Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Movie review - "Spaceballs" (1987) **1/2

Mel Brooks once mentioned in an interview that this was one of his most popular movies because it involved a fairtale and a romance. I think this popularity happened more on video and DVD because on initial release it wasn't that huge; I remember watching it when it came out and being underwhelmed, despite being the target market - Flying High had set a new bar for spoofs which this didn't match. Also in a weird way I feel it came along too soon - if it had arrived say a decade later it would have cashed in on the full Gen X nostalgia for the trilogy, whereas in 1987 Star Wars felt a little old hat.

Still, there's lots of fun here, in particular Rick Moranis as Darth Vader, and also Daphne Zuniga is once again a really pretty, winning heroine (ever since re-watching The Sure Thing my appreciation for Zuniga has shot up - she was excellent). John Candy, Joan Rivers and company aren't exactly of the level of Harvey Korman, Madeleine Kahn and co but show a lot of spirit.

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