Loaded Weapon 1 is a mediocre movie with a poorly written storyline that manages to be enjoyable because of a talented comedic cast. It definitely has some very good moments, Emilio Estevez and Samuel L. Jackson have great chemistry and played off each other very well, they were the right choice to parody Mel Gobson and Danny Glover's role in the Lethal Weapon series. There are also fun cameos throughout and some worthwhile film references, such as a scene from Silence of the Lambs and Wayne's World. The biggest flaw is that it relies very heavily on having each scene as a set up for parodying the popular films of this decade, that it never really tries to be its own film, there is a story here but it tends to get lost far too often, and all the loose ends are quickly wrapped up in the last five minutes. All the references to other movies are, for the most part, quite lame, they don't necessarily serve as satire on them, but almost a shot for shot remake of certain scenes, and when the most memorable moments are the nod they make to Basic Instinct or Dirty Harry, it makes you wonder that maybe you should have just watched those movies instead. It has its moments and is worth the watch if you have nothing better to do and need to kill some time, but for the most part, Loaded Weapon 1 never tries to be its own movie and relies on others for laughs, I wouldn't highly recommend it. A cop duo must put a stop to a cocaine ring looking to spread across the nation. Best Performance: Samuel L. Jackson

What's not to love in a movie that pokes fun of action movies of the 80's and early 90's, and even does it pretty well? I've watched my share of Lethal Weapon, Dirty Harry, Die Hard etc. and loved them all, so making fun of them hits the jackpot for me.Great cast: Emilio Estevez is BRILLIANT as the cool and distant, but sad anti-hero, Samuel L. Jackson as his partner, who's "getting too old for this ---", William Shatner as the evil general and so on. Even Bruce Willis does a short visit on the screen!What I liked the most about this film is that it manages to keep it's focus the whole time; it would have been easy just to use all the sex jokes around like they do with the latest movies of spoof genre, but they don't over-do it here. There's plenty of solid spoofs in the film that stay well above the waist; there's action, bad dialog, overacting and more to share! One of the finest of it's genre! 3/4

It seems to be silly season on send-up and farce at the moment as National Lampoon present us with yet another satire. This time "Lethal Weapon" is the target, although other films (such as "Basic Instinct" and "Die Hard") are also in the firing line.Emelio Estevez, Samuel L. Jackson and the supporting cast are not much more than average, and humour is achieved a lot less than stupidity. Look for cameo's from Charlie Sheen, Bruce Willis and Whoopi Goldberg among others.A very short film which falls well below the consistent hilarity it needed.Saturday, April 3, 1993 - Video

Loaded Weapon 1 is not a masterpiece by any measure. It has plenty of moments that make you cringe at the bad acting and even worse attempts at spoofing the dozens of movies it takes aim at. Yet it has aged remarkably well and I'd rather watch this than a good number of the late-80s and early-90s movies it spoofs.Samuel L. Jackson and Emilio Estevez were very well cast for the lead roles. Imagining Jackson in a comedic role is a bit hard until you see how well he pulls it off in this movie, and he delivers some of the most memorable lines in the movie. Estevez is cast in a character that purposely requires a lot of over-acting and he does quite a good job at it. I think this is the most watchable of any movie where he is in a lead role.As others have mentioned, the number of recognizable names and cameos in this movie is pretty amazing for a movie that is pretty much a cheap shot at the movies that were popular when it was made. Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez's bother and a star of the Hot Shots! movies being made around the same time, appears in one scene. William Shatner, already known for being campy, puts his reputation to good use in playing General Mortars and makes the bad guy of the movie look absurd. Kathy Ireland just plain can't act although that may have been purposeful in this movie since it works for her role as Ms. Demeanor. James Doohan, Bruce Willis, Whoopie Goldberg, Dennis Leary, Joyce Brothers, and Phil Hartman are some of the other notable cameos and roles. Of course who could forget the lead characters from CHiPs appearing, too.I have to watch this at least a couple times a year and discover something new nearly every time I watch it. I can understand why it gets low ratings here, since if the movie is dissected enough it really doesn't stand up to much scrutiny, but as a whole it works very well as a spoof. Loaded Weapon 1 and the Hot Shots! movies are about the last notable National Lampoons efforts and among the best out of the (all too) numerous movies they made.