I hope Coca-Cola got their money's worth with the product placement bucks they shelled out for this flick. They got an entire wall in one scene, and I had to wonder how much dough it took for Dom DeLuise to announce 'it's the real thing'. Shameless plugs obviously weren't too shameless for the Coke folks this time out.

Well, it was an interesting concept for Mel Brooks to undertake, but I thought the execution was poor. There's some slapstick I can go for but this film stretched the gimmicks way too far. Like that Liza Minnelli scene in the restaurant when Brooks, Marty Feldman and Dom DeLuise banged into each other in the armor get-ups. I thought that one would never end.

The payday for the guest stars didn't look like it required all that much. Of them all, Marcel Marceau appeared to be the only one to display any real talent with his mime against the wind. That looked pretty clever and I got a kick out of it. Bernadette Peters was pretty entertaining as well.

After drinking about a hundred cups of coffee, Mel Brooks' character stated (via title card) that "If I can walk, I can direct". As for myself, I identified more with studio chief Sid Caesar while watching this - "I'm alright, except for the constant pain".

Mel Funn (Mel Brooks) wants to get a silent movie made, many years after such films are no longer profitable. As the studio he works for is on the verge of getting bought out, his only chance to make the film profitable is to find the biggest stars in the business: Burt Reynolds, Anne Bancroft, Paul Newman and others.

This film has Burt Reynolds in the shower. That's all you need to know. But also, it has flying cans of soda anticipating that bad movie with Emilio Estevez ("Maximum Overdrive"). We see the creative genius of Marty Feldman, who died too young... see his work with the Monty Python crew. Best line in the movie comes from... Marcel Marceau! The wheelchair race, well that anticipates "Days of Thunder"...

I'm just messing. All in all, it's a good film, but not one of Brooks' best. I'd rather watch "Spaceballs" or "Blazing Saddles" or just about any other thing he made...

I really like the hits and misses of Mel Brooks. He has brought joy to us all in many forms, from his comedy act to a series of fun movies. This one just didn't do it for me. I guess the concept was lacking any reason to exist. I can give it a six because of the characters' names, a lot of one liners, and a Brooksian bit of panache. It has an all-star cast with wonderful cameos, but it has little if any center to it. If we want to see silent films, we should watch Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd. But there are some rather nice moments and it comes across in a polished way. And, of course, there's the bit with Marcel Marceau. Not enough, however, to save the film.