In the late eighties, Mel Brooks found himself unable to resist the temptation to skewer the Star Wars films with his 1987 hit SPACEBALLS.
Rather than the genre bending humor of his best films like "Blazing Saddles" in which he turned the traditional movie western on it's head, SPACEBALLS finds Brooks riffing along with direct knockoffs of every Star Wars character.
Daphne Zuniga is Princess Vespa (Leia?) about to marry a very sleepy groom that she's been betrothed to in order to bring peace to the galaxy.
She's soon running out of the church with her own C-3PO knockoff Dot Matrix, voiced by Joan Rivers.
Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and his loyal sidekick and Chewbacca lookalike Barf (the always funny John Candy) take on the quest to find Princess Vespa while trying to avoid Pizza the Hut, Jabba's cheese oozing relative.
Rick Moranis has some of the best moments as Dark Helmet, sporting a huge headdress even Darth couldn't manage.
This was a big hit for Brooks, but I never found it that funny. Mildly amusing, absolutely.
Brooks himself has some fun moments as President Skroob (Brooks backwards, "How come no one ever told me my ass was so big!") and of course Yogurt, spouting "Use the Schwartz!".
But it all runs out of gas long before its 96 minutes has expired.
Look for John Hurt in a funny take off of his "Alien" birth sequence, a clever "Planet of the Apes" reference and plenty of great physical comedy from Moranis.
Spaceballs ranks as lesser Brooks, but we'll give it a mild C to go along with its laughs.
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