Daft and Dumb so Don't Bother

I am reviewing the film Airheads which is supposed to be a comedy but completely lacking in laughs.

FILM ONLY REVIEW

Chazz Darvey is a rocker and wants his band to hit the big time, unfortunately he is not lucky in getting them a record deal and has not even managed to get them any air play at the local radio station.

After his girlfriend dumps him he decides to take drastic action. He meets up with other band members Rex and Pip and they come up with a plan to break into the radio station and give their tape directly to the radio presenter. Things don’t got to plan though and soon they are being mistaken for hijackers as they have water pistols which look like proper guns.

Can Chazz get their music heard by the public and what will the outcome of the siege be?

I only really decided to give this film a go as it was a comedy and starred Brendan Fraser who I do quite like but unfortunately it was not as good as I was hoping it would be. The storyline was quite good and a little different from other films I have seen but there was a distinct lack of comedy and good acting for this to be a great film. I think the story was put across is rather a daft way which took the edge of it and I think had the comedy been more funny and less daft it may have worked and fitted together slightly better,

The lead role of Chazz was played by Brendan Fraser and he did an ok job with the role. He looked like a daft rocker with the long hair and dated clothes. He did at times seem a good guy but then he would come out with a daft line and make himself sound very thick. He delivered a few good lines and it was nice to see a softer side to his character at times. For me the best role was Rex, played by Steve Buscemi, he was hilarious at times. He played a stronger role and seemed more at ease with the whole situation. He looked good with the long hair and seemed very natural playing this role. The one role which I did not like and thought was a waste of time was that of Pip, he was played by Adam Sandler and he was awful. He played a very thick and dumb person and he seemed so wooden and uncomfortable all the way through the film. There was also a distinct lack of connection or chemistry between the three men despite being best friends and band members and for me they were not able to bounce off each other like they should have done.

Other actors in the film taking a few slightly better roles included, Chris Farley, Judd Nelson and Amy Locane. I definitely feel that these actors made for better viewing that the lead ones as they seemed more at ease with the comedy and one liners and they were more at ease with the delivery of their lines.

The film was made in 1994 and this is very apparent right from the start of the film. The clothes were vary dated and look quite amusing at times and so too were the props and sets used. I found that some aspects of the datedness of the film added to the humour but others didn’t and did show up the age of the film in a bad way. The sets were not too bad and the inside of the radio station was nice to see and it all looked good. We did have some very dated and old props used ad I did actually have to laugh when they needed an old tape recorder as they did not have one in the station anymore, it was fun to see this part and how they thought back then they were ahead of the time with the technology.

There are some good funny parts of the film and these mainly come from the character Rex, he was gun and toy crazy and this really helped with the way he came across and how he seemed to be slightly mentally unstable. He was the most natural with the spoken and visual gags. The one liners which Adam Sandler was given just did not work and he just appeared to be thick and daft. The humour may appeal more to the teenage market as both me and hubby just found the majority of this film daft.

There are a few effects in the film and they were good and fitting with the age of this film. The sound track was quite mixed and we had a few good tracks played but the overall rock theme did not work for me and I would have liked it to have been slightly more mixed. The songs are now old and there were no real classic ones used the in the film.

I am only reviewing the film so there are no DVD extras to speak about. The running time of the film is 92 minutes and the rate is a 15. I do agree with the rate and think this would make a good film for the 15-20 year old market to watch. The DVD can be bought for just a few pounds now on the internet but personally I would advise against paying to watch this.

I was hoping to be able to give this film a good rating but unfortunately I cannot. I am going to give it 2 stars instead of 1 as Steve Buscemi was great and gave us some good laughs but overall it was a let down and Adam Sandler was dreadful. Don’t waste your money on this film.