Yet another I saw as a kid. Didn't remember much but I think I wasn't that fond of it back then.
No major spoilers, I think.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978)
For a change a comedy that manages to be funny and despite of it being an obvious B-movie it feels like some effort has been put to the script.
"This is Sam Smith. He's our undercover expert. He's only disguised as Adolf Hitler."
Due to experiments aiming at bigger tomatoes the red vegetables turn predators hungry for human flesh. In order to cover up the government involvement an incompetent team is set to investigate the phenomenon. But red death spread across the country and whole humanity is at risk.
The plot is obviously insane and using squishy vegetables as the enemy sets the tone for the whole movie. There's quite a bit similarities with Abrahams and Zucker films (I was genuinely surprised that
Airplane! was made couple of years after this) but writing isn't as consistent as in them. It's also sad to realize that this couldn't be done anymore because some of its jokes would offend the "trigger-happy" people.
The film is a parody of both scifi films and USA. In a way it's similar to
Mr. Freedom I watched a while ago but unlike that
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes never feels like it's preaching. It mocks mostly the same things but it doesn't pretend to have a viable alternative to offer (like communism in
Mr. Freedom). It wants the viewer to laugh and maybe to think, not to obey.
About half of the film is good and the other half ranges from bad to OK. Some of the jokes made me laugh out loud which is always good. With little more work on the script this could have been great but now there's too much fluff between the great moments. Almost good film.
Great nomination. Most likely wouldn't have rewatched it otherwise.