Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993) - Laugh your pants off

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+ Best Big Hit Movie of the Year + Best Spoof of the Year  

 

Star Sheen fires off a shocked rooster from a bow on this dead-pan hilarious poster for Jim Abrahams' Hot Shots! Part Deux

Harley Topper has gone into exile somewhere in Asia, but he is brought back home to the States for an important mission: Save the soldiers, who were supposed to save some American hostages of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, but who has instead also been taken hostages themselves.

 

Hot Shots! Part Deux is written by co-writer/co-producer Pat Proft (Ringo (1978, TV-movie)) and great Wisconsinite filmmaker, co-writer/director Jim Abrahams (Airplane! (1980)). It is the sequel to the pair's huge hit Hot Shots! (1991).

This comedy hits the mark: One almost cries out in laughter, and everything just seems tighter than in the already hilarious first film: The gags, the references, the guest appearances (including Rowan Atkinson (The Lion King (1994))!) and the howlingly funny scenes. Charlie Sheen (Scary Movie 3 (2003)) is a riot in Hot Shots! Part Deux.

 

Related posts:

Jim Abrahams: 1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Hot Shots! (1991) - Abrahams and Co. present another rip-roaring spoof comedy

Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Airplane! (1980) - The deadpan/spoof/crazy-comedy classic!

 

Watch a 2-minute clip from the movie here

 

Cost: 25 mil. $

Box office: 133.7 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 5.34 times its cost)

[Hot Shots! Part Deux was released 21 May (USA) and runs 86 minutes. Sheen was paid 4 mil. $ for his performance, and worked out voraciously to beef up for the part. Shooting took place from October 1992 - January 1993 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #2, behind Sliver, to a 10.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#5-#5), grossing 38.9 mil. $ (29.1 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Abrahams returned with An Introduction to the Ketogenic Diet (1994, video documentary), ...First Do No Harm (1997, TV movie) and theatrically with Mafia! (1998). Sheen returned in Deadfall (1993). Hot Shots! Part Deux is rotten at 56 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hot Shots! Part Deux?

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) - Newell, Curtis and a stellar cast's romcom triumph

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+ Best British Movie of the Year + Best $ Return of the Year: 55.84 + Best Mega-hit Movie of the Year + Best On-screen Couple of the Year: Hugh Grant & Andie MacDowell + Most Profitable Movie of the Year: 93.88 mil. $ range + Best Romcom of the Year

The main characters of Mike Newell's Four Weddings and a Funeral are squashed together on this bright poster for the film

At a wedding our awkward hero, an indecisive, English heartbreaker, meets the one and only, who is a warm-blooded American. But, but, but ...

Four Weddings and a Funeral is written by Richard Curtis (Trash (2014)) and directed by great British filmmaker Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco (1997)). It is an extraordinarily well-greased romcom; well-written and acted, - and directed with an enormous flair.
Hugh Grant (Restoration (1995)), Andie MacDowell (Mighty Fine (2012)), Kristin Scott Thomas (Nowhere Boy (2009)), John Hannah (Overboard (2018)), Rowan Atkinson (Keeping Mum (2005)) and Simon Callow (Creditors (2015)) as the festive Garth, who passes away, are all outstanding.
There's poor sound in a few scenes, and the film maybe repeats its own conventions a bit too willingly, but these are minor asides to one of the best and most widely loved romances of the 1990s.

Related posts:

Mike Newell: 2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) - Newell straddles too much in fair action-adventure 

2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) - Newell's Márquez adaptation is a disaster

Donnie Brasco (1997) - Newell's fantastic, authentic gangster tale

1994 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: Best UK movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 4.4 mil. $

Box office: 245.7 mil. $

= Blockbuster (returned 55.84 times its cost)

[Four Weddings and a Funeral premiered 20 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 117 minutes. The script was reportedly inspired by Curtis' having attended 65 weddings in 11 years and at one of them turned down a proposal, which he forever regretted. Grant was considering giving up acting before he got the part, which became his mainstream breakthrough. He was paid 40k £, with the other co-stars getting 17.5k £ per head. The tight budget meant that wedding extras wore their own garbs, and that shooting had to be completed in 36 days, taking place in England, including London, from May - July 1993. The US distributor objected to the film's profanity and tried, unsuccessfully, to have its title changed. The film opened in 5 theaters to a 138k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #1, spending a total of 6 weeks in the top 5 (#1-#2-#3-#2-#5-#5), grossing 52.7 mil. $ (21.4 % of the total gross). The US distributor, on realizing the film's popularity, spend 11 mil. $ on marketing it there. It grossed 27.8 mil. £ in the UK, and still stands as the highest-grossing UK film of all time. It was nominated for 2 Oscars: It lost Best Picture to Forrest Gump and Original Screenplay to Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary for Pulp Fiction. The film won 1/4 Golden Globe nominations, 4/11 BAFTA noms, a César award, was nominated for 2 David di Donatello awards, won a National Board of Review award and many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, in line with this one. Newell returned with An Awfully Big Adventure (1995). Grant returned in Sirens (1994), MacDowell in Bad Girls (1994). Four Weddings and a Funeral is certified fresh at 96 % with a 7.64/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Four Weddings and a Funeral? 

Johnny English Reborn/Johnny English Returns (2011) - Atkinson will make you laugh till your belly aches

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Rowan Atkinson is back in a visibly intense way for Oliver Parker's Johnny English Reborn

QUICK REVIEW:

Great Britain's master spy gets dragged out of his sanctum in Tibet to stop a coming attack on China's prime minister in London, committed by a terrifying blend of KGB, CIA and MI7 known as 'Vortex'!

Some of the gags don't work, and English's new sidekick (Daniel Kaluuya (Kick-Ass 2 (2013))) doesn't add much or make much of an impression.
But Johnny English 2 still creates so many laughing fits in its audience (SPOILER I especially loved the chair scene and the scene of the attack on hot Gillian Anderson's (The Last King of Scotland (2006)) mother) that it becomes a big success as the spoof comedy that it is. - In fact, it might even be a tad better than the original Johnny English (2003).
Hamish McColl (Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)) has written it, based on story elements by William Davies (How to Train Your Dragon (2010)), and the structure is damn near perfect. Oliver Parker (The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)) has directed it. 
Comedic genius Rowan Atkinson (Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)) is phenomenal in it. Johnny English Reborn is a must for any Atkinson fan.

Rosamund Pike attending to Rowan Atkinson's leg in Oliver Parker's Johnny English Reborn

Watch the hilarious trailer for the film here

Cost: 45 mil. $
Box office: 160 mil. $
= Big hit
[Atkinson and Johnny English are something the North Americans still don't really get; humor sometimes doesn't translate well, and he seems to be one example here: The film only grossed 8.2 mil. $ (5% of the total gross) in the US (following a meager 3.8 mil. $ opening weekend.) Atkinson appeals more broadly in several other countries which made the film a success nonetheless. But a third movie, or a wholly different comedy with Atkinson, hasn't materialized since, unfortunately.]

What do you think of Johnny English Reborn?

Blackadder Goes Forth - season 4 (1989) - A low-point WWI-trenches adieu

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From the left: Tim McInnerny, Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry, Tony Robinson and Hugh Laurie in costume for BBC's Blackadder season 4

QUICK REVIEW:

Despite its gathering of all the Blackadder regular actors for the first time in the same season; Rowan Atkinson, Miranda Richardson, Hugh Laurie, Tim McInnerny, Stephen Fry and Tony Robinson, - this is the laxest season in the (a)historical sitcom's four runs.
Metal fatigue and endless repetitions in the argument-routine have now become staples in Blackadder, which has recommenced in a WWI-trench in Goes Forth.
The style is unchanged; vulgar and yet sophisticated British satire, and the show still has quite a few laughs to its credit, e.g. in episode 2, Corporal Punishment, wherein George (Laurie) defends Blackadder in a capital punishment trial. In episode 4, Private Plane, an actual flight scene is included, along with funny Rik Mayall (Guest House Paradiso (1999)) as the womanizer Lord Flash-heart.
In the sixth and last episode, Goodbyeee, SPOILER everyone perishes in a rain of bullets, rather befitting the show.
This fourth season has reminisces of the American war-sitcom M*A*S*H* (1972-83), but the problem here is that Atkinson, - the title character and jet engine of the comedy, - walks in circles here and isn't terribly enthusiastic or energetic, unfortunately.

Related reviews:

Blackadder the Third - season 3 (1987) - The royal silliness reaches its peak in fun and wits
Black-Adder II (1986) season 2 - More historic, English tomfooleries from BBC
The Black Adder - season 1 (1983) - Historic fooleries with Rowan Atkinson and co.
Rowan Atkinson: Bean/Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie/Bean: The Movie (1997) or, A Bean in America

Rowan Atkinson may look amusing here, but his level is not up to snuff overall in Blackadder Goes Forth

This is a recently made mock-trailer that presents the fourth season as a 'poignant war epic' and does so pretty well

Do you agree that the fourth season is the series' weakest?
Why/why not?

Blackadder the Third - season 3 (1987) - The royal sillines reaches its peak in fun and wits

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Rowan Atkinson, once again, as Blackadder

QUICK REVIEW:

At this the third season in the historical, - although hoax-historical as well, - BBC sitcom, we have moved forward to 1760, where, once again, another Blackadder descendant, Edmund, is serving a British ruler; the uncannily inane prince of Wales, who is played to hysterical amusement by the then very facially vivacious Hugh Laurie (House M.D. (2004-12)).
Besides him and Blackadder, who is again played by the masterful Rowan Atkinson (Bean (1997)), season 3 only has two other regular characters; butler Edmund's helper Baldrick (Tony Robinson (Big Top (2009)) also does splendidly) and Mrs. Miggins, a coffee-shopkeeper.
It does the show well that it has rid itself of the unfunny ladies of the second season. The episodes also seem less vulgar and with greater focus on the lingual ingenuities, which sometimes threaten to totally run away with the show, but the fun during these creativities is constant.
The plots often drone over monetary problems and the incompetence of Baldrick and the prince of Wales. In Ink and Incapability, (all the titles are concocted as amusing word-plays that comment on the plots), Edmund is forced to try to write a dictionary. In the season's last episode, Duel and Duality, both Frenchmen, actors and Scots (again) are duly ridiculed, as Atkinson plays a double-role as Blackadder's cousin McAdder from the highlands. - Magnificent!
SPOILER At the very end, the prince dies in a duel, and Edmund dabbles himself to the much-coveted title.
This is the most down-toned and best season in the series.

Related reviews:

Rowan Atkinson: Bean/Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie/Bean: The Movie (1997) or, A Bean in America
Black-Adder II (1986) season 2 - More historic, English tomfooleries from BBC
The Black Adder - season 1 (1983) - Historic fooleries with Rowan Atkinson and co.

Watch a funny, 3-minute sample from the 3rd series here

Do you agree that this is the best season of Blackadder?
Any other British sitcoms that are a barrel of laugh?

Black-Adder II - season 2 (1986) - More historic, English tomfooleries from BBC

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Rowan Atkinson again brings laughter as a new Black-Adder in the series' second season

QUICK REVIEW:

The BBC sitcom has in its second season scrolled forward in time to 1558, and the new protagonist is Lord Edmund, who is supposed to be Prince Edmund 'Black Adder' from the first season's great-grandson. - A fairly inconsequential, but nevertheless cunning way to continue the show, (as Black-Adder himself would have put it), - and an important one, as the original protagonist died in the last episode of the first season!
The second season is more flippant and sexually focused, (some would say vulgar or coarse), in its humor, involving such things as dildoes, fake breasts, vomit, prostitution and other auspicious subjects for its historic comedy. Another considerable change is that the new Edmund isn't the underdog outsider we knew in the first season: Here he is arrogantly ruling, with his helpers Baldrick and Percy, but always under the grace of Queen Elizabeth I. Unfortunately, Miranda Richardson (The Crying Game (1992)), who plays the queen, and Patsy Burne (Les Misérables (1998)), who plays her 'nursie', are two of the series' worst detractors; both are loud, hysterical and unfunny women.
The first season was apparently, although it is hard to imagine when seeing it today, too expensive for BBC, and the second season was therefore made under heavy economization; it has virtually no expensive scenes.

The opening title in the show's second season

Again there is only few episodes, so I will quickly sum them up one by one:

In the first episode, Edmund falls in love with someone who he thinks is a male servant, (homosexuality is still - as in the first season - a frequent subject.) 
In the wickedly funny Head, Rowan Atkinson as Edmund wears a sack on his head and acts as one of the persons, he had the bad fortune of executing prematurely.
In Potato Tom Baker has a brilliant role as Captain Rum, a traveling explorer.
In Beer, Edmund hurries between a drinking contest and a dinner with some confused, puritanical relations.
In the last episode, Chains, Edmund and the queen's helper Melchett get kidnapped by an evil German, but Edmund heroically saves the day, and the season ends with a wonderful dialog between Edmund and the queen:
Edmund: "Life without you was... as a broken pencil."
The queen: "Explain"
Edmund: "Pointless"
The series is still naughty, intelligent, funny-as-hell, theater-like television of the highest, British carat.

Related reviews:

Rowan Atkinson: Bean/Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie/Bean: The Movie (1997) or, A Bean in America
The Black Adder - season 1 (1983) - Historic fooleries with Rowan Atkinson and co.

Rowan Atkinson is still a find as the now arrogantly ruling lord Edmund

Watch the funny, original teaser trailer here

How do you find season 2 compared to the other seasons?
How can we get Rowan Atkinson out of his country-stupor and back to doing comedy?

The Black Adder - season 1 (1983) - Historic fooleries with Rowan Atkinson and co.

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Stylized poster for Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson's The Black Adder

QUICK REVIEW:

The Black Adder is the first season of the long-running historical BBC sitcom, made upon the success of Fawlty Towers (1975-79) by writer-creators Richard Curtis (Notting Hill (1999), writer) and Rowan Atkinson (Bean (1997)).
The series is, in short, a barrel of laughs. The way that it stomps on and around Anglo-Saxon history, culture and traditions, - and the English language none the least, - is irreverent madcap fun, and it gets combined with a boastful pomposity, black humor en masse and actors with superb skills in mimicry and comedy; first and foremost, of course, Atkinson himself, but also Brian Blessed (Hamlet (1996)) as Richard III is phenomenal. The character of Black Adder is abominably ugly and hilarious; Atkinson's job here is a triumph for BBC and for England!
The plot in the show is often incoherent and always gaga. Because the season only spans six episodes, I will delineate their plots very shortly here:

1. The ever-scheming protagonist decides against the alias 'Black Vegetable' in the first episode and goes ahead with 'Black Adder' instead.
2. In Born to Be King, a primitive, Scottish duke comes visiting.
3. Prince Edmund 'Black Adder' is appointed bishop of Canterbury.
4. In The Queen of Spain's Beard, Black Adder tries to play homosexual so as to avoid matrimony with the horrid, Spanish queen, but instead ends up marrying a little girl!?!
5. Pest!
6. Black Adder joins a gang, who end up poisoning the entire royal house and themselves. SPOILER Everyone dies!
The anarchy of the show is redeeming fun, and is basically about the royal outsider, Edmond 'Black Adder', who wishes so badly to be king, but never succeeds in his many ploys to achieve his goal.
The edition that I enjoyed seeing was the official BBC release, but it badly needed a restoration, and I think it a scandal, if BBC still hasn't awarded this grand series proper care in that regard.
Another critique is that Black Adder is choreographed and filmed as if it were a recorded theatrical play. This is no great impediment, since smiles and laughs erupt so frequently, as one sees the series, but it still is a rather lax concept for a visual medium.

Here are some more faces of the singular Rowan Atkinson as Black Adder. Click to enlarge

Related review

Rowan Atkinson: Bean/Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie/Bean: The Movie (1997) or, A Bean in America

A 1 minute clip from the episode The Queen of Spain's Beard; unfortunately without Atkinson

What do you think of Black Adder, the first season?
What's your favorite part/line of the show?

Bean (1997) or, A Bean in America

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+ 3rd Best Movie of the Year

+ Breakthrough Actor of the Year: Rowan Atkinson + Best Comedy of the Year + Best Family Movie of the Year + Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year + Best Mega-Hit Movie of the Year 

If this poster doesn't amuse you at all, Mel Smith's Bean movie probably isn't for you

Mr. Bean of the UK flies to Los Angeles, America, where - through a case of mistaken credentials - he is being sent to function as an English art expert at the return of the famous painting Whistler's Mother to a fancy art gallery, staying with the curator's family for the duration of the stay.

 

Bean is written by Richard Curtis (Yesterday (2019)) and Robin Driscoll (Dramarama (1987, TV-series)) and directed by great English filmmaker Mel Smith (The Tall Guy (1989)). It is the first of two movies based on the Bean character of the same-titled 1991-95 sitcom.

Rowan Atkinson (Johnny English Reborn (2011)), the only man who can play Bean, is a great comedian! This is reaffirmed here. And Peter MacNicol (Ally McBeal (1997-2002)), who so often bounced around projects that were not really good enough for him, finally is in a good film here, and he is rock solid as Bean's well-meaning, increasingly desperate American ward.

Bean is a gaga laugh fest for silly people of all ages everywhere. If you can count yourself among this group, you will surely love every minute of it. Despite criticisms that it is too long, (it only runs 90 minutes), I find it tightly edited and enjoyable throughout, with a real warmth and irreverence to it that is uplifting and joyous.
Howard Goodall (The Black Adder (1982-83)) has made an appropriate disaster movie-like score for the film, which is also packed with big music hits from its time. Bean is a really good time and holds many, many laughs. 

Related posts:

 

Mel Smith: Top 10: Best family movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess



Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 18 mil. $
Box office: 251.2 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 13.9 times its cost)

[Bean was released 3 July (Australia) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place from September - December 1996 in England, including in London and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #10 to a 2.2 mil. $ first weekend in 242 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #2 and in 2,015 theaters (different weeks), grossing 45.3 mil. $ (18 % of the total gross). It was the 4th highest-grossing film of the year in the UK. Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. Bean returned in sequel Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007). Smith returned with High Heels and Low Lifes (2001). Atkinson returned in 10 video and short appearances prior to his theatrical return in Maybe Baby (2000). Bean is rotten at 43 % with a 5.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Bean?