National Lampoon's: Loaded Weapon 1

When Sgt Billy York is murdered because she found out too much in relation to drug smuggling, Sgt's Colt and Luger are put on the case. Colt is a psychotic burnt out cop and Luger is 48 hours away from retirement and not looking to get killed for anyone. They investigate and find a sinister plot by General Mortars to bake cocaine into cookies and get girl scouts to distribute it.

All spoofs run the risk of being very hit and miss. The best ones (Airplane, Naked Gun) simply have more hits than misses and keep the gags none stop. Here the ratio is slightly more hits than misses, but not by much. The plot is irrelevant, suffice to say that, as well as spoofing buddy cop movies, it also has specific spoofs that work reasonably well (although the Basic Instinct one has lost a bit with time). The film manages to have a slow start but still be funny, even if many of the jokes you will know from other films of the genre). I love these silly spoofs so I was laughing but if you're not really a fan of spoofs then you might struggle with this one.

The cast is pretty good and is crammed with so many famous cameos I wondered how they did it! Jackson was looking for a bit of variety after several acclaimed roles with Spike Lee and he found it; he shows a good comic touch and he delivers his lines really well - I doubt he'd do this type of film now though. Estevez spoofs Mel Gibson really well and he too isn't afraid to send himself up. Lovitz is almost as annoying as Joe Pesci and does a good impression, while Ireland is nice to look despite not having that many laughs and the fact that she cannot act for sh*t. Curry and Shatner ham it up something awful to good effect and are funny. The sheer volume of cameos (of quality) is amazing and almost all of them bring laughs. Charlie Sheen, JT Walsh, F Abraham Murray, Denis Leary, Phil Hartman, Bruce Willis, Whoopi Goldberg (although she'll appear in a window these days), Paul Gleason, Joyce Brothers and a blink and you'll miss him Christopher Lambert - very impressive line up really!

Overall this is not one of the best spoof around but it does stand out as one of the strongest of the National Lampoon series (especially nowadays!). It is very hit and miss but the majority are hits and they come fast enough to cover the gaps. Silly references or silly dialogue delivered straight - it made me laugh and that's why I've seen it several times. Not great but funny, and all you probably want when you sit down to watch it.

Back in the 80's and 90's spoofs were good. Airplane, the Naked Guns, the various Lampoons were all cool. Now the spoofs are all vulgar and tasteless.

Loaded Weapon 1's primary material is Lethal Weapon. The two stars: Colt (Estevez) and Luger (Jackson) are supposed to be Riggs and Murtaugh. But like most spoofs they interwove other cop classics from the time: Basic Instinct and Silence of the Lambs.

The jokes are silly, some of them are run ons but that's what you expect. If we could only return to the era of good satires.

After watching this movie for an umpteen number of times, the gags have run a bit dry, but I remember first seeing it and I could not stop laughing. The cast is full of grade A celebrities, including Sam Jackson before he really hit big. There are some classic gags. It's all done very low-brow, but in a way that had me rolling with laughter. Go see it! You'll have a great time!

My score: 8 (out of 10)

Sergeants Jack Colt (Emilio Estevez) and Wes Luger (Samuel L. Jackson) team up to investigate a drug ring that's using Wilderness Girls' Cookies as a distribution network.

National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 is a 1993 parody film that spoofed the plethora of buddy cop films that came about from the 80s. Initially conceived by Don Holly during his tenure at Walt Disney Pictures, the script was developed by Gene Quintano until Disney opted for another action spoof titled Buddy Cop (that ultimately never got made) putting the film into turnaround where it was quickly picked up by New Line who had acquired the National Lampoon license and intended to make a comedy franchise out of the concept. The film opened at number one at the U. S. box office making $28 million against an $8 million budget and $51 million in total grosses when accounting for international numbers. Despite it's success, critical reception was tepid with many negatively comparing the film to the highpoints of Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker with Hot Shots Part Deux releasing the same year to considerably greater commercial and critical success. Loaded Weapon 1 does score some decent laughs, but it's also often uneven with a lot of floundering gags it refuses to let go and sometimes squandering its supporting cast.

In terms of casting, Emilio Estevez and Samuel L. Jackson do a solid job of channeling the archetypes established by the Lethal Weapon series and have decent chemistry with each other. Jackson probably gets a little less freedom to spoof his character with only a few specific moments dedicated to spoofing Roger Murtaugh while Estevez' Colt is given way more time dedicated to his parody than he should especially with a running gag about Claire from his past that starts out amusing only to be brought back multiple times to diminishing returns. The movie goes at a quick clip at only 76 minutes (not including credits) and it never feels like it's lingering on any gag for too long. There's also some amusing appearances by the likes of Tim Curry and Jon Lovitz the latter of whom spoofs the illogical reasons of why Leo Getz stays around past his point. But despite sporting a solid cast the movie does sometimes squander its resources particularly in its inclusion of Dennis Leary who seems like with his manic and intense delivery he'd be perfect for a spoof like this but is killed as soon as he's introduced while William Shatner stays around despite not being all that funny.

Loaded Weapon 1 is the kind of movie that defies a conventional review because it's only concerned with making you laugh without regard to cohesion or narrative. I laughed more than I didn't but not as much as I wanted to. Loaded Weapon 1 has some decent moments but it also pales in comparison to predecessors and contemporaries like Dragnet and the Hot Shots films (which it actually name drops) making Loaded Weapon 1 a movie that's an inoffensive if unmemorable rental.

As several others have pointed out - this is not a very good film. However, it's still pretty darn funny. It's a B-version spoof film, but I still laughed more than on average.

When you don't have terribly gifted writers and/or actors you have to rely on throwing in as many jokes as possible in order to try and get more laughs. And a surprising amount of them are actually very funny (albeit extremely silly, and stupid).

Favourite bit: when Estevez and Jackson are driving in their car and suddenly realize they're being followed - by two guys wearing ski masks, sitting in the backseat of the car.

If you know what you're getting yourself into, Loaded Weapon is an underrated little gem. If nothing else, it's fun to see Sam L. Jackson before he became a "serious" actor. [7/10]