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In a galaxy far far far far away, the Druish Princess Vespa has been betrothed to Prince Valium. As his name suggests he falls asleep at the drop of a hat due to a case of narcolepsy. Not happy with impending marriage, the Princess runs away from Planet Druidia with her sidekick droid Dot Matrix into space. King Roland, Vespa’s father seeks the help of Captain Lonestar and his sidekick Barf, to find his daughter and return her back safely. Lonestar agrees to this venture for he is in desperate need of money to pay back a debt to the space gangster Pizza the Hut.

On the other side of space, run by President Skroob lies Planet Spaceball, which is desperately running out of precious air. In order to save his own planet, Skroob plans on kidnapping Princess Vespa and extorting the Druidian King for Druidian air with the assistant of his number two man, Dark Helmet.

Spaceballs is a Mel Brooks 1987 sci-fi comedy spoof that parodies the Star Wars trilogy.  When it comes to Mel Brooks and parodies, the skies the limit. Playing on every possible tongue in cheek avenue available, this movie is a barrel of laughs to rival Airplane. The film leads an all star cast of Mel Brooks, John Candy, Rick Morenis, Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten and Joan Rivers who is the voice of Dot Matrix.

I have seen this movie over twenty times and it never gets old. Rick Morenis as Dark Helmet, which is obviously a parody of Darth Vader, leaves you in stitches. My favorite scene is when they’re on board Spaceball One and they pop in a VHS tape of Spaceballs the Movie to try and locate Princess Vespa. The banter between Dark Helmet and his Colonel Sandurz (Fried Chicken anyone?) when they stop the tape midway, is comedic brilliance:

Dark Helmet: What the hell am I looking at? When does this happen in the movie?
Colonel Sandurz: Now. You’re looking at now, sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now.
Dark Helmet: What happened to then?
Colonel Sandurz: We passed then.
Dark Helmet: When?
Colonel Sandurz: Just now. We’re at now now.
Dark Helmet: Go back to then.
Colonel Sandurz: When?
Dark Helmet: Now.
Colonel Sandurz: Now?
Dark Helmet: Now.
Colonel Sandurz: I can’t.
Dark Helmet: Why?
Colonel Sandurz: We missed it.

That is just a taste of what to expect. I have nothing bad to say about this movie, it is one of my all time favorite comedies. Leave all your expectations at the door for this film is suppose to be plain screwball madness. How can one expect anything less from Mel Brooks?

Rating: 10/10 stars
Running time: 96 minutes