I can understand why this has reviews both outstanding and wretched. It is a daring collection of idiotic gags and clever comedy that usually falls flat on its face simply because it is trying too hard to be a defensive and just fails because most of it simply just is not funny. There are reasons why the first "Airplane!" remains a classic of modern comedy and its sequel is despised. It was too much of a good thing, and obviously the first one took time to come up with all the right ingredients while the second, like this film, seems rushed as well as desperate.
Writer and director Joan Rivers strived too hard to get as many funny people in this as she could and it ends up being all about those cameos rather than the substance. Certainly a comedy of how the world reacts to its first pregnant man could be funny had the writing really been biting but it just isn't there. Character actress from practically every sitcom dating back to the 1950s appears here and many are amusing because of their reputation but none of them really are funny. Billy Crystal, then popular because of "Soap", headlines and shows promise as a film leading man, but it's a shame that he didn't have a better script to work with.
Supporting him are such a popular TV character actors as Doris Roberts (playing his stereotypical overbearing mom), George obel, Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, Jimmy Walker, Billy Barty, Alex Rocco, Imogene Coca, Fanny Flagg and Rivers herself who gets a good dig again at herself in regards to her being guest host on "The Tonight Show". But Rivers, in a mean-spirited way, goes out of her way to insult pretty much every race, religion and sexual orientation. I would have laughed have her jokes at least been funny, but this is a type of humor that was dated even when it came out, like a minstrel show gone bad.. Joan Prather, as the gypsy girl Crystal becomes involved with, is truly bland.
Writer and director Joan Rivers strived too hard to get as many funny people in this as she could and it ends up being all about those cameos rather than the substance. Certainly a comedy of how the world reacts to its first pregnant man could be funny had the writing really been biting but it just isn't there. Character actress from practically every sitcom dating back to the 1950s appears here and many are amusing because of their reputation but none of them really are funny. Billy Crystal, then popular because of "Soap", headlines and shows promise as a film leading man, but it's a shame that he didn't have a better script to work with.
Supporting him are such a popular TV character actors as Doris Roberts (playing his stereotypical overbearing mom), George obel, Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, Jimmy Walker, Billy Barty, Alex Rocco, Imogene Coca, Fanny Flagg and Rivers herself who gets a good dig again at herself in regards to her being guest host on "The Tonight Show". But Rivers, in a mean-spirited way, goes out of her way to insult pretty much every race, religion and sexual orientation. I would have laughed have her jokes at least been funny, but this is a type of humor that was dated even when it came out, like a minstrel show gone bad.. Joan Prather, as the gypsy girl Crystal becomes involved with, is truly bland.