So Bad It’s Good #13 : Loaded Weapon 1 (1993)

Guilty Pleasures that we enjoyed – even though we don’t quite know why.

Movie Title : National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon 1
Released 1993
Starring Emilio Estevez, Samuel L.Jackson, Jon Lovitz, Tim Curry, William Shatner, Kathy Ireland, Whoopi Goldberg, Paul Gleason, Denis Leary
Directed By Gene Quintano

What is it? : Brothers tend to get a little jealous of one another when one does or experiences something that the other doesn’t. Having now headlined three spoof movies – “Hot Shots” and “Hot Shots 2”, as well as “Scary Movie 3” – Emilio Estevez decided brother Charlie Sheen had had his fair share of taking the Mickey and wanted a stab at satire himself. There’s actually a good little in-joke half way through the film remarking on that. Unfortunately for Estevez, Gene Quintano’s “Loaded Weapon” is as much a poor man’s “Hot Shots” if ever they were. Crammed with too many ‘so so’ moments and not enough ‘gut-busting’ gags, its only saving grace seems to be the presence of Estevez and Jackson – seemingly spoofing Gibson and Glover’s “Lethal Weapon” characters – as well as the unremitting chain of cameo appearances. Granted, there are a couple of amusing moments in the film – the “Basic Instinct” take off isn’t bad, and Tim Curry dressing as a ‘Wilderness Girl’ is rather entertaining – but not enough to satisfy the cost of the asking price.
What’s wrong with it? A lot. Mostly, it just isn’t that funny. I think what director Quintano was going for here was something along the lines of “Hot Fuzz” – a movie that took the mickey out of the cop movie brilliantly. Instead, this is a bit like a skit on MTV or SNL – funny for a few seconds, but mostly just a joke that runs on too long. But mainly, it’s hard to satire a satire – and considering how serious films like “Lethal Weapon” and “Basic Instinct” didn’t take themselves, “Loaded Weapon” sometimes comes across not as a spoof of those films but as a low-budget remake.

What’s right about it? Something must be right about it, because I’ve watched the thing about ten times. The cameo appearances work (Bruce Willis reprises John McClane for a scene), the cast are fun to watch – William Shatner plays the villain, Jon Lovitz spoofs Joe Pesci’s character in “Lethal Weapon 2”, and Whoopi Goldberg has fun with her ‘first victim’ role but best of all may be F.Murray Abraham doing his best Hannibal Lecter – and even though laughs are few and far between, the couple that do work… work quite well. But more so, this was one of the last ‘decent’ releases from the “National Lampoon” crowd. Shortly after this, the shingle decided to open their doors to anyone and everyone and so all of a sudden we started seeing a slew of really bad direct-to-video releases bearing the ‘National Lampoon’ name. They weren’t so much interested in quality anymore, as they were quantity.

Why is it so bad it’s good? : Because as bad as some of the jokes are, and despite the fact they couldn’t get David Zucker to direct the thing, the lively performances from the lead cast members make it fun-enough viewing…. Guilty viewing, but fun. Points to Emilio Estevez for getting Mel Gibson’s mega-perm spot-on too. Oh, and anyone with the smarts to include a VHS copy of ‘Howard the Duck’ on a villain’s ‘wall of torture’ definitely deserves to have their film watched.

– CLINT MORRIS