Review of Airplane! (1980) by James W — 22 Jun 2014

In the last ten minutes some of the jokes fizzle away and in general the ending doesn't live up to the madness before, but Airplane! is one of the funniest comedies ever starring the master Leslie Nielsen, the king of deadpan and slapstick humour, a man of comedic authority who is sorely missed. In Airplane!, a flight and it's crew fall sick and the only man that can save this plane is Ted Striker, an ex-pilot.

That's it for story but who gives a damn that's it not of high quality storytelling when the comedy, characters and performances are more than high quality and WILL leave you in stitches. Visual gags, verbal puns, slapsticks, purposeful continuity errors and funny montages are effortlessly delivered, in the opening listen to the people on the speaker systems arguing, all the double entendre and spoofing and parodying of real life is masterfully executed, but for me the funniest part of the whole movie is when the hostess plays guitar for the sick kid, everyone on board sings along and smiles at the camera breaking the fourth wall in spectacular style, all whilst the sick kid is having a fit. It's absolutely hilarious and I almost lost my breath from laughing too hard. As well as having Leslie Nielsen doing what he does best, Lloyd Bridges from Hot Shots! joins in the fun as tower supervisor McCroskey, Bridges' quotes are some of the funniest I've ever heard, and watch closely when he's handling cigarettes. Let's put is simply, every single character in this movie is funny, and the cast behind them are tremendous, you will enjoy Airplane!