Top Secret!

Dir: David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker

1984

**

I've heard nothing but good things about 1984's Top Secret! over the years but it wasn't until 2016 that I actually sat down to watch it. Jim Abrahams, the Brothers Zucker, (AKA Team AZA) made Airplane!, Hot Shots!, Police Squad and the Naked Gun movies, I honestly thought I was in for a treat but to my dismay, I really didn't think much of it. There was much to enjoy, team AZA's visual skits were as funny as always in idea but I don't think the usually great comedy timing worked at all. Maybe it is a nostalgia thing, I didn't see it when it was relevant but that said, the Elvis Presley movies and old Cold War dramas weren't particularly current in 1984. Combining the two genres to spoof was an interesting idea but I'm not sure it always worked. Most of the bigger sketches are more puzzling than funny, the underwater saloon fight being one of the, It is an amazing scene that must have taken hours of planning and even longer time to film. It's not very funny though, just really surreal. The problem is that it is impossible not to compare it to AZA's other films, Val Kilmer is great at the Elvis stuff but the film lacks its Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges or Robert Stack. I'm probably sounding a bit picky and when remembering some of the jokes and scenes I find myself chuckling at the idea and I think that's my point, on paper it sounds really funny, the writing is brilliant, it just never quite lives up to it in the performances, direction or editing. It is a masterpiece compared to the current comedies the trio are working on, and after the billionth Scary Movie you do wonder whether they got lucky and why so many directors say they are only going to make a limited amount of movies in their careers. Pioneers of comedy for sure, I just don't think Top Secret! is as good as everyone says it is.