I think the problem is that Citizen Kane was highly topical in its time, both in style and subject. If you didn't grow up watching newsreels, the parody of new

I think the problem is that Citizen Kane was highly topical in its time, both in style and subject. If you didn't grow up watching newsreels, the parody of newsreels is not going to mean anything to you. If you aren't used to thinking about Hearst as a very powerful and controversial man, a lot of the scenes won't mean much. They make a joke about how he is starting the Spanish American War, but they don't really explain it. So I think it loses something without the context.