Low comedy does not get much lower than the kind on offer from National Lampoon. They were responsible for classics of the spoof genre such as 1978's National Lampoon's Animal House, which was rude, rough, tasteless, hilarious and a huge hit with young audiences, grossing US$80 million (about HK$610 million).
National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I (Pearl, 9.30pm) is two decades too late. The kind of outrageous humour that John Belushi pulled off so well in the 70s seems spectacularly juvenile in the 90s. Not only does Loaded Weapon I have no style, it also has no jokes. Virtually all the laughs are given away in its trailer.
It is intended as a parody of the Lethal Weapon movies. Emilio Estevez is the gung-ho cop with no respect for life (as played by Mel Gibson in the originals) and Samuel L Jackson (Pulp Fiction ) his middle-class, family-values partner (the role played by Danny Glover). They are charged with breaking open a cocaine and cookie smuggling ring.
Night Visions (Pearl, 12.30am) is also short on ideas, a standard made-for-television serial killer film saved from absolute direness by good performances from James Remar, as a cop, and Loryn Locklin as a psychic who helps the investigation. It was written, produced and directed by Wes Craven, the man responsible for the remarkably successful Nightmare On Elm Street films.
Spanish director Pedro Almodovar (Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down ) gets up to his usual tricks in Kika (World, 9.35pm). It's full of surreal visions, primary colours and free and easy rumpy-pumpy.
Veronica Forque is enjoyable as the eponymous borderline nymphomaniac make-up artist who gets through men with gusto. One of her loves is an American in Spain (Peter Coyote) and another a psychotic escaped prisoner.
After a while you wish the two lead characters in Sweet Hearts Dance (World, 1.30am) would simply get on with it. Will they stay together? Will they part? Ernest Thompson's script drags the conclusion beyond the limits of human endurance.
