TOP SECRET! STARRING VAL KILMER DIRECTED BY JERRY ZUCKER, DAVID ZUCKER AND JIM ABRAHAMS. A PARAMOUNT RELEASE
A DAVID WILCOCK REVIEW (C)1997 DAVID WILCOCK
After the sucess of 'Airplane!', the Zucker brothers made this spy spoof starring Val Kilmer. Set in Germany, the film centres on Nic Rivers (Kilmer) an American who is in Germany to play a concert. However, the only reason the German officials are holding this contest is too distract the German public while they hatch a devious plan. A group of rebels know about this, and what to stop it. Rivers joins them to help them out.
There isn't really much of a plot in this film. What there IS a lot of though is action, music and lots of laughs. This is just as funny as Airplane! The film is so incredbly silly, you have no choice but to enjoy it. All of the jokes are well thought, with many more hits than misses. The songs (espeacially 'Skeet Surfin', the title song of what can only be described as 'Clay Pigeon Surfing) are well performed by Kilmer (that's his singing voice!) and some of them quite funny. The supporting cast do a good job aswell, reinforcing the gags. You will even see Michael Gough in this film, (now known as Alfred in the Batman films) doing a bit comedy, including delivering ones of the films funniest lines, 'Oh No!'
Thankfully, the film is short, and it's over before you even know what has happened. As soon as one gag comes, another one pops along, so there's never any dull bits. The film does peter out towards the end, but you've laughed so much before hand you won't notice. There also dosen't seem to be an proper ending, the film just comes adruptly to an halt and goes to the credits.
Overall, this film is great fun. It's more violent than Airplane!, but it's done in a comedy style. Kilmer is very funny, and pulls the gags off well. So, if you want to hire out a spoof film, forget High School High (1996) or The Naked Gun 33 1/3, The Final Insult (1994), and hire this out instead. It's great fun!
OVERALL RATING=***1/2 out of ***** REVIEW BY DAVID WILCOCK
(You will find this review on the WMP Archive on Monday, 25th August at http://www.btinternet.com/~wilcock)
============================= DAVID WILCOCK david.wilcock@btinternet.com http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/9061
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