A great deal of fun

Rating: 7/10 (27 May 2018)

TOP SECRET! is another hugely enjoyable movie spoof from David Zucker and Jim Abrahams, the guys who made AIRPLANE! and THE NAKED GUN; this nestles neatly between the two. It's a scattershot, laugh-a-minute gag fest that sees an unorthodox hero (Val Kilmer, amusing enough, and who'd have thought he could sing too?) battling against an evil Nazi organisation in East Germany. The film was made as a spoof of spy thrillers and war films, so expect lots of zany antics and cliches that play out with unexpected results. The film is full of slapstick humour and the kind of surreal sight gags that worked so well in these movies. Alongside Kilmer, such luminaries as Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Jeremy Kemp and Omar Sharif are happy to play themselves up, and it's so much fun that the running time belts past.