‘Masterpiece’ comedy hailed as ’funniest film of all time’ on Netflix | Films | Entertainment

A “masterpiece” comedy hailed by one fan as the best ever made is streaming now in the UK. The Netflix blurb for Airplane! (1980) reads: “A former fighter pilot must try to land a commercial flight full of big personalities in this hilariously silly and quotable disaster movie parody.”

It also features a standout performance from Leslie Nielsen as Dr Rumack, who spouts surrealist gags that have become some of the most quoted lines in Hollywood history. The cast also includes Robert Hays as Stirker, Julie Hagerty, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Lorna Patterson, Stephen Stucker, and NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Airplane! was written and directed by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, and marked the start of a string of successful surrealist comedies in a similar mould.

Fans have flocked to IMDb to shower it with praise, with one calling it “absolutely the funniest movie ever made”, adding: “I can say that even after having seen it several hundred times.

“Think about it, nearly every situation in life can be related to a scene in this movie. Every quote in the movie can be used to add some levity to each day.”

Another wrote: “Just watched Airplane for the first time in a long time. Brilliant as ever. Laugh out loud from start to finish. The acting was top notch.

“The jokes hold up in 2020. Roger, Roger. And it relaunched Leslie Nielsen as a comedic actor. It won’t be long before I watch it again.”

A third wrote: “This movie will make you choke from laughter – seriously. The jokes come flying left and right, nonstop. Even though the story isn’t the most serious or complex, it’s so ridiculously fun that you can’t stop laughing anyway.

“The humor is gloriously unrealistic, the acting is spot-on, and the whole thing just works. Easily one of the funniest films ever made – maybe even my favorite movie of all time.”

A fourth said: “The brilliant minds behind this masterpiece knew exactly what they were doing. There is just barely enough of a plot to accurately call it a movie.

“About a dozen tangents lead off the main plot line to several pointless scenes. But the scenes are hilarious and, within the context of the movie, as pointless as they are, completely make sense.”

The film has a 12A certificate and contains moderate sex references and drug use – so viewer discretion is advised.

Airplane! is streaming now on Netflix.