Hot Shots! | | Cast : | Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Kevin Dunn | | Director : | Jim Abrahams | | Studio : | Fox Home Entertainme | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | July 31, 1991 | | DVD Released Date : | September 07, 2004 | | Language : | Spanish (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 01, 2005 | | Summary | Ripping, fantastic, classic satire! 4.5 stars! | Content
 | I recall first watching this movie with my ex-friend and I took a trip down the coast. I wasn't really expecting much, pretty much just another slapstick, stupid comedy. But to be totally honest, this movie is really awesome! "Hotshots," ought to have you rolling around the floor in some instances. But first, a look at the "storyline."
Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) is the son of a famous air ace who died um...tragically in an F-15 crash landing and a terrible mix-up regarding moose hunting season. He decides to follow in his father's footsteps and become a flying wonder. This briefly sums up the main "story," but there are many other smaller stories including that of Pete 'Dead Meat' Thompson (William O'Leary) and Jim 'Wash Out' Pfaffenbach (Jon Cryer) who fights his own personal war against the terrible ailment of Wall Eye Vision. That aside, Topper Harley must find out what really happened to his dad and help both his friends and himself to achieve their dreams, even if it goes to ridiculous proportions.
You may think that this is a movie that merely takes the piss out of movies like "Top Gun," "Full Metal Jacket," and "Kickboxer," but...well, you're right. But the satire is clever (yet decidedly idiotic), and it certainly succeeds in making just about everything totally ridiculous. Don't expect realism, objectivenes and logic in this movie - that's not the point of it. It's there as a satire, and really is a classic satirical film of the 1990's. The appeal of "Hotshots" is the sheer stupidity and absurdity of many of the events that take place in the movie, and of course, if you've watched the movies that are being ripped off, you'll really laugh your head off.
The best character has to be Adm. Thomas 'Tug' Benson (Lloyd Bridges). He performs the role of a supposedly "hardened" war-veteran and a man who has seen much conflict with great gusto. It just goes to show that some vets get more violent, others more angry, some sad - and Benson just gets dumber. He's even better in the sequel, which is surprisingly better than the original (Hence the reason why this only gets 4.5 stars.)
All in all, "Hotshots," is a moronic, silly, yet extremely funny and witty slapstick comedy. If you like Monty Python style humour or just love classic slapstick, this movie is undoubtedly for you. Otherwise, if you like intelligent comedy, stay the hell away from "Hotshots." It's not meant to be intelligent, so remember that. But at the end of it all, it'll always be a classic slapstick, silly comedy! Buy it, rent it, steal it today! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 07, 2005 | | Summary | Is This Supposed To Be A Comedy??? Please Advise | Content
| In this movie we see Charlie Sheen whose real life antics used to be a lot funnier than this movie.In this piece of junk he plays Topper Harley who has to excorcise some demons from his past. Maybe he should have just taken them for a walk!!! This movie tries to be clever and funny and fails miserably on all counts.It didn't even raise a chuckle from me after a six pack of Miler beer when I found most things to be pretty funny. And just for the record I thought that the movies "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun" were junk too. I give this movie 5 stars because I at least got a buzz out of my six pack of beer. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 20, 2005 | | Summary | I've fallen for you like a blind roofer... | Content
| Topper Harley: That is the whitest white part of the eye I've ever seen. Do you floss? Ramada Thompson "It's Vicks, I have a cold.
Hot Shots is a classic. Yes it came out in '91, but there hasn't been a movie out like it since. It takes a bit after the likes of the Naked Gun in terms of "dry humor" and many may not really understand why people laugh. But people with a sense of humor will choke on their popcorn. From the makers of the unforgettable "Airplane" you know what to expect. The main character of course is Topper Harley,(Charlie Sheen) a perfect parody of Maverick from Top Gun, but the star of this movie is clearly Lloyd Bridges who made me laugh a gizillion times throughout the flick. Seeing him respond to a strategic attack on the enemy with a response of "I don't have a clue what you're talking about, not a ******* clue" will make some wet their pants ! Cary Elwes (Men in Tights, The Crush) is a great character for the movie too and has some of best comedic lines in movie history.
For those of you who don't appreicate stupid crazy comedies like Airplane, Men In Tights, Naked Gun, and of course Hot Shots 1 and 2, you need to open up and smile. Laughter is really good medicine, and we all could use a laugh with movies like this one! |
| Rating | | | Date | March 22, 2005 | | Summary | BUMBLING BRIDGES | Content
| As in all Jim Abrahams movies, HOT SHOTS milks the movie pool for jokes of all kinds...from TOP GUN to GONE WITH THE WIND; SUPERMAN to DANCES WITH WOLVES; THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS to ROCKY. It all works; it's zany, unsaturated hilarity all the way. Charlie Sheen stars as a rogue pilot whose father's tainted past has haunted him as well; Valeria Golino is hilarious in the scenes where her navel and stomach set new standards for erroneous zoning; Cary Elwes is properly smug as the handsome but not too bright hero; Lloyd Bridges is absolutely wonderful as the klutzy, remade admiral. Usual good guy Efrem Zimbalist Jr. even shows up as the bad guy in this one. There are the patented sight gags, particularly the ones going on in the background that make this movie one you could watch over and over and still not see them all. It joins THE NAKED GUN and AIRPLANE movies in the honor roll of zany spoofs. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 14, 2005 | | Summary | Extremely funny, extremely offbeat! | Content
| This kooky movie mainly parodies Tom Cruise's Top Gun, but pokes fun at Dances With Wolves, and many others. This is the story of Lt. Topper Harley (played by Charlie Sheen), who is trying to overcome the ghosts that haunt his life. But, the U.S Government needs Topper to fly in a secret mission to destroy a nuclear plant in Iraq. But, between evil capitalists, an insane admiral (Lloyd Bridges), and a band of strange and incompetent pilots, this is bound to be a far from normal mission! [Color, released in 1991, with a running time of 1:24.]
This is an extremely funny, extremely offbeat movie from that king of funny, offbeat movies - Jim Abrahams. If you are familiar with Mr. Abrahams' other movies, Airplane and The Naked Gun, then you know just what kind of zaniness he is capable of. Well, this movie lives up to the standards set by those other Abrahams hits.
The story is quite funny, with lots of slapstick, sight gags, and all around silliness. My daughter bought this movie with her own money, and enjoyed it immensely. In fact, the whole family did. We highly enjoyed this movie, and highly recommend it!
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