Loaded Weapon 1

More an imitation than a parody, this would-be comedy is very short on laughs. Read full review

While past parodies like Airplane! and the marginally worthwhile Hot Shots filled out down time with slapstick visuals and spastic throwaway gags, Loaded Weapon is content to lumber along at its own boring pace: you end up checking your watch between jokes, and there's nothing funny about that. Read full review

This is a would-be comedy that's not as funny (nor as satirical) as the movies that inspired it. Read full review

Even at the abbreviated length of 70 minutes (less feature than featurette), material so maniacal wears very thin very fast. [5 Feb 1993]

Unfortunately, the best jokes in Loaded Weapon were in the coming attractions. What's left amounts to just a lot of flailing around in search of a handful of half-hearted laughs. [5 Feb 1993, p.D5]

Watching Loaded Weapon 1 is like playing Trivial Pursuit with experts. It's exhausting. Read full review

Wrong, wrong and wrong again; this Loaded Weapon fires only dumb-dumb bullets. Read full review

This blunt-edged, in-your-face comedy, however, is simply too obtuse to provide enjoyment for post-adolescent viewers. (Youngsters, I suspect, will eat it up.) Its mile-a-minute gag attempts yield groans far more frequently than laughs, and its humor is so unsubtly deadpan as to undercut the wit that lurks behind its premise. [9 Feb 1993, p.D7]

A buddy cop parody of the lowest possible caliber, National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 empties its chamber but only nicks its enormously deserving target. It's a fusillade of tired jokes and cheap shots, primarily meant as a burlesque of "Lethal Weapon," but "Basic Instinct," "The Silence of the Lambs" and "48 Hrs." also come in for some lame bashing from director Gene Quintano. Read full review

A collection of flat gags, spiritless action, cornball satire and overbroad or bored-looking performances, it sometimes resembles the draggle-end of a nightmare “Saturday Night Live” show, where the cast has come to despise their own skits. Read full review

You don't need to watch National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I to understand what a sloppy comedy concoction it is; just listen. What you won't hear is laughter, even in a crowded movie theater. I haven't experienced such a silent audience for an alleged comedy since last year's horrid Stop, Or My Mom Will Shoot. Read full review