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I'm surprised that Mel Brook's Spaceballs seems generally disliked.

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entremet

Member
I remember loving this movie as a kid. It was one of the movies that was on TV all the time as well.

But years later, reading it about it online and it seems that many outright hated this flick. On Rotten Tomatoes it's at 54 percent. I do need to rewatch it, but honestly, I remember almost all of it clearly:

Pizza the Hut
The Alien reference
The Schwartz
Joan Rivers
Rick Moranis giving a hilarious performance

It was on TV all the time and must have seen it more than a twenty times at least.

Is is just cool to hate on Spaceball, or was it really a mediocre film?
 
I think it's a good film, but the humor is outdated. Might be why it's getting low ratings today.

I think it's funny as hell, but it's not the kind of humor people look for now.
 
I didn't like it, turned it off after half an hour. Might try it again some time but if you don;t find a comedy funny it's the hardest type of film to watch.
 

Zophar

Member
I think most people enjoy it but it's a fairly mediocre Mel Brooks film when held up against Young Frankenstein or Blazing Saddles.
 
D

Diggeh

Unconfirmed Member
Spaceballs is awesome! I didn't think it was possible to dislike it at all.
 
At 54% I would say its more divisive. I don't think it's fair to say a divisive movie is inherently a bad movie. That's like saying a safe movie is inherently a good movie.
 
no one hates Spaceballs. comedies are very much "hit or miss" with audiences- either you get the humor or you don't, and Mel Brooks has a VERY unique sense of humor to his movies that caters to a niche audience. It's full of puns, visual gags, etc.

its unabashedly lowbrow humor and brooks doesn't care. This is not the kind of movie that will "do well" with critics (outside of a few who 'get it') but its clearly a cult classic- its been in rotation on basic cable etc for nearly 30 years now, and is probably his second most recognizable movie after Blazing Saddles.

edit: IMDB has it at a 7.1/10 which is probably closer to how its actually received by those that watched it.
 
A recurring bit of criticism from the time of its release, has only gotten funnier with each passing year...





"Why make fun of Star Wars now? It's old and irrelevant."
 

PSqueak

Banned
I recall some soft haters on a thread we had some time ago, the general concensus from this people was that a lot of the humor doesn't hold as well as we would love today.

Need to re-watch it to judge by myself tho.
 

John Dunbar

correct about everything
been a long time since i've seen it, but i have a faint memory that it seemed to let its bits run way too long, sucking the fun out of them. i think one example was the giant comb in the desert; instead of letting in stand as a good visual gag, they hammered it in.
 

Lunar15

Member
I don't think it's as consistently hilarious as some of Mel Brooks' other films, but damn if there aren't some key highlights.
 

Abounder

Banned
Spaceballs came out too late (4 years after Jedi), but it was at least a cult classic. Professional critics are a tiny sample size

But the Star Wars Holiday Special was indeed funnier ;-)
 

AlexMogil

Member
54Te9.jpg

Doesn't mean I don't like it.
 
I think it was somewhat disappointing at the time since it doesn't stack super well against other Mel Brooks films, and it came out four years after Return of the Jedi, so it wasn't exactly timely.
 

Odrion

Banned
go out of your house, walk in any direction until you run into someone that likes spaceballs and live there instead
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
ive never seen anyone say they didnt like spaceballs, in real life or the internet

I have no fucking idea what you are talking about OP
 

daviyoung

Banned
the gags are weak even for spoof humour and it relies heavily on the audience's knowledge of its references for most of them to even have a chance of landing

it's got its moments but the genre was spoiled by Airplane!
 
It's fine for what it is, but it's not Brooks' best film by any stretch of the imagination - I'd easily put The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety above it.
 

riotous

Banned
I was 9 when it came out; thought it was corny then but still kinda funny. Basically my opinion of most of Mel Brooks' work with some standouts like Blazing Saddles, High Anxiety, Men in Tights and the decent non-slapstic The Fly.

But I saw all of those when I was like.. 6-12 years old lol. To be young and have one pay channel (Encore for LIFE!)
 

thebeeks

Banned
I don't know anyone who dislikes Spaceballs.

I mean, it's not on the same level as Blazing Saddles, but it's still a pretty solid movie.
 
I enjoyed Spaceballs but I feel that some of the humor has gotten outdated. Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles have aged better in my opinion.
 

A-V-B

Member
I think that Mel Brooks kinda needs Gene Wilder. They're like a band, and if you take either one of them away, you're missing the soul of the thing.

What's insane is that they're both still alive, they could still make something together.
 
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