Hello fellow movie goers from around the world. Today’s Flashback Review involves three wannabe rock stars who want to make it big in the music industry by breaking into a radio station armed with water guns filled with pepper sauce to force a disc jockey to play their demo tape in the hopes of becoming the next big thing. Suddenly, things go awry when the cops show up, forcing them to take employees hostage. The premise I’m referring to is “Airheads.” Nope it has nothing to do with candy.
Airheads was released in 1994. It received negative reviews from critics and failed to recoup its $11.2 million budget only making $5.8 million. Despite negative backlash, the film went on to become a cult classic on home video with a fan base of heavy metals lovers.
The reasons why I wanted to review Airheads, is because Brendan Fraser is back on track as Robotman in “Doom Patrol” available on the DC Universe app & Captain Marvel is coming out on March 8. What do Airheads & Captain Marvel both have in common? The former came out in 1994 while the latter is set in 1995.
Today’s review does not contain any SPOILERS. If you never got a chance to see this movie, feel free to read my non-spoiler article.
Positive & Negative Aspects
Positive: Brendan Fraser, Adam Sandler & Steve Buscemi all did a great job for their hilarious performances as members of The Lone Rangers. Names are Chazz, Pip & Rex.
Fun Fact: As you may know, Adam is also a talented musician and a fan of heavy metal in real life.
Other Cast Members such as Joe Mantegna, (Fat Tony from The Simpsons, Chris Farley, (god bless his soul) David Arquette, Michael McKean, (Chuck McGill) Ernie Hudson & Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) also did a great job for their performances.
Humor in this film managed to make me laugh my butt off.
The name of Chazz, Rex & Pip’s band, “The Lone Rangers” is addressed on why it’s a stupid name.
According to IMDb’s trivia page of Airheads, this is Adam Sandler & Steve Buscemi’s first collaboration. Adam Sandler, Steve Buscemi & Chris Farley later worked on Billy Madison.
Chazz’s deepest darkest secrets are revealed in a heartwarming way.
Michael McKean’s character Milo, who’s the manager of the radio station also has a deep dark secret.
The police officer Pip encountered is Adam’s future Happy Madison collaborator and good friend Allen Covert. I guess Natalie Portman came up with the idea of the villain from Annihilation mimicking her every move. Maybe Natalie is a fan of Adam Sandler.
The film is comedic mix of Dog Day Afternoon & Die Hard set in the second decade of The MTV Generation. Fox produced the latter film.
One character did a jab at John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono. For those who don’t who Yoko is, she’s known for yelling.
When The Trio enter Rex & Pip’s apartment, a poster of Frank Miller’s graphic novel, Sin City is on the wall.
Steve Buscemi’s character, Rex said “Marky Mark sucks!” I bet Rex is gonna have to take back his comment on Mark Whalberg, currently one of the highest paid A-List actors in Hollywood.
Late filmmaker Harold Ramis, Heavy Metal band White Zombie, (led by Rob Zombie) Lemmy (late frontman of Motörhead) & the voices of an animated duo have cameos.
Speaking of Lemmy, Motörhead’s “Born To Raise Hell” is played during the opening credits.
Negative: The movie is somewhat dated, due to around the fact that it revolves around a demographic who grew up in The MTV Generation and we now live in iPad Generation with the option to upload original music on The Internet. If Airheads took place now, the plot of the film would never exist in the first place!
Product Placement featuring several brands including Pringles, Funyuns, 7-11, Old Spice & Cap’N Crunch. I’ll let this con slide, because I couldn’t find any other brand to shove down my throat.
An early romance happened with Pip & Suzzi. (an employee at the radio station) I will also let this flaw slide, which is played for laughs and rock stars get to have a pass to get the ladies.
The Final Verdict: A-
In my opinion, Airheads remains as a cult classic among heavy metal fans. Plus, it’s also one of Adam Sandler best movies before his shtick became formulaic lacking new tricks. If you’re interested in this underrated gem, I highly recommend it.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 