Hot Shots!

  • Review Date: July 2, 2009
  • PG-13
  • Genre: Comedy
  • 1991
Review

Common Sense Media says

Daffy flight with the Airplane! crew; some crudeness.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

Find out more

Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

Find out more

Parents say

Not yet rated

Kids say

Not yet rated

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this broad spoof of Top Gun and other Hollywood fare includes some raunchy material, primarily a takeoff on the kinky sex-foreplay scenes from the erotic drama 9 1/2 Weeks (there's no nudity here, though).  Off-color verbal humor includes a proverb that involves incest, a joke about “balls,” and scattered swearing with the f-word (in a printed subtitle), the s-word, and assorted "hells," "damns," etc. Violence is very cartoonish and unrealistic, the level of a Bugs Bunny cartoon, practically. 

  • Positive messages0
    Evil-businessman subplot about greedy American defense contractors plotting deadly sabotage to US planes to increase their own profits, and how a Navy official (briefly) goes along with the scheme. It's so lost in the gags you might not even notice it's there. Enemy pilots are apparently Iraqi and have stereotypical Arabic attributes.
  • Positive role models0
    Not much character development in a parody in which protagonists are all mockeries of movie stereotypes and Hollywood heroism, with a recurring theme being the undermining of the "macho" pilots in Top Gun. As in the target Tom Cruise movie, the leading man and the leading lady have premarital sex. By and large, the sense is that military-service movies -- rather than the military values themselves -- are being mocked.
  • Violence2
    Silly slapstick, practically like a cartoon (at one point Topper gets electrocuted and you see an animated skeleton). An ill-fated pilot nicknamed "Dead Meat" suffers a series of comical catastrophes (including being hit by an ambulance) that result in his death. A barroom brawl (unrealistic and jokey), plane crashes, men set on fire.
  • Sex3
    Girls clad in underwear or lingerie. A piano player looks up the skirt of the sexy heroine. Double-entendre dirty jokes, a vulgar proverb about family incest. A warplane called the "Phallus." A lengthy scene (parodying the racy drama 9 1/2 Weeks) in which the unmarried hero and heroine use food as foreplay prior to having sex (itself not shown).
  • Language3
    The f-word once, in a subtitle. God's name in vain, the s-word a few times. "Crap," "hell," "piss," "ass."
  • Consumerism2
    Honda motorcycles, references to Disneyland. Tacit references to other (often R-rated) movies such as 9 1/2 Weeks and The Godfather.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking1
    A bar riot erupts at a call of "free beer." Comedic inhaling of helium to create high voices.
CloseExpand to see more details

What's the story?

The same parody specialists behind the hit disaster-movie takeoff  Airplane! later flew to box-office success with HOT SHOTS! It's a similarly nonsensical satire of military-service-pilot dramas, most obviously Top Gun. Twice-told plot concerns young Navy jet-fighter "Topper" Harley (Charlie Sheen), haunted by his own reckless ways and his pilot-father's bad reputation, who goes back to serve on an aircraft carrier full of silly nicknames and character traits (a pilot dubbed "Washout" who can barely see, etc.) Complications include Topper's romance with a sexy base psychotherapist and a conspiracy by a greedy defense contractor to sabotage the Navy's new generation of jet aircraft.

Is it any good?

 

Takeoffs on Dances With Wolves, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush and his "no new taxes" pledge, practically everything that was topical in the early 1990s, tend to date this put-on, and the disposable plot is pretty disjointed. But it's still a fun ride with some of moviedom's most able parodists. These filmmakers put on celluloid what many classic issues of the adolescent favorite Mad Magazine did on the printed page with movie sendups, and the deadpan, rapid-fire jokes and sight gags continue right down to the text of the closing credits.

Even the more risque material has an innocent make-'em-laugh quality; yes, characters swear, but the real payoffs are the dialogue puns, the fluffy pink bunny slippers incongruously worn by Topper, or the tire squeals heard whenever a plane turns sharply.

Sign Up Message
Sign up for our weekly newsletter
Each week we send a customized newsletter to our parent and teen subscribers. Parents can customize their settings to receive recommendations and parent tips based on their kids’ ages. Teens receive a version just for them with the latest reviews and top picks for movies, video games, apps, music, books, and more.
Please enter an email address.
Please check your email address for possible typos.
Sorry, you must be 13 or older to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Sign me up!

What families can talk about

  • Families can talk about the appeal of parodies. Ask kids if they like them better than more conventional comedies with real characters and original beginnings, middles, and endings.

  • Point out how the filmmakers used actors who would usually be imagined as stalwart heroes. How would Hot Shots! have worked with a more traditional funnyman, such as Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler?

  • Discuss the other movies spoofed in Hot Shots! You can use this film to inspire kids to watch some of non-Top Gun flyboy melodramas and tragedies of yesteryear (meant to be taken very seriously) like Only Angels Have Wings and Twelve O'Clock High.

This review was written by Charles Cassady Jr.
Teen, 17 years old
December 5, 2009
AGE
12
 
Funny stuff--
I watched this movie just recently during a long car ride over Thanksgiving break-- while my younger sister didn't care much for it, I thought it was really funny (although very silly). I recommend it for ages 12+ because, although they weren't extremely explicit, there was some sexual innuendo. But if you like the sillier comedies, I recommend you see this.
Was this review useful?
Helped me decide (3) | Had useful details (2) | Read my mind (2)
Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 13 years old
May 14, 2011
AGE
12
 
more Airplanes!
a scenes of a large exploision. topper and ramada cook food on her. a funeral turns into a war scene, with guns and exploisions. a pilots head is shown on a wall. someone is electrocuted. refrences to eating someone. crashes.
Was this review useful?
Helped me decide (2) | Had useful details (2) | Read my mind (2)
Flag as inappropriate 
See all user reviews
This review was written by Charles Cassady Jr.
Studio:Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Director:Jim Abrahams
Cast:Cary Elwes, Charlie Sheen, Valeria Golino
Genre:Comedy
Run time:84 minutes
Theatrical release date:July 31, 1991
DVD release date:August 6, 2002
MPAA rating:PG-13
This review was written by Charles Cassady Jr.
 

Review It

Share your review with others

Hang on! You need to be a member to post your review.
A safe community is important to us. Please observe our guidelines.
About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.
Our child development rating guidelines

Great alternatives handpicked by our editors

Other air-headed comedies and adventures
For kids who love silly movies
Browse more movies
 

vote now

Will you see Hot Shots!?

Won't miss it
On the fence
No way

Already seen it? What do you think?

I recommend it
It's a pass
 
More from Common Sense Media
Age-appropriate reviews
Top advice and articles

Been There? Tell us about it