It's time for round 5 of the
80s Movie Smack-Off, the Final Four! See parts 1-8 in previous posts for details on rounds 1-4. The two winners of this round go to the
Smack-Off Championship. Let's examine the remaining teams, their respective seeds, and the two match ups.
The Final Four:
5. Better Off Dead
3. Airplane!
1. Caddyshack
2. Sixteen Candles
Round 5 Results:
The first match in the Final Four is
Better Off Dead vs.
Airplane!. One is a seminal favorite that everyone has seen (
Airplane!), the other is a bit more obscure but still relatively popular (
Better Off Dead).
Better Off Dead is undeniably the dark horse of the
Smack-Off, as it beat some very tough competition along the way to the Final Four. However, its Cinderella story ends here: it doesn't quite have the firepower to beat the
Airplane! juggernaut.
Airplane! just has too much variety, and too great a cast. The final nail in
Better Off Dead's coffin comes via the two jive dudes in
Airplane!: "Hey... knock a self a pro, Slick! That gray matter backlot perform us DOWN, I take TCB-in', man!" Too perfect.
Better Off Dead is easily one of the best 80s movies, and it did not just sneak into the Final Four. On a good day it might beat
Airplane!, but nine games out of ten it would lose.
Airplane! wins 74-66 and moves on to the
Smack-Off Championship.
The second match in the Final Four is between top seeded
Caddyshack and 2 seed
Sixteen Candles. These are two different movies stylistically, but both are of course extremely funny. Few would be surprised that
Caddyshack has come this far;
Sixteen Candles' success is perhaps a bit of a shock.
Sixteen Candles is by far the superior movie when considering all cinematic dimensions, but
Caddyshack is just so great at what it does. The cast just plays off each other perfectly. For these reasons
Caddyshack gets the win.
Caddyshack is almost a genre in itself - it just rises above its competitors. Even considering that
Caddyshack has a niche plot (i.e. golf) which many might not identify with, everyone can appreciate its shenanigans.
Sixteen Candles made a great run to get this far, but
Caddyshack secures the win by beating its foe 67-55.
Caddyshack to the
Smack-Off Championship.
Alright, this is it...we've narrowed the field of 64 down to two movies:
Airplane! and
Caddyshack. Check back soon for round 6 of the
Smack-Off for the final entry: the Championship.
