Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
The gang that created Airplane! and The Naked Gun sets its sights on Top Gun in this spoof. Topper Harley is a talented but unstable fighter pilot with an axe to grind: clearing the family name. His mission is to avenge his father and save a mission sabotaged by greedy weapons manufacturers. He also gets involved in a relationship with Ramada Thompson, a woman with an unusually talented stomach. Hot Shots! makes fun of a variety of other films, from Dances with Wolves to The Fabulous Baker Boys.
Hot Shots! is a competent and often funny spoof of Top Gun and action films, made by the Airplane!/Naked Gun team. The plot is purely a vehicle for gags with little intrinsic value, and the ending is similarly perfunctory. Acting is serviceable with Charlie Sheen showing decent comic timing. Cinematography mimics Top Gun's glossy aerial style competently as part of the parody. Novelty is moderate — it follows a well-worn spoof formula but executes it with enough wit and specificity to feel distinct from lesser parodies, though it's no Airplane!.