He Said/She Said #17: Hot Shots
by: Brad Sturdivant and Kristy Sturdivant
He Said/She Said is a bi-weekly column where a male and female reviewer from the site team up to debate the merits of a particular film.
HE SAID
You either like spoof movies or you don’t. For me, the key to a good spoof movie is to pick a particular film (STAR WARS, LETHAL WEAPON, TOP GUN) and go with it. When you start switching from movie to movie, you get in trouble. For an example of exactly what not to do, watch any movie involving Jason Friedberg and/or Aaron Seltzer. Almost all of the ridiculous spoof movies of late involve these two “writers” and that’s why the art of the spoof movie has disintegrated into nothing. It’s times like these that make me long for the days of HOT SHOTS.
Obviously, HOT SHOTS is a rip of TOP GUN. As much as I like TOP GUN, if there ever was a movie that needed to be made fun of, it’s TOP GUN. HOT SHOTS takes some over-the-top swipes, but manages to create its own “story” that at times makes you forget you’re watching a spoof. But at the end of the day, it is a spoof movie so the jokes come flying at you with little or no rhyme or reason. You’re not meant to laugh at every single attempt at humor, but when the movie’s over, you should look back on it and realized you laughed more than not. I don’t see how anyone can make it through this film and not laugh at least a dozen times.
HOT SHOTS was also the moment we realized that Charlie Sheen has some comedic timing to him. Of course, he now has to rely on that to make a living, but back in the early 90’s, he was known more as a drama/action star than a comedian. As for relevance today…well, I’m not too sure. I think some of the jokes (Eagle river!) hold up well, but some falter from being dated and copied too many times since. I can still pop it in the DVD player and get a kick out of it, but then again, I was a preteen boy when I first saw this and back then, it was hilarious.
SHE SAID
I hate parody movies with a passion. I find them to be unoriginal and unfunny and I’m not sure why they are such a staple in the movie industry. There’s no doubt they have been overdone as of late, but even the early one’s like HOT SHOTS or NAKED GUN are juvenile and lame with no redeeming qualities. I can’t understand why the movie watchers would want to subject themselves to two hours of slapstick nothingness.
HOT SHOTS is not the worst parody ever made but it’s up there with the rest of them. Making fun of a movie line or character is one thing, but to rely on this tactic for an entire film is just too much. Throwing one-liners or physical humor at the audience at such a fast pace not only gets tiring but eventually becomes nothing more than stupid. I can’t think of a single moment where I chuckled and I remember having to force myself to stay awake because it was dragging on so long…which is bad when a film only lasts 84 min. long. If I could make one plea it would be for people to stop watching this genre so we would’nt have to sit through SCARY MOVIE 24 or DISASTER MOVIE 3D. It’s bad enough when the original movie sucked but to have to watch a spoof of a crappy movie is just criminal and I can’t decide who I’m more annoyed with- Hollywood for churning them out or the American public for continuing to pay for it.