The Kentucky Fried Movie

If you think AIRPLANE is the funniest film ever (which it is) you've got a watch this. It feels more like Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker were just trying out some ideas rather than an actual film but it's got moments of brilliance.

This contains the funniest joke in any film ever! In the courthouse sketch a lawyer, presenting evidence invites the jury to hear a tape. And if you're familiar with AIRPLANE humour you'll know what's coming next..... he unwinds a roll of sellotape..... well I thought it was funny.

About half of this is pretty awful but that's all encased within the tedious Kung Fu section so you fast forward over that. The rest is just silly stupid tasteless raw fun. It's completely amateurish but so what.

This inspired me to watch Jim Abraham's AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON he made a decade later - wish I hadn't bothered - that was utterly, utterly awful.

Having laughed out loud and throughly enjoyed both Airplane! movies, I decided to see if the comedy genius trio of Jim Abrahams, Jerry, and David Zucker had any more masterpieces. When I discovered Kentucky Fried Movie, I rented it immediately. Well, I'm gonna say that this is my all-time favorite movie and there will never be a funnier movie made. The laughs in this film are non-stop.The whole entertainment and media industry takes a huge satiric beating, including public service commercials, educational films, and everything else imaginable. The best part is the very last scene when a young couple is getting quite intimate on the couch with the news on the tv in the background. The scene actually makes you stop and think that maybe tv isn't so "mindless" after all. Oh yes, and the theme song is a classic also.....I have it ringing in my head this very minute. If you want a comedy movie with an intriguing, serious storyline to go along with it, rent one of the Airplane! movies but if you don't give crap one about a plot and just want to laugh and not think, rent Kentucky Fried Movie.

Some of this is still jaw droopingly funny even if some isn't, but overall it's always trying something wacky so even if a sketch doesn't work it's not on screen for too long. Loads of nudity and tastelessness, this is a chance to see the Zucker's early work and still worth seeing.

There's something to be said for any movie that actually has a character named "Enormous Genitals". This is the first movie by the Zucker Brothers, the same geniuses that brought us Airplane, Top Secret and the Naked Gun movies. Haven't seen this yet? Pull up a nice comfy chair and get ready for 90 of the most hilarious minutes of film you can find. Cleopatra Schwartz is a riot, A Fistful Of Yen is the best spoof of Enter The Dragon or any Kung Fu film ever. The mock commercials are funny too. Anybody with Attention Deficit Disorder like me, this is the movie for you. It never stops moving, not for a minute. Henry Gibson's bit roll in this will have you laughing for days. But it's Samuel L. Bronkowitz's presentation of Catholic High School Girls In Trouble that will sit in you the longest. Best line: "Show me your/you're nuts! They certainly have.

Unlike many similar movies in this genre from the 70s, Kentucky Fried Movie is generally comprised of vignettes that do not simply resort to mean-spirited and base jokes, such as those about bodily emanations and racial or ethnic stereotyping. Rather, the skits tend to have an almost "sweet" tone about them. They employ humor and gags not intended to offend, though they might, if handled by other writers, as the content can be pretty darned provocative.

Coming from me, this should mean a lot. My very own mother is depicted in the most-memorable "Catholic High School Girls in Trouble" segment: "Mrs. Burke" -- from the 1968 POST Grape-Nuts commercial -- played here by Gwen Van Dam. (You can see the real "Mrs. Burke" at the Burke Family Grape-Nuts Archives)

As the son of a most virtuous Catholic mother, herself quite unlike the character in this film, I might easily be offended. Yet, in this case, I feel honored to see my mom's name roll in the credits of this clever flick.

Many of the skits are excellent. The much praised piece, "A Fistful of Yen" (the spoof on Bruce Lee's classic "Enter the Dragon"), is so well done, it truly merits the distinction, "a must see."

I would certainly recommend this film to any adult who is not likely to be offended by nudity and sexual themes. It's a lot of fun!

Adam Burke