August 7, 1991 -- ``Hot Shots'' is a sub-par version of such films as ``Naked Gun'' and ``Airplane.'' You might call it ``Naked Top Gun.'' While it follows the same formula as those other films, that is, anything for a joke, it is not as inventive nor as funny as ``Naked Gun,'' for instance.

The actors seem to sleepwalk through their roles. The comic pacing of the film seems slow for what should be a madcap comedy. The gags seem tired and forced. At one point one of the characters falls into a dentist chair. As the dentist begins to drill he asks ``Is it safe?'' That is a parody of a scene from the ``Marathon Man,'' it could have been funny if it fit into the movie less awkwardly.

Another scene has Lloyd Bridges as an officer delivering a supposedly funny oration at the funeral of a flyer known as ``Dead Meat.'' That fell flat. I didn't hear much laughter from the audience, except for one or two children.

This film rates a D.

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