Review: "Top Secret" is better, weirder, and funnier than ever at 40

Movie of the Week #17 is a comedy cult classic

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“For as long as a single man is forced to cower under the iron fist of oppression, as long as a child cries out in the night, or an actor can be elected president, we must continue the struggle.”

Amen sister. You tell ‘em.

Given my dad’s political leanings, that’s probably one of the only jokes he didn’t like in this movie. He loved Top Secret! - which turns 40 this year, and is getting a 4K Blu-ray release next week in a box-set alongside Airplane and The Naked Gun - and he tried to get me to love it too, picking up a used DVD off eBay when I was in High School and hyping it up as one of his favorite comedies. I remember feeling bad as we watched it together and I failed to laugh at much of anything the movie was doing, but then, it’s hard to fake enjoyment with a comedy. I just didn’t get it. The film bounced right off me, and while my dad tried to play it off as no big deal, I could tell he was disappointed. This is a film that meant something to him, and it’s an awful feeling, a weird kind of vulnerability, to share a movie you’ve got that kind of connection with and see a blank stare in return. Of course, as I’ve learned in the years since, Dad wasn’t alone in his love for Top Secret! This is one of those cult classics in the genuine sense of the term, in that relatively few love it, but those who do love it passionately. Back then, though, I didn’t get it then, and we never talked about it much afterwards. We shared a lot of pop culture with each other, but this wasn’t destined to be one of them.

It's been close to fifteen years since then, but I’m happy to say I finally get it. Top Secret! rocks. Dad was right on this one.