Main Cast: Emilio Estevez, Samuel L. Jackson, Jon Lovitz, Tim Curry, Kathy Ireland
Release Year: 1993
Country: US
Run Time: 83 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
The Lethal Weapon series and the rest of the buddy-cop genre receives the parody treatment in this low-brow comedy. Emilio Estevez stars as Jack Colt, the Mel Gibson-like loose cannon, while Samuel L. Jackson assumes the Danny Glover role as Wes Luger, his exasperated partner. Together, Colt and Luger investigate the murder of Luger's former partner (Whoopi Goldberg) and discover a criminal conspiracy led by the nefarious General Mortars (William Shatner). Hoping to mimic the success of the Naked Gun films, director Gene Quintano (of Police Academy 4 fame) loaded the film with broad visual gags, deadpan slapstick, and gratuitous parodies of The Silence of the Lambs, Basic Instinct, and other movies. The attempt to mimic successful parodies proved ineffective, however, as critics and viewers alike found the parody stale and the juvenile humor dreary. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
Review
The object in the parody racket is to get to the ripe subject matter before somebody else does. Loaded Weapon 1 fails in that effort, but it's not a fatal flaw. From its titular joke involving sequel numerals, which was first done by the Naked Gun movies, to yet another Basic Instinct send-up, Loaded Weapon 1 is pretty much all been there, done that. Even the buddy cop genre overlaps with the detective genre skewered in The Naked Gun, with similar jokes involving yellow crime scene tape and the chalk outlines around dead bodies. That said, it keeps up enough of a rapid-fire pace to please those who consider any parody a worthwhile 90 minutes of willful cheekiness. It's also fun to watch how many stars believed in this project -- beyond the appealing leads, there are cameos ranging from Bruce Willis to Corey Feldman to F. Murray Abraham to Denis Leary. The good sportsmanship is occasionally rewarded with good jokes -- such as Whoopi Goldberg politely clarifying directions to the home of the man she's just snitched on, even after the villain has already shot her -- but not enough to rise to the level of the better Jim Abrahams-Jerry Zucker spoofs. If this is supposed to be a joke-a-minute film, there's a genuinely amusing one about every five. However, 20 percent is not considered a high success rate in most enterprises. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Ferne Cassel - Casting, Jacki Arthur - Costume Designer, Gene Quintano - Director, Christopher Greenbury - Editor, Michel Roy - Executive Producer, Erwin Stoff - Executive Producer, Howard Klein - Executive Producer, Robert Folk - Composer (Music Score), Jaymes Hinkle - Production Designer, William Carroll - Production Designer, Peter Deming - Cinematographer, Michael De Luca - Producer, Suzanne Todd - Producer, David Willis - Producer, Chuck Picerni, Jr. - Stunts, Charlie Picerni - Stunts, Charlie Picerni - Stunts Coordinator, Don Holley - Screen Story, Tori Tellem - Screen Story, Gene Quintano - Screenwriter, Don Holley - Screenwriter
