Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Airplane II: The Sequel

The thing that surprised me re-watching this was how many actors I recognized I didn't really remember being in the movie. I knew Shatner's in there at the end (perhaps incidentally, I feel like that's the point the movie moves the slowest, with the fewest jokes). But I'm not sure I remembered Chuck Conners (my dad opined Conners must have been hard up for cash to appear in this. Maybe he just wanted to be in a funny movie) being in here, and I definitely didn't remember Raymond Burr, Roger Vernon, or Rip Torn.

Like the first movie, the jokes are flying constantly. Whether it's sight gags, puns, stupid dad jokes (I want to ask a question. What's that? It's an interrogative statement designed to test knowledge, but that's not important right now.), whatever. It's one of those movies where not every joke is going to land, or it might not get more than a smile, but there's going to be something that makes you laugh out loud sooner rather than later, just based on the sheer volume.

The best part about watching it this time was watching it with my dad, to see which jokes made him laugh. The bit where Lloyd Bridges keeps unknowingly trying to put his cigarette out in Conners' coffee. Or the part where the dad gets angry with his kid, and the kid ponders (internally) how Dad never hits him at home, so maybe it's the coffee. Then his mom thinks, 'No, I always serve him decaf at home. He's just an asshole.' And he and I are both always up for a good "Ronald Reagan was a senile old man" joke. Me? I cracked up at the "We pulled Striker's record. It's not pretty." And he holds up a vinyl of "Ted Striker's 400 Polka Hits".

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