Hot Shots Part Deux (Film Review)

1993 20th Century Fox
Directed by: Jim Abrahams; Written by: Jim Abrahams and Pat Proft
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Valeria Golino, Brenda Bakke, and Richard Crenna
MPAA Rating: PG-13; Running Time: 86 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 7/10

Saddam Hussein holds several US soldiers hostage, and yet each time America sends another unit to rescue them, THAT group of soldiers also gets captured and taken hostage by the wily dictator.  Finally, the Land of the Free must fall back on the nuclear option: bringing Topper Harley out of retirement. Unfortunately, the heartbroken Harley has holed up at a monastery with a group of men who have  "taken a supreme vow of celibacy, like their fathers, and their fathers before them..." Will Topper regain his will to fight? Will he rescue the hostages and stop pining for his lost love, Ramada? Can Saddam ever truly be defeated? One thing's for certain: the first guy to die loses.
The first Hot Shots! spoofed 1986's Top Gun, along with a cornucopia of other films, with gag after gag after relentless gag. Hot Shots Part Deux spoofs the Rambo series, along with a cornucopia of other films, though the gags aren't quite as relentless. As Topper, Charlie Sheen continues to flash some serious comedy chops, particularly his deadpan as he recites the most ridiculous lines. Thankfully, Valeria Golino also returns as Topper's beautiful, yet charmingly goofy love interest. 
The gags in Hot Shots! don't always work, but director and co-writer, Jim Abrahams (who returns here), throws so many at the screen, the laughs are still consistent. Part Deux's batting average is only a little lower, though as the gags come at a less furious pace, the laughs do as well. Still, I laughed a lot: at the goofy Saddam caricature, at Miguel Ferrer's depressed soldier, who must regain his love for senseless brutality, at a two-minute Rowan Atkinson cameo where he plays the most annoying man on Earth, but mostly at every single interaction Sheen and Golino have. Sheen and Golino have good romantic chemistry, but their comedic chemistry is so off the charts, a silly interaction like

Topper: Ramada, I want to be with you. I want to hold you. I want to meet your parents and pet your dog...

Ramada: My parents are dead, Topper. My dog ate them.

doesn't earn the eye-roll the writing might deserve, but uproarious laughter. 

I wish Sheen and Golino had done more together. As it stands, they've got a comedy classic in Hot Shots! and a not-quite-as-good, yet still quite funny sequel in Hot Shots Part Deux.