Airheads

''Airheads'' is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Michael Lehmann and written by Rich Wilkes. It stars Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, and Adam Sandler as the members of a struggling rock band who hijack a Los Angeles radio station in order to get their demo aired. The rest of the principal cast includes Chris Farley, Michael McKean, Judd Nelson, Michael Richards, and Joe Mantegna, with Ernie Hudson, Amy Locane, Nina Siemaszko, Marshall Bell, Reg E. Cathey, and David Arquette in supporting roles.

''Airheads'' was a critical and commercial failure, but has since come to be viewed as a cult film.

Plot

In Los Angeles, Chester "Chazz Darby" Ogilvie and his friends, sibling musicians Rex and Pip, are in the Los Angeles hard rock band "The Lone Rangers" who are continuously rejected while trying to get their demo tape heard by record producers like Jimmie Wing. After scolding him for being lazy, Chazz's girlfriend Kayla kicks him out of her apartment.

The Lone Rangers try to get local rock station KPPX to play their reel-to-reel tape on the air by attempting to break-in through the back door. Once inside, DJ Ian "The Shark" talks with them on the air. Station manager Milo overhears them and intervenes, but Ian continues broadcasting. After Milo calls Rex "Hollywood Boulevard trash," he and Chazz pull out realistic-looking water pistols filled with hot pepper sauce and demand airplay. After setting up an old reel-to-reel for the demo, the tape begins to play but is immediately destroyed when the player malfunctions. The trio attempt escape, but the station's accountant Doug Beech has already called the police. The building ends up being surrounded as the Lone Rangers start rounding up Suzzi and the other employees Yvonne, Marcus, and Carter.

They negotiate with the police who are now tasked to find Kayla who has a cassette of the demo. Since the station never went off the air, news of the hostage crisis travel and fans begin showing up outside and interfering with police. A SWAT team also arrives where Carl Mace prefers using force over negotiation tactics by Sergeant O'Malley. His team secretly passes a gun through a roof vent to Beech who has been hiding in the air ducts. During the crisis, it is revealed that Milo secretly signed a deal to change KPPX's format from rock to adult contemporary which includes having to fire Ian and most of the other employees. Consequently, Ian and some employees side with the band and turn against Milo.

The police find Kayla at the club and she arrives at the station to deliver the tape. However, the tape is damaged because she threw it out of the car earlier. Chazz and Kayla get into an argument that escalates and results in the studio console being destroyed, dashing any hopes of the tape being played on the air.

As some of the items the band demanded from police are brought into the station, the door shuts on Rex's plastic gun, revealing it to be fake. Seeing this, Marcus and Carter run out with one telling the SWAT team the band's guns are fake upon being subdued. As the team assembles to storm the station, Beech corners the band from an air vent. Knowing he no longer will have a job at the station, Ian knocks down Beech's gun. This causes the weapon to wildly fire rounds, and the police are forced to back off. Ian picks up the gun, but gives it to Chazz in an act of anti-establishment rebellion.

Jimmie Wing comes to the station and offers the band a contract, to which they reluctantly agree. Wing arranges a stage and sound system to be airlifted to the roof where the band will play their song for the now huge crowd outside. However, the band find that only the PA system is real and everything else is just props. Refusing to lip sync to their tape, they instead destroy their instruments in protest to the delight of the crowd and stage dive into the hands of the cheering audience that O'Malley has his men let through.

The band later plays a gig in prison where they are incarcerated as Kayla and Suzzi dance in the background. The concert is shown live on MTV. Now their manager, Ian says on the phone to an unknown person that the band will start touring upon their release in six months, three months if they behave themselves.

A postscript states that the Lone Rangers ultimately serve three months in prison for kidnapping, theft, and assault with hot pepper sauce. Their album ''LIVE IN PRISON'' goes triple platinum.

Cast

;Cameos
* The band Galactic Cowboys perform in the film under the name "The Sons of Thunder".
* Mike Judge voices Beavis and Butt-Head, who call in to the radio station during the hostage situation and end up infuriating the Lone Rangers with their comments.
* White Zombie appear in the bar scene with Officer Wilson is searching for Kayla, playing the track they recorded for the film "Feed the Gods".

Production

Casting

Metallica, Cannibal Corpse and Testament were approached for the bar scene but declined to appear.

Location

The KPPX radio station was located at Fox Plaza in Los Angeles, which served as Nakatomi Plaza in the 1988 film ''Die Hard''.

Music

The film features an original song by White Zombie and went on to chart on the Billboard 200 and peak at Number 157. In addition, there are re-recordings of songs from Motorhead and Primus. Jay Yuenger and Sean Yseult also accompanied with Brendan Fraser's vocal rendition of "Degenerated", a song by hardcore punk band Reagan Youth. The song was produced by Yuenger and Bryan Carlstrom.

A number of songs can be heard in the film but not included on the soundtrack album. These are: "Baby Huey (Do You Wanna Dance)" by Dim Stars; "Shamrocks and Shenanigans (Boom Shalock Lock Boom) utch Vig Mix by House of Pain; "Unsatisfied" by The Replacements; "Rocks" by Primal Scream; " Janie's Got a Gun" by Aerosmith; "Wheezing" by David Byrne; "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful" by "Sons of Thunder" ( Galactic Cowboys).

Reception

Box office

The film debuted in tenth place, grossing US$1.9 million in its opening weekend, and grossed only half its budget.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 29% based on 38 reviews. The site's critical consensus states: "There's a biting satire that keeps threatening to burst out of the well-cast ''Airheads'', but unfortunately, the end result lives down to its title in the most unfortunate ways." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 46 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.

Peter Travers of ''Rolling Stone'' gave the film a rare positive review: "Fraser and Buscemi are deadpan delights. And Sandler, Opera Man on SNL, is a red-hot screen find."

Year-end lists

* 9th worst – Sean P. Means, ''The Salt Lake Tribune''
* Top 18 worst (alphabetically listed, not ranked) – Michael Mills, ''The Palm Beach Post''
* Dishonorable mention – Dan Craft, ''The Pantagraph''
* Worst (not ranked) – Bob Ross, ''The Tampa Tribune''

Soundtrack

References

External links

*

{{Michael Lehmann

1990s American films
1990s buddy comedy films
1994 crime comedy films
1990s English-language films
1994 films
20th Century Fox films
American buddy comedy films
American crime comedy films
American rock music films
American satirical films
Beavis and Butt-Head
English-language buddy comedy films
English-language crime comedy films
Films about hostage taking
Films about radio people
Films directed by Michael Lehmann
Films produced by Robert Simonds
Films scored by Carter Burwell
Films set in Los Angeles
Heavy metal films