Spaceballs (1987)

Oh, Mel Brooks!
Classic, hilarious Mel Brooks's hilarious movie. I've seen it a hundred times but I could never get sick of it. Great movie. I'm glad it's on DVD.

An absolutely awesome classic
Spaceballs, by far, is considered one of those classic comedies. Anyone in my generation who grew up watching Star Wars will love this movie. Spaceballs primarily draws from Star Wars, but it has other sci-fi sequences in there as well, such as Aliens and Planet of the Apes. Granted the latter are simply given a scene to joke on, but they still had their moments.

If, by some miracle of existence, you haven't seen Star Wars, you probably shouldn't watch this movie because it won't make as much sense and it will just seem totally random. Spaceballs has an extremely funny and witty script, which is what one expects from any Mel Brooks product. Most people who enjoy this film will find the jokes memorable and easily quotable, such as "they've gone so fast they went plaid"; for something that goes beyond light speed. Other moments, like when they actually take out a copy of Spaceballs the movie DURING the movie to see what happened in a prior scene was absolutely hilarious to me. In retrospect, now that we have DVD players, it will be even funnier to watch the movie when you get to that scene. I picture having children in the future asking me what VHS was, kind of like kids of my generation wonder what 8-tracks are.

The casting for the film was perfect as well. Casting Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet was sheer genius and I'm glad he did this movie. I can't think of a more absurd acting/actor combo to parody Darth Vader. I will say at this juncture that the only character that I didn't really like was Mel Brook's as the President. For some reason, most of his scenes in this role were pretty dry; the main humor came from the interaction of everyone else when he wasn't around. And I don't think anyone will ever forget the capture of the Stunt Doubles when Dark Helmet was chasing after Lonestar and Princess Vespa.

All in all, this is a classic comedy film. I think it can easily be enjoyed by more than one generation, not like a lot of comedies being released today like American Pie. I think that will fall under the stamp of purely generational humor, which isn't the sign of a timeless comedy. I know it's on point right now and might be for a little while, but when compared against something like Spaceballs there just isn't any competition. Not to mention I think the humor and script are more well written in Spaceballs. If you're a fan of Mel Brooks' films, or a fan of Star Wars, you really can't go wrong with this parody.

Too Much, Over the Top!
"High Anxiety," "Blazing Saddles," and "History of the World: Part I" were classics. "Spaceballs," though lathers the corn on too thick and it loses appeal. The good news is that the handsome star finds out he is a prince, gets the once-stuffy princess, and Planet Spaceball does not get Planet Druidia's air.