HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Topper Harley is back hunting Saddam Hussein in the sequel to the very funny HOT SHOTS. To my taste it is not as funny as the first, but others may have a different reaction. Rating: low 1 (-4 to +4).
Being objective in writing a film review is nearly impossible even under ideal circumstances. Perhaps major film critics are able to be objective about the films they write about, but I doubt even that is true. My approach to the problem is periodically to remind people that I am writing about one person's experience with a film on one viewing--their mileage with a film may vary. Now, while this inescapable subjectivity is enough of a problem with a film such as HOWARD'S END, it is far worse with a no-holds-barred comedy such as HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX. Anybody builds up a resistance to a style of comedy eventually. My experience with Monty Python is that the earliest episodes I saw were, and still are, hilarious; episodes seen later lack that zing. Other people seem to have shared this experience: in spite of seeing episodes in a different order, they also find that what they saw before they became jaded are funny for them, but not so much what they saw later.
HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX is the latest in the sub-genre of film and television satires punctuated with rapid-fire gags. I would claim the sub- genre was invented in 1976 with James Frawley's BIG BUS. But the sub-genre came to be led by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker, who did an extended skit, "Fistful of Yen," in KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE (1977). They made the 1980 film AIRPLANE!, and the 1981 television series "Police Squad." One or more of the triple has been involved with many similar comedies since. Abrahams without the Zuckers directed BIG BUSINESS and WELCOME HOME, ROXY CARMICHAEL, then returned to the AIRPLANE! style with the original HOT SHOTS! and now HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX.
HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX begins by parodying, almost to the point of remaking, the first part of RAMBO III. However, the problem is not in Afghanistan but in Iraq, where Saddam Hussein is holding American hostages and several teams of would-be rescuers, including Col. Denton Walters (played by Richard Crenna), an old commander of Topper Harley (played by Charlie Sheen). (Trivia question: what was the inspiration for Col. Denton Walters's name?) Topper Harley leads the rescue attempt.
Of course, a good deal of the fun is noting the film and/or television allusions and/or rip-offs. There are nice bits borrowing from CASABLANCA, LADY AND THE TRAMP, and a particularly clever gag on APOCALYPSE NOW. But how funny is the film? I would say it is funnier than the "Naked Gun" films, but not as funny as AIRPLANE! or HOT SHOTS! But again, what is and is not funny is very subjective. I give HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. (Avoid the closing credits if you have not seen THE CRYING GAME.)
[Trivia answer: Richard Crenna played Walter Denton on radio and television in "Our Miss Brooks." His character was a dim-witted teenager who talked as if he had peanut butter on his tonsils.]
Mark R. Leeper att!mtgzfs3!leeper leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com Copyright 1993 Mark R. Leeper .
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