An ugly fact

So the media has exploded about news that the very elderly Mel Brooks put his stamp on a sequel to the 1987 movie Spaceballs.  Here's what I have to say.  I'm sorry to the Brooks fans out there, but when that movie came out, I knew nobody who saw it that liked it.  They just didn't.  The general consensus was that whatever magic Brooks had in the 70s with such classics as Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, or even History of the World, Part I, was long gone.

The common narrative was that the out of left field comedy Airplane! had out-Mel Brooksed Mel Brooks.  It was everything Brooks had done, but on steroids.  And from that point on, Brooks just didn't know how to top it. When he tried, such as with Spaceballs, or Robin Hood, Men in Tights, it came off like a screenplay written and produced by adolescents and fifth graders.  Lots of heavy handed and contrived jokes, one dimensional humor, with no real wit, meaningful homage, or even clever commentary.  For instance, with Young Frankenstein, you can almost see the love that Wilder had for the original source material (for he was a major creative force in the movie).  With Spaceballs, you felt they simply watched Star Wars and then said 'put a joke here.'  

This is what my sons often call 'the movie that nobody wanted.'  Oh, they'll make huge noise about it.  The media today often acts in the role of marketers and promoters for various artists and products and productions.  My guess is this will be something like Wicked or Taylor Swift or Lebron James, that will receive 100% media backing and hoisting and advertising over the next couple years.  And given a global audience in the billions, it will no doubt make some good money.

But don't be fooled.  As I hear the original called a classic or a smash hit or beloved, we were the audience the original was aimed at, and I knew nobody who thought much of it.  And that included mixed reviews at best from the critics.  Not that there weren't funny parts. We all quoted 'They've gone to plaid!' a million times.  Of course everyone loved John Candy's 'I'm a Mog, half man, half dog!  I'm my own best friend.'  But save for one friend who felt the various bits did outweigh the blah of the whole, we were far more taken by the movie The Princess Bride released the same year.