Matthew T
The creators of Airplane!, Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers, famously referred to Top Secret! as their "jokebook" movie—and it shows. Rather than spoofing a single film, they throw a wild barrage of absurdist humor into a Cold War-era setting featuring a blonde Elvis stand-in, a ragtag team of French resistance fighters, and a melodramatic romance straight out of Casablanca. It’s as if the movie begins in the 1960s and time-warps back into the 1940s, never stopping to explain the shift.
From the opening "surf and skeet" montage to the climactic underwater barroom brawl in East Germany, nothing about this film is remotely grounded in reality—and that’s entirely the point. It’s pure cinematic lunacy. Naturally, the film flopped at the box office. But what helped it earn cult classic status and eventual critical reevaluation comes down to two major strengths:
The jokes are relentless and inventive—loaded with sight gags, wordplay, and visual absurdities that still catch you off guard.
Val Kilmer is outstanding in his debut role as Nick Rivers, the rock ‘n’ roll heartthrob. He nails the tone, playing it completely straight while fully embracing the film’s screwball nature. His performance is effortlessly charming and pitch-perfect for the genre.
Lucy Gutteridge also deserves praise as Hillary Flammond—an idealistic yet sharp heroine who balances innocence with a sly worldliness. Together with a strong supporting cast, they anchor the film’s relentless zaniness, helped by the film’s strong visual comedy and crisp timing.
If there’s a flaw, it’s that the film runs a touch too long and doesn’t quite stick the landing. But the laughs are consistent right up to the end—whether it's full-on knee-slapping or just a steady stream of chuckles.
If Top Secret! doesn’t make you laugh, it might just be that you don’t have a sense of humor.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
05/04/25
Full Review
Elvis D
La comedia del trío responsable de Airplane! se convirtió en un clásico recordado por haber llevado a Val Kilmer por primera vez a la gran pantalla. Para ser su primer debut actoral, Kilmer dio una muy buena impresión como actor y como cantante. La película se caracteriza por ser una parodia de las películas orientadas al espionaje, la Guerra Fría y el musical. Esto último iba más enfocado a los musicales que eran protagonizados por Elvis Presley. Las canciones originales que Val Kilmer interpreta tienen ese mismo estilo dinámico que tienen las canciones de Elvis. Las canciones de esta película son igual de alegres y los momentos que parodian los musicales de Elvis tienen bastante energía. Son momentos que más que parodiar a Elvis se sienten como homenajes muy bien elaborados. La película apela más por el humor absurdo que por contar una historia coherente. Es una historia sencilla, pero tirando a lo absurdo. Es fácil notar que el guion no es bueno y la historia no tiene una estructura sólida. Muchos de los huecos argumentales son llenados con gags que le dan química a humor. Eso hace que no haga falta buscarle una lógica a los sucesos porque sería lo mismo que tratar de encontrarle sentido a un chiste. Al tratarse de una parodia, no importaba si todo lo que sucedía era incoherente. Los momentos absurdos son comedia pura y chistes caricaturescos. Algo que hace que la película se sienta como una caricatura bien articulada. No se limita solo a parodiar 3 tipos de géneros cinematográficos, también existen otras referencias como el primer número musical haciendo referencia a las películas de fiestas playeras, la pelea en una cantina submarina parodiando al western o el flashback de Hilary parodiando The Blue Lagoon. La película termina teniendo un buen sentido del humor que es agradable de ver y hace reír. Tiene momentos memorables como la canción Tutti Frutti y la vaca con manchas. Top Secret! es una película destacable del género parodia que se ha ganado una reputación como película de culto y que tiene buen mérito por sus gags y por haber impulsado la carrera de Val Kilmer. Mi calificación final para esta película es un 8/10.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
04/11/25
Full Review
Miguel T
Top Secret is a really entertaining and funny movie on its first part, but that level down on the second one, due to the uncoherence of its plot. Val Kilmer is a incredibly talented dancer and singer and the best reason to watch this film.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
04/04/25
Full Review
Jacob B
Even if it doesn't measure up to some of the ZAZ trio's more well-known entries in their filmographies, Top Secret! is still a good comedy in its own right. The actors embrace the silliness with a straight face, amusing sight gags abound, and, thanks to good writing, the film, and jokes, work even if you're unfamiliar with the things they're referencing such as the love interest's backstory being a send-up of The Blue Lagoon. It might not be a Naked Gun or Airplane!, mostly owing to the mashup of more niche genres being spoofed here such as surf films, WWII-era spy films and those films starring musicians such as Elvis and The Beatles at the height of their popularity whereas the latter film came out at a time when disaster movies were some of the most profitable movies of the past decade, but it's still worth watching for ZAZ fans...and also offering audiences a chance to see babyfaced Val Kilmer in his cinematic debut. Who'd've thought this film would end up being a weird prequel to Batman Forever? You'll know it when you see it, if you don't have an idea what I'm going on about.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/03/25
Full Review
DanTheMan 2
You really don't get spoof films like this any more. Applying the same deranged rhetoric the team of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker pioneered with Airplane!, although not quite as gut-punchingly hilarious as their predecessor but in its own cheerful, low-pressure way Top Secret! finds an utterly delightful combination in its send-up of Elvis, espionage and World War II in reckless, loony abandon. The team presents a hopelessly convoluted narrative, but that is exactly their intention piling joke upon joke, filling their film with inventive sight gags, hilarious wit and fantastic musical numbers usually sung by Val Kilmer in his film debut. There are too many memorable moments to count off, but it's criminal that Top Secret! bombed upon its initial release, offering utterly hilarious hijinks one cowboy strut and hip swivel at a time.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/12/25
Full Review
Cork B
Whether or not you like this will depend WILDLY on your sense of humor. This is NOT a movie that would be made today. The plot is wildly, and deliberately dumb - a derivative of all those 50s-60s films made in the wake of WW2 (and heck, throw Elvis in for good measure). This is ON PURPOSE - not like current movies that are dumb because no thought went in to them. The actors all play this wildly ridiculous plot dead straight, constantly dropping site gags, reference humor, and just plain dumb jokes almost effortlessly in the best 'Airplane' style. Sure it isn't as good as Airplane, but the movie CLEARLY wants the audience to have fun. On the down side, alot of the humor has dated since the 80s, and younger audiences will not appreciate this as much.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
12/27/24
Full Review
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