Summary
While theStar Warsfilms tell a massive story that spans decades, one thing that many of the films lack over that period of time is the solid humor fans get fromSpaceballs. There was certainly a lot more intentional humor in the Disney sequel trilogy of films, and some unintended hilarity from the prequel trilogy, but neither type of humor can match anything done by a single spoof movie. In 1987,Spaceballstook the world by storm, providing the comedicStar Warsexperience no one knew they needed.
While spoof movies have a bit of a negative reputation in the minds of many modern audiences, there was a timewhen movie parodies were common and excellent.Spaceballsmanaged to come out at the right time, poking fun at one of the biggest sci-fi adventures ever put on screen. Helmed by Mel Brooks and rounded out by an all-star cast,Spaceballsis a movie everyStar Warsfan should try once in their life.
What Is Spaceballs About?
ConsideringSpaceballsis a parody ofStar Wars, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the film is a loose connection of different aspects from the original trilogy. The film features a roguish underdog in Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) acting as a mix of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. His bizarre sidekick known as Barf (John Candy) is always by Lone Starr’s side, even as they end up on a whirlwind adventure to rescue the princess of the planet Druidia from the evil Spaceballs.Rather than using the Forceand lightsabers,Spaceballsuses a concept known as the Schwartz and strange rings that allow the wielder to channel their Schwartz through it, creating a unique and parody-safe version of a lightsaber.
The main conflict driving the villain, the vile Spaceballs, is that their home has run out of air, and they need to get some from somewhere else, settling on the nearby planet of Druidia. To breach the planet, President Skroob of the Spaceballs plans to capture Princess Vespa to hold her as ransom to get his hands on Druidia’s fresh air. With Dark Helmet (a Darth Vader stand-in) and Colonel Sandurz by his side, the villains enact their plans as Princess Vespa flees her homeworld, not wanting to marry a boring prince.
This is where Lone Starr and Barf come in. The two owethe crime boss Pizza The Hutta lot of money, and as a result, agree to try to rescue the princess for a reward that will cover their fees. Lone Starr succeeds, saving Vespa and her robot companion Dot before they can be captured, though the group soon ends up stranded in the middle of a vast desert. On this planet, Lone Starr meets the mighty Yogurt, who teaches him about the ways of the Schwartz all while spending time with Princess Vespa, whom he soon falls in love with. Before long, Helmet arrives, fools Vespa, and kidnaps her, leaving Lone Starr to once again save her.
After getting the codes to lower planet Druidia’s shields, Vespa is locked away aboard Spaceball One. Launching an attack on the ship, Lone Starr and Barf manage to rescue Princess Vespa and escape, but things just get more complicated. Preparing to steal Drudia’s air, Spaceball One morphs intothe mech-like Mega-Maid, complete with vacuum, to suck all the air from the planet. Once again, the only one who can stop the plot is Lone Starr. He reverses the flow of the air before heading inside the structure to destroy it from within.
How Does Spaceballs End?
Inside the Mega-Maid, Lone Starr looks for a way to make the device self-destruct, only to be met with Dark Helmet himself.The two engage in a duel to the death, and Helmet comes out on top after he tricks Lone Starr with a simple good-spirited handshake. Rather than accepting defeat, Lone Starr continues to fight after some words from wise old Yogurt. As Helmet launches his final attack, Lone Starr uses the Schwartz within himself to grab a mirror, which he uses to reflect Helmet’s attack back at the large-helmeted villain’s crotch, shooting him backward into the comically large self-destruct button to Mega-Maid. With Dark Helmet bested, Lone Starr makes his way back to his friends to escape before they’re caught in an explosion.
While the heroes escape, Dark Helmet, President Skroob, and Colonel Sandurz struggle with the impending kaboom. They eachtry to find any possible escape podbut find that all of them are either already gone, or occupied by some less-than-savory types. Finally realizing they could just push a button to cancel the self-destruct sequence, the villains find themselves out of luck when the button is out of order. With nothing left to do, the three villains are left to “have a nice day” before they finally explode, though they would survive to be left stranded on a planet.
Later, Lone Starr learns that Pizza The Hutt is no longer a problem since he ate himself, but he and Barf feel a bit aimless. He checks out the fortune that Yogurt had given him to learn that the Lone Starr is actually a prince, meaning he can go back for Princess Vespa. The two reunite just in time and ride off across the galaxy not so far away to live happily ever after.
What Is Spaceballs’ Rotten Tomatoes Score?
As is the case for many comedy flicks,Spaceballswas met with harsh critical reception while mostly being loved by the wider audience. On Rotten Tomatoes, critics have ratedSpaceballsat a measly 57%, thusmarking it as rotten. As one might expect from critiques of comedy films, a lot of the disdain comes down to critics not enjoying the humor, or viewing the spoof onStar Warsas a swing and a miss. While some reviewers do their best to offer meatier critiques, much of it comes down to many preferring Mel Brooks’ other works instead ofSpaceballs.
On the audience end, however,Spaceballsis sitting at a solid 83% with some great if simple reviews. In stark contrast to the critical reception, many audience reviews sing the praises of the humor of the film. Many go as far as to let people know that they’d rather watch the spoof than the originalStar Wars. While many do acknowledge that the film itself is utterly ridiculous, that is kind of the point of a movie with a title likeSpaceballs.
