[9]

With double entendre’s out the wazoo and sight gags out the yin-yang, not to mention a shiny young Val Kilmer dancing and singing his heart out, Top Secret! wins me over. The film is from the makers of Airplane!, and as well-loved as that film is, I personally enjoy this one a lot more. The jokes come rapid-fire, ranging from low-key (“In women’s tennis, I always vote against the heterosexual.”) to openly outrageous (human beings land on a pigeon statue) and absurdly inspired (an underwater bar brawl). I chuckle throughout this film, but my favorite moment is in the middle of the movie, where Kilmer summarizes the outrageous predicament he and co-star Lucy Gutteridge have gotten themselves into. She responds with, “I know. It all sounds like some bad movie.” Then the two of them nervously gaze into the camera… As far as I’m concerned, film parodies don’t come better than this. With Omar Sharif, Peter Cushing, and Michael Gough.