original source material, but still...
9-01-2009 @ 1:34AM
Chelsea said...
Orphan and The Good Son.
When I first saw the trailer in the theater, I only had to see a few shots before I turned to my friend and said, "This is just The Good Son with a girl."
Apparently, Eric D. Snyder agreed.
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9-02-2009 @ 8:07AM
Valentine said...
three dukes and three dukes the begining,aside from being a lousy movie both had the same exact plot...double rip off there.
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9-01-2009 @ 12:28PM
jim said...
Do we count all the Pixar/Dreamworks keeping-up-with-the-Joneses crap? Antz/A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo/Sharktale. etc.
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9-02-2009 @ 3:23AM
Tenenbaum said...
I have to say that I was pretty disappointed in "Reservoir Dogs" after seeing "City on Fire".
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