9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extremely funny, extremely offbeat!, March 14, 2005
This kooky movie mainly parodies Tom Cruise's Top Gun, but pokes fun at Dances With Wolves, and many others. This is the story of Lt. Topper Harley (played by Charlie Sheen), who is trying to overcome the ghosts that haunt his life. But, the U.S Government needs Topper to fly in a secret mission to destroy a nuclear plant in Iraq. But, between evil capitalists, an insane admiral (Lloyd Bridges), and a band of strange and incompetent pilots, this is bound to be a far from normal mission! [Color, released in 1991, with a running time of 1:24.]
This is an extremely funny, extremely offbeat movie from that king of funny, offbeat movies - Jim Abrahams. If you are familiar with Mr. Abrahams' other movies, Airplane and The Naked Gun, then you know just what kind of zaniness he is capable of. Well, this movie lives up to the standards set by those other Abrahams hits.
The story is quite funny, with lots of slapstick, sight gags, and all around silliness. My daughter bought this movie with her own money, and enjoyed it immensely. In fact, the whole family did. We highly enjoyed this movie, and highly recommend it!
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Mother of all Slapstick, September 19, 2002
After setting the police profession back 100 years with the "Naked Gun" movie, director Jim Abrahams decided to set his sights on the military with "Hot Shots." And the military will never be the same again.
What makes this movie so much fun are the sight gags that are in almost every scene. As with all good slapstick comedy movies, there are too many sight gags for you to be able to catch them all the first, and even second, time around. Every time you watch this movie, you will find another sight gag that you hadn't noticed before.
The movie also comes with a great comedic cast. It stars Charlie Sheen who for the first time really gets a chance to show how funny he can be (his previous comedy movies are pretty much forgettable). He is supported by Jon Cryer, Lloyd Bridges, and Cary Elwes. Each of these people have a great track record on their own when it comes to comedy. Together, they make the movie work.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Ripping, fantastic, classic satire! 4.5 stars!, August 1, 2005
I recall first watching this movie with my ex-friend and I took a trip down the coast. I wasn't really expecting much, pretty much just another slapstick, stupid comedy. But to be totally honest, this movie is really awesome! "Hotshots," ought to have you rolling around the floor in some instances. But first, a look at the "storyline."
Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) is the son of a famous air ace who died um...tragically in an F-15 crash landing and a terrible mix-up regarding moose hunting season. He decides to follow in his father's footsteps and become a flying wonder. This briefly sums up the main "story," but there are many other smaller stories including that of Pete 'Dead Meat' Thompson (William O'Leary) and Jim 'Wash Out' Pfaffenbach (Jon Cryer) who fights his own personal war against the terrible ailment of Wall Eye Vision. That aside, Topper Harley must find out what really happened to his dad and help both his friends and himself to achieve their dreams, even if it goes to ridiculous proportions.
You may think that this is a movie that merely takes the piss out of movies like "Top Gun," "Full Metal Jacket," and "Kickboxer," but...well, you're right. But the satire is clever (yet decidedly idiotic), and it certainly succeeds in making just about everything totally ridiculous. Don't expect realism, objectivenes and logic in this movie - that's not the point of it. It's there as a satire, and really is a classic satirical film of the 1990's. The appeal of "Hotshots" is the sheer stupidity and absurdity of many of the events that take place in the movie, and of course, if you've watched the movies that are being ripped off, you'll really laugh your head off.
The best character has to be Adm. Thomas 'Tug' Benson (Lloyd Bridges). He performs the role of a supposedly "hardened" war-veteran and a man who has seen much conflict with great gusto. It just goes to show that some vets get more violent, others more angry, some sad - and Benson just gets dumber. He's even better in the sequel, which is surprisingly better than the original (Hence the reason why this only gets 4.5 stars.)
All in all, "Hotshots," is a moronic, silly, yet extremely funny and witty slapstick comedy. If you like Monty Python style humour or just love classic slapstick, this movie is undoubtedly for you. Otherwise, if you like intelligent comedy, stay the hell away from "Hotshots." It's not meant to be intelligent, so remember that. But at the end of it all, it'll always be a classic slapstick, silly comedy! Buy it, rent it, steal it today!
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