Best thing: There are so many wonderfully funny moments in this film, but I think I particularly loved the fighting girl scouts.
Worst thing: One great recurring joke is the "I chose the wrong week to quit smoking" gag. My problem isn't so much with how often it is repeated as the way the actor makes faces for the camera in one of the later iterations. Acknowledging the audience can make for good comedy, but it was out of place here.
I think I now enjoy this film better than I did the first time I watched it. The humour seemed jarring to me the first time around. But I think it's incredible how well this still holds up for an audience who may not know any of the pop culture references.
Most people who enjoy this probably haven't seen Saturday Night Fever, never mind the disaster film where they start playing guitar to a sick child.
Though endlessly quotable, Airplane's greatest strength is its visual humour. Wacky and hilarious even if it was sometimes too random for me to get as invested as I would have liked.
B+
Police Squad tv series (1982)
Excellent! I particularly love the street shoe shiner who "wouldn't know anything about that"... until he's given some money and then suddenly he's a world class expert on anything from crime to firefighting to surgery to existential philosophy.
Rewatching Naked Gun after this series, I couldn't help but find it had been diminished somewhat. So many of the gags are repeated. I still adore the movie though, but if you have the time - I'd say the tv series is actually preferable. (Though why not watch both?)
Top Secret! (1984)
Best thing: Much of the pleasure of this film comes from sheer absurdity. One scene in particular was fascinating since it was clearly performed in reverse and then the voices were recorded with the film reversed. It must have been very carefully choreographed.
Worst thing: Val Kilmer gives a really underwhelming performance here. I know that he can be funny, but here all the humour seems to occur around him. I also found the regular musical numbers often interrupted the comedy in a way that was frustrating.
The funniest stuff is in the background. Val Kilmer isn’t funny at all. The musical segments are generally pretty boring. I wanted to like this and there are aspects that are great, but the film as a whole did not appeal.
D+
Naked Gun 2 1/2 (1991)
Best thing: The escaped zoo animals become a running gag and one lion attack in particular had me in hysterics.
Worst thing: The film takes a little while to get started. The opening fancy dinner scene isn’t as strong as the many other sequences later in the film.
Once it gets going, the sequel to Naked Gun reaches similar heights to the first movie. Comedy sequels often struggle to find an interesting way to repeat the same joke, but there were still a lot of gags left from the tv series. Richard Griffiths really brings a lot of charm as the environmental scientist.
So many great sequences and, after a slow start, this does reach the same heights as the first movie.
Great fun.
A+
Naked Gun 33 1/3 (1994)
Best thing: While the humour isn't nearly up to the same standard as the last two films, there are still quality moments. For me, the best moment is the prison riot. It's a scene chock full of creativity.
Worst thing: I'm so glad our culture seems to have moved past this now, but I'm afraid Naked Gun 3 1/3 has a joke about how disgusting someone transitioning to female must be. It includes our protagonist throwing up. I know it's showcasing what an idiot he is, but the problem is that it's simply not funny.
A lot of the sketches here don’t work quite as well as before. The film’s timing as a whole seems off and somehow the film seems a little overly goofy. Everyone is now playing up to the character, and even our protagonist seems to do so more than usual. It’s like they forgot to include straight man characters for Nielsen to play off. Also I guess Anna Nicole Smith was big back then, but her scenes really don’t work. I can’t say if that’s entirely her fault though. The fact that she is being objectified seems to be the joke in all her scenes, so she never really has much to work with. (Actually she has a lot to work with *insert boob joke here*.... Jeez, was that necessary?)
But despite that, much of what we enjoyed in the first two movies is still here. They’ve pretty much exhausted the gags from the tv show by this time, but in the right scenes this film still gets pretty inventive. Nothing like on the same level as the other two films and often a little cringey, but you won’t regret checking it out to complete the trilogy.
C+
