Rating: 3/5
Cult Movie Challenge 2024 | 19/52 | USA Up All Night
The popcorn you're eating has been pissed in. Film at 11.
With that cold open, we enter the film’s disconnected and zany world. From news reports to exploitation, the movie is a collection of spoofs and satirical renditions of pop culture media.
The result feels like an American Flying Circus and about half as clever.
Pisces: it's a good time to pull the plug on that machine that's been keeping your daughter alive for the past six months.
This movie is John Landis’ breakthrough as director. The success of this movie is what landed him the Animal House gig.
This movie is also the first written by Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker. This movie allowed them to write and direct Airplane!
Donald Sutherland as the clumsy waiter
While no one is on their A-game, the movie had me laughing occasionally. As a 70s movie, there are several references that I don’t get, but that might make them funnier.
The longest-running bit is a kung-fu parody. It’s mostly racism as the joke, so it drags down the experience. Similarly, one “joke” is a guy walking into a circle of black men and yelling the N-word.
While I mostly like this, I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone. Just watch Airplane!