Cinema: Happy Landing

AIRPLANE!

Directed and Written by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker

Since they are all self-parodies anyway, the notion of making a satirical version of Airport and its three ridiculous sequels seems superfluous, if not impossible. But Airplane! may be this summer's most cheerful lunacy. Its style is basic collegiate raunch (imagine a disciplined Animal House or a frugal 1941). Its plot is an admitted rip-off of an even earlier example of the imperiled-airliner genre, 1957's Zero Hour. What is particular to the new film is its jostling comic inventiveness and pitch-black humor....

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