Airplane! (1980) [Movie Review]

Watching classic movies for the first time is always bittersweet. On one hand, you know the movie is going to have some good qualities. But at the same time, your expectations are raised for the movie. And the worst possible thing about classic movies is that all of the best parts of the movie have already been shown to you in one way or another. If you can manage to avoid spoilers for movies such as Airplane!, then you probably live a sheltered life.

The point of my above rant is that it is impossible to give a good review for a classic movie. But I will have to try.

I am not a huge fan of the slapstick genre, and parody movies tend to leave a sour taste in my mouth. That is one reason I had been avoiding this movie. But, being so popular, I need to make the time to watch it some time.

When the movie first started, I was less than impressed. It had everything that I loathe about parody movies. But when it later introduces our main characters, and the plot of the movie, it gets much better. While the movie, in my opinion, never gets to the level of 'amazing', it's still wildly entertaining. It's disappointing that the best jokes in the movie had been spoiled for me, but I can't hold that against the movie.

Really, the movie hits all of it's marks, and very well. I may not like the genre, and subsequently I didn't find the movie to be that great, but it does what it sets out to do.

Rating: 8/10

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