So, we arrive at a point in the list where a parody of Star Wars is higher and better scored than the current Star Wars movies. There is a reason for that and its that this is an enjoyable flick compared to the other movies. This has Mel Brooks written all over from the very feel of the movie to the Writing, Producing and Directing credits as well. There were two other writers those being Ronny Graham and Thomas Meeham. Want to guess who it starred? Well surprisingly its Mel Brooks with some others namely - Bill Pullman, John Candy and Rick Moranis. Other names to mention are Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, George Wyner and the voice of Joan Rivers. It was release back in 1987 and from the budget of $22.7m it went onto make $38.1m at the box office which in todays values it pennies back then wasn’t that great either. It had a mixed reception when release with it liked and hated in equal measures. Looking now IMDb has it at 7.1/10 and tomatoes at 57% so about the same really.
This is where I usually run through the plot but I am not sure I will with this one. This is a parody of Star Wars and there are many elements of the first few films that Brooks plays up with many of his typical humour. Chewie is now John Candy dressed like a big dog and is called Barf. Brooks himself plays Yogurt who is playing up the Yoda character he also plays a villain in the character President Skroob. There are also many names from comedy will Rick Moranis, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten and Joan Rivers. All playing character very obviously mock version of those in the Star Wars movies. With Bill Pullman playing a mix of Solo & Luke. The story is not the important thing here as you should be aware of the original work to appreciate the tongue in cheek comedy of the mocking Brooks does. So, this maybe the only movie without a plot for you but what I am saying is more important.
There was a period in my life when I went completely off of parody movies. The way I saw it was that you are copying something great and poking fun at it because people loved the original version you can make a profit from the quality you are imitating. So ¼ of the work with a great way to make money. So, this one and men in tights held very little interest for me, when it came out. The fact that this now has a cult following and is still loved and hated in equal measures means its not going to be easy for me to score it, let alone to write out why I’ve got the score I have. If I am honest on reflection, I cannot think of another score than the 73 it has from me. There are points in this movie where I genuinely laughed out loud and others where you look at cheap plastic effects and shake your head questioning why you’ve bother and that really sums up this movie. Its good but rough around the edges. Its not a great movie that you would recommend to all that you meet but once you’ve met someone and spent a month or two working out their sense of humour and if they have one you would recommend this movie. The risks are they will hate it but then you can explain that some people love it and the film has a cult following and people are obsessed with it. Or if they love it you can point out that it just scrapped over the 50% line on rotten tomato’s and that is because you are evil and want to prove a point.
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