
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 22, 1993                   TAG: 9305220114
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RIGHT CROWD WILL ENJOY `HOT SHOTS!'

"Hot Shots! Part Deux" is a loose-jointed parody of contemporary movies. Though it's specifically aimed at "Rambo" style action pictures, it also hits such diverse targets as "Terminator 2," "Basic Instinct" and about half a dozen more of your older favorites.

For the serious film fan, there are some terrific moments of recognition, but there's also needless padding in some scenes. "Deux" isn't as consistently silly as the "Airplane!" and "Naked Gun" comedies.

In this installment, Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) has retreated to a Buddhist monastery following a failed romance with Ramada (Valeria Golino). But at the request of his old commander, now President Tug Benson (Lloyd Bridges), and Michelle Huddleston (Brenda Bakke), a sexy CIA agent, he agrees to a rescue mission.

It seems that Sadam Hussein, the butt of many pointless jokes and gags, has captured some American soldiers. Then another group sent was in to rescue them, but they too were captured, and yet another group. . . . You get the picture. Topper is "the best of what's left."

When writers Pat Proft and Jim Abrahams, who also directed, aren't poking fun at old movies, they turn to time-honored, violent Three Stooges slapstick. This kind of strong physical humor is laugh-out-loud hilarious for the right audiences; it's predictable and dull for those who aren't tuned in to it.

The sequences parodying other popular movies are much stronger. Abrahams and Proft go for the big scenes, the ones everyone remembers: eating spaghetti in "Lady and the Tramp," the limo ride from "No Way Out" and several from "Casablanca."

And Abrahams got good comic performances from the entire cast. Sheen strikes just the right note under his flowing Rambo wig; Golina and Bakke manage to be funny and glamorous at the same time; and Bridges steals the movie from all of them, just as he did in the original "Airplane!," as a president with Ronald Reagan's intelligence and George Bush's digestive system.

"Hot Shots! Part Deux" isn't going to win any prizes for sophisticated wit. It delivers the same kind of humor that the original had, and it pokes fun at some movies that could probably use a little levity. Don't be surprised to see "Trois" in the future.

HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX: ** 1/2 A Twentieth Century Fox release playing at the Salem Valley 8 and Valley View Mal 6. 86 min. Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual humor, strong language.

by CNB