Hot Shots!

I get a kick out of these hit and miss comedy tributes to recent films. The more sight gags and ridiculous comments they can make, the more fun. I think the classic for this will always be the first "Airplane" movie. In this one, Charlie Sheen reprises Tom Cruise's character from "Top Gun." When the eggs started frying on that girl's body, I nearly fell off my chair. Not to mention that the plot itself and the mission involved are absolutely ridiculous. Except for the fact that they could not be anything else. The inimitable Charlie Sheen with his over-confidence and his somewhat bewildered look is the perfect choice for this. He has that handsomeness that works in this role. If you want to laugh out loud, take a chance.

Really funny movie spoofs Top Gun, Dances With Wolves and others. In the centre is Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen), who is incapable of flying because he thinks his dad is responsible for the death of his co-pilot.

But one day he is called back into the squad, as there is a scheme going on about some new airplanes. Oh well, never mind that.

Funny stuff all the time, too much to talk about really. I love the 'Dead Meat' character, when he is taking his last flight, claiming he knows the answers to global warmth and Kennedy's assasination. That really cracked me up.

One of the best spoofs ever. 7/10.

Here's the basic formula for dissecting this film: If "Airplane" spoofed a single film (in this case "Top Gun") instead of an entire genre (disaster films), you'd get "Hot Shots".

For a basic plot summary, "Hot Shots" basically spoofs the movie "Top Gun" with any and all types of sight gags included. Charlie Sheen, Valeria Golino, Cary Elwes, and Lloyd Bridges provide the starring roles, and are all hilarious in every scene they carry.

For some people, this type of humor is childish and won't elicit much more than a simple chuckle. For others (myself included), though, the sight gags and hilarious physical comedy will have you in tears of laughter. The chemistry between Sheen and Golino is incredible, Elwes is at his maniacal best, while Bridges basically steals the show as the hilarious old general who always seems to save the day in the end.

This is a film that is kind of hard to explain in print. You really just need to sit down and watch it to determine if it is the right kind of comedy for you. You'll know within the first few minutes.

Jim Abrahams' first solo comedy effort Hot Shots! is a smash comedy that has many, many laughs and is as silly as anything Abrahams has done with his uoltra successful team of ZAZ (Zucker Abrahams and Zucker) which made Airplane, Top Secret, The Naked Gun and The Kentucky Friend Movie. Hot Shots deserves a place with them.

Charlie Sheen plays a top gun type of charater that is trying to go against his father's reputation and still be able to fly and fight and all. The movie however doesn't try and go with the plot, which is always good in these movies, and it succeeds in bringing silly, goofy laughs just by having Lloyd Bridges act totally and utterly hilariously insane, or in just having a pilot with moose antlers. Deadpan. A

If you are going to watch "Top Gun", please watch that film first before this one. It will make this film much funnier plus, Top Gun has not aged well and will seem cheesier than normal if you watch it last.

This is the Abrahams & Abrahams style ("Airplane", "Naked Gun") parody of the 1986 Reagan era military action film, Top Gun. It is hilarious and nothing is sacred. It is probably one of the ten funniest films I have ever seen, but nothing is ever going to top Young Frankenstein or Blazing Saddles. I'll just say, don't think that if you find this film in the middle of the night and say "this will be a good oldie to fall asleep to" that you will do any such thing. I made that mistake.

Charlie Sheen plays the troubled pilot Topper Harley that is the equivalent of Tom Cruise's character in Top Gun. Cary Elwes is his rival. In this film Topper Harley's love interest is his therapist, Ramada (Valeria Golino), instead of a physicist and Top Gun instructor. Because then they'd have to inject some science into this film and it would ruin everything.

The jokes are just non stop. Sight gags are everywhere. There is a welcome home banner that actually says "Welcome Home Banner". And there is a send up of the food scene in "9 1/2 Weeks" (1986) that will have you never looking at olives quite the same. And Lloyd Bridges does a hilarious rendition of a clueless and completely incompetent Admiral, with one particularly great line to the villains of the film - "You risked the lives of some damn fine pilots... and that's *my* job!"

Notice that Jon Cryer costars in this film 12 years before he and Sheen starred in the TV series "2 1/2 Men". Is there a story there? Maybe.

At any rates laughs are hard to come by these days. For absolutely stress free film watching that is wall to wall laughs with no chance of an Oscar worthy moment, this film still fits the bill.