A Master's Thesis On Comedy

Rating: 9/10 (10 July 1999)

This picture is Steven Spielberg's most overtly comic work, and it is hilarious. In fact it's one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. It is at the same time, a live action cartoon, a brilliantly choreographed musical, an action packed war movie complete with an airplane chase through downtown Los Angeles, a biting attack on Los Angeles culture and an over the top Zucker brothers style gag movie. It also showcases the comedic talents of SCTV and SNL stars John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Joe Flaherty and the late, great John Belushi. Spielberg throws in everything including the kitchen sink and the result is an entirely entertaining 2 hrs. The script by escapist masters Zemeckis & Gale is masterpiece of popcorn prose. This film is way under-rated and too often knocked. But then again it's always the gifted people who get picked on. If you feel like sitting back and enjoying a really cool movie, rent 1941.