Spaceballs (1987)

I've seen many a movie, but picking out just one to start with seemed to be a bit of a rough thing to do.  So, I'll go with a movie my wife and I both enjoy.  Future entries may be longer or shorter, depending on what I have to say.

Do I need to mention at this point that, yes, there will be SPOILERS most likely in this discussion?  The movie is 25 years old, so chances are, anyone reading this has probably seen it, and it's not like this movie has a complex plot to spoil for anyone, but this will be the general rule going forward so everybody knows.

Anyway, the movie for today is 1987's Spaceballs.

I basically figure all movies fall into two broad categories:  fun or meaningful/artistic.  Very few movies are both, and as long as you recognize which category any given movie you are encountering, you should be fine.  Steven Spielberg used to be able to do both, and Martin Scorsese still can, and off the top of my head, Wes Anderson and a few others also fit the bill.  Mel Brooks, however, is not one of them.

Fortunately, Spaceballs is flat-out fun.  It's highly quotable for people who want to throw out random one-liners and confuse their friends, features two SCTV alumni who, for very different reasons, do not make movies anymore, and, well, is the last really funny Mel Brooks movie.

Don't believe me?  Here are the movies Brooks directed post-Spaceballs.

Life Stinks
Robin Hood:  Men in Tights
Dracula:  Dead and Loving It

Small wonder he decided to remake himself through converting his older films into Broadway musicals.  Unlike another former Sid Caesar writer, Woody Allen, Brooks mostly seems to want to be funny in his work.  There's nothing too deep about the human condition in a movie like Spaceballs, unless you think over merchandising  of movies is a surprise of some kind.

Now, as much as I enjoy this movie, its not Brooks' best work.  Bill Pullman and Daphne Zuniga do OK, but neither seem to have the vigor for these sorts of roles that Gene Wilder or Madeline Kahn would be able to put in.  John Candy and Rick Moranis both are fine in their respective roles of Barf and Dark Helmet, and Brooks himself livens things up as evil President Skroob and wiseguy merchandiser/schwartz intstructor Yogurt.  What makes the movie work as much as it does is the sheer volume of jokes that get tossed out, some of which may not work, but don't worry, another one will be along in a second.

In fact, here are some nice touches the movie has that work for me:

Meta-touches, where the characters knows they're in a movie and sometimes you might accidentally capture the stunt doubles.   That's also Stephen Tobolowsky as the officer there, a character actor that gets around, perhaps best know as Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day.

John Hurt (painfully) reprising his role from Alien.

That self-same creature suddenly deciding he's Michigan J. Frog.

Renting the movie before its finished.

"Who made that man a gunner?"

And, of course, Ludicrous Speed.  Moranis screaming as Dark Helmet plunges forward and crashes into a wall when Spaceball One hits the brakes always makes my wife laugh.  I have a similar reaction to Nic Cage and some other guy doing the same in the middle of Raising Arizona.

Not everything works.  "Gone to plaid" always seemed a little odd to me, and I always thought Pizza the Hut was more disgusting than funny.

Of course, there's nothing overly deep here.  Lone Starr will get the girl, and everyone will live happily ever after, unless you're a high-ranking Spaceball on a planet with some unhappy apes.  But that goes without saying.