It has been almost 40 years since Airplane! Flew into theatres and comedy history. Regarded as an epic film of the genre, most of us have seen a clip or two from the film. I recently just missed the special flashback film presentation at the theatre, so I said, why don’t I take the time to watch it at home.
Since I am just about as old as this movie, some of the jokes and punchlines just don’t work in 2020. Airplane! Made no sense at all and used stereotypes jokes to get cheap laughs to move the story along. Most of the skits and humour were outrageous. I’d be willing to be that if this movie got released this year, many social groups would be up in arms over the material in the film.
Now that I have finally seen the film from start to finish, I can cross this off my watchlist and add it to my never watch again list. Airplane! It has a sequel that I may take 30+ years to watch. All I know is this film may have been a smash hit for audiences in 1980, but fast forward decades and the jokes just don’t hit their marks. People change, and so do their taste in comedy. I can’t really knock Airplane!, because it was successful, but I also can’t applaud it in 2020. 2/10
Ten Stars or Less 