Spaceballs (1987)

Forced Laughter

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Spaceballs on DVD.

Mel Brooks' Spaceballs originally arrived at a strange time, four years after the first Star Wars trilogy had opened and closed and well after Star Wars mania had cooled off. It did not really upset any sacred cows, but it offered a brief and painless chance to revisit that familiar galaxy. In the film, space hero Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and his sidekick Barf (John Candy) must rescue an errant princess (Daphne Zuniga), while Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) and the President of the Galaxy (Mel Brooks) scheme to steal the air from the princess's home planet. Of course, the plot only exists so that Brooks can wedge in any number of jokes, some of them with lengthy and obvious set ups (the raspberry jam gag, for example). Most jokes have a forced quality, but there's something gleefully self-aware about them, like the vaudeville comedian whose act consists of telling bad jokes and laughing at them, but doing it all with exquisite timing. (The joke about merchandizing especially rings true today.) Even so, it's hard not to compare Spaceballs unfavorably to Brooks' earlier, more deliriously cutting films (The Producers, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles).

DVD Details: MGM/UA has re-released Spaceballs in a two-disc DVD Special Edition in time for summer 2005. It's true that the film has a cult following (Daphne Zuniga told me she gets asked about it a lot), but I suspect that the real reason behind the new release is Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. The new disc comes with a Mel Brooks commentary track, two "joke" commentary tracks, and the option to watch the film at "ludicrous speed." Disc Two contains a 30-minute making-of featurette, a 20-minute conversation with Brooks and his co-writer Thomas Meehan, a tribute to the late John Candy, photo and art galleries, a storyboard-to-film comparison, trailers, film flubs, "spacequotes" and a trivia game. These various features are accessible through three different main menus, each resembling a ship's control panel. Viewers can choose between Lone Starr's ship, Vespa's ship or Darth Helmet's ship; each menu has its own Easter Eggs.

Starring: Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Mel Brooks, Dick Van Patten, George Wyner, Joan Rivers (voice), John Hurt, Michael Winslow, JM J. Bullock, Stephen Tobolowsky
Written by: Mel Brooks, Thomas Meehan, Ronny Graham
Directed by: Mel Brooks
MPAA Rating: PG
Running Time: 96 minutes
Date: May 16, 2005