The “very silly” 1997 movie that didn’t impress Mel Brooks: “Two and a half stars at the most”
Even though he hasn’t directed a movie since 1995, and his role in the upcoming Spaceballs sequel will be his first live-action appearance in a feature in 22 years, Mel Brooks‘ love of cinema remains as strong as ever, and he’ll even sit through the bad and forgettable ones if he has to.
Obviously, the older somebody gets, the less inclined they are to subject themselves to the daily grind of filmmaking. Since he’s 100 years old, it’s impressive enough that Brooks is even returning to the silver screen in a role that isn’t voice-only or where he isn’t playing himself in a gratuitous cameo.
He might not be as hands-on or involved as he was during his pomp, but the EGOT winner still dedicates his time to watching them. His favourite films of the 21st century so far reflect that, with The Bourne Identity and Jojo Rabbit being joined by Inglourious Basterds and Bottle Shock, to name just four.
Clearly, the man has eclectic taste, and, as bittersweet as it is, he’s now free to watch whatever he wants. For years, Brooks and his long-time best friend, Carl Reiner, would have movie nights together, and as a result, the Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles creator was forced to watch 1942’s Random Harvest at least once a week, an experience that wore him down a little bit more each time.
On the other hand, the legendary duo would gladly fire up Gladiator at least once a month, but since there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to how they picked the subject of their latest watch party, it opened the doors to some thuddingly mediocre pictures making it in front of their eyes.
Brooks has always been open in admitting that he’s a sucker for any genre flick that features either the exact words or variations of “secure the perimeter,” which is presumably what coaxed him into checking out a 1997 action thriller that revolves around a soldier tracking down stolen nuclear warheads before they can be detonated, with several perimeters in need of securing.
He was a dozen years too late to the party, but when he finally got around to it, Hollywood’s ultimate veteran wasn’t too impressed with what he found. “We watched last night The Peacemaker,” Brooks shared in 2009, after he and Reiner had saucered their eyeballs with George Clooney and Nicole Kidman’s forgettable action thriller.
“It was two and a half stars, at the most,” he declared. “Good performances. Very silly, you know.” Brooks might have thought the performances were worth celebrating, but Clooney would disagree, with the star suggesting that, along with Batman & Robin, his 1997 was defined by two under-performing movies that he was terrible in, and it’s hard to argue.
Still, it ticked the perimeter-securing criteria in a roundabout way, so there was always the chance Brooks and Reiner would get around to The Peacemaker eventually. 12 years after its underwhelming release, they did, and it was two hours that would have been better spent on something else.
