Cast: Emilio Estevez, Samuel L. Jackson, Jon Lovitz, William Shatner, Kathy Ireland
Director: Gene Quintano
Producers: Suzanne Todd and David Willis
Screenplay: Don Holley and Gene Quintano
Cinematography: Peter Deming
Music: Robert Folk
U.S. Distributor: New Line Cinema
Jack Colt (Emilio Estevez) is a burnt out, alcoholic cop pining for his lost dog. Wes Luger (Samuel L. Jackson) is a strait-laced, by-the-book officer days away from retirement. When Luger's ex-partner is killed, the two are brought together to investigate. They soon discover that the murder is only the tip of the iceberg. The evil General Mortars (William Shatner) is hatching a plot to begin massive shipments of drugs via Wilderness Girl cookies.
As expected, Loaded Weapon 1 is pure spoof. While its obvious target is the Lethal Weapon series (with Estevez playing a Riggs-type, Jackson playing a Murtaugh-type, and Lovitz doing a bad impression of Joe Pesci), it sets a few other recent films in its sites as well, including Silence of the Lambs, Basic Instinct, and Wayne's World (parodying a parody?). There are cameos galore (by such notables as Whoopi Goldberg, Charlie Sheen, Bruce Willis, James Doohan, Dr. Joyce Brothers, and others), and a seemingly endless supply of puns and sight gags. Yet somehow the movie never quite clicks.
Loaded Weapon 1 aspires to be a Naked Gun, but Emilio Estevez has neither the screen presence nor the deadpan delivery of Leslie Nielsen. Also, with the recent release of so many similar films, the uniqueness of these Airplane-type comedies is long gone. There isn't much subtlety in Loaded Weapon 's barrage of jokes. Predictably, some work and others don't -- that's the nature of this kind of movie. There are laughs to be had, just not enough of them.
Some of the cameos are almost memorable. Bruce Willis' somewhat unexpected appearance is perhaps the movie's shining moment, although James Doohan's brief scene is almost as good. Of the "regulars", William Shatner is especially disappointing. Given his propensity for over-the-top acting, I expected a scenery-chewing romp. Instead, what he delivers is bland and of the "hand me the check so I can get out of here" variety. He's flat, boring, and completely wrong for the role. Samuel Jackson and Estevez are little better than marginally adequate, and Jon Lovitz is just plain irritating.
Basically, this film is stale -- as unappetizing as week-old bread. With much better fare of this sort available on video (Airplane, The Naked Gun, etc.), renting a tape will be more satisfying, not to mention cost-effective. Loaded Weapon 1 is good for a few laughs, but there's no compelling reason to spend $5+ to see such a feeble feature-length comedy.
© 1993 James Berardinelli