Monday, February 21, 2022

Airheads

Back on track, and definitely a more unheard of rock movie.




Airheads is a rather interesting movie and most certainly a cult film, but a good time nevertheless. The story follows a rock band consisting of Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, and Adam Sandler trying to get some attention for their music and wants to air their demo tape on the radio, but they have the bright idea of taking fake guns to the radio station and before long we got a hostage situation brewing with all the stops. I think because our main characters are a bit thick, though mercifully not idiotic is why it's a pretty fun movie because there's just some not so good ideas that really spiral out and it has an interesting effect. They keep on good terms with their "hostages", slowly more and more cops roll out to the station, and through it all being live on air a massive crowd also forms outside in full support of the band. This is probably me reading a fair bit into it, bit I got a lot of satire vibes from this movie. Satirizing how the music industry works, how radio stations only play popular stuff and not so much good stuff from even lesser known bands, how difficult it really is to get a modicrum of exposure for fledgling bands and performers, hell even the tempermental relationship of a rock star and his girlfriend, so I feel the movie has some stuff to say and does it in a truly understated fashion. So I kind of applaud it for that, and the performances are what keeps the film together. This was two years after Encino Man for Brendan so he wasn't super popular at that time but he still has that charm and likability that we love him for today and I just gotta say he looks good with the long hair and the leather jacket man, Steve Buscemi is easily the most intense of the lot but is all in to get the band signed and has moments of good humor, and my God an Adam Sandler role I honestly don't hate and I find it really fascinating that this was real early in his career too I mean Billy Madison came out next year so it is easily one of his most downplayed but still traditionally dopey performances but I like how he's used in the movie. I gotta say I was really taken aback though by some of the appearances, you got Michael McKean of Spinal Tap fame, you got Ernie Hudson and they are there for the long haul, but then you see Lemmy Kilmister in the crowd just out of nowhere, and then Harold Ramis shows up and I almost couldn't tell it was him, it was just such a shocking surprise but a very welcome one. I did get a good chuckle when they took a jab at grunge which was pretty popular by 1994 and it seemed metal music was shifting and forming into something else, they even call out Anthrax and Public Enemy's crossover which was...different. Not bad though, but an interesting time period for the genre and really you could argue it took until the 90s were over for traditional metal to make a comeback, it was more death metal bands in the 90s like Cannibal Corpse and Napalm Death that took the stage, and while your Metallica's and your Slayer's were still doing very very good, the scene was shifting, the times they are a-changin'. But enough of my history ramblings, time for the roundup. Good decent movie, I had fun with it and do recommend it for curiosity's sake. 2.5 stars, 7/10, and we got a wild one coming up next time.

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