the groundhog day project

          I often get lost as these old movies from my childhood play, but I didn't expect to get lost in The Pirate Movie as soon as it got started. But, "Victory" starts playing over pirate ship battle footage and I'm in. And then the main plot gets going pretty quick and Ninjas attack the pirate ship and it's on. This was what really got me when I was a kid, the action and the romance. I talked about the military side of An Officer and a Gentleman was just as much rooted in fantasy as the love story yesterday --but the actual action in something like this is an easy in for a kid. Pirate adventure, plus ninjas, and later cops, plus the romance and songs.           I had yet to see a production of The Pirates of Penzance when I first saw this film, though I would see it later, so I didn't know a lot of the basic specifics being spoofed. But, unlike some more recent spoof films, this one keeps a main plot that makes sense...

Watching Scary Movie to get the whole spoof genre out of the way. (And, to prove correct, Roger Ebert's notion that you just can't review these kind of movies properly.) Leave Zucker Abrahams Zucker behind, insert the Wayans, who enjoy a bit more crude humor, with some homophobia and violence against women thrown in. "Run, bitch, run!" "Oh my God, we hit a boot!" About the only bits that made me laugh so far, coming up on the 20-minute mark. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Rick Ducommun (Gus from Groundhog Day ) has a small part in this--Cindy's father. Buffy Gilmore's (Shannon Elizabeth) death scene is pretty good. "Please don't. I'm just a day player." Funny. ... I think the problem with spoof films as time goes on is that jokes take the place of character... or maybe it's just personal nostalgia. I've seen Airplane! so many times over the years, I think my expectation of the punchlines is funnier th...