Editing Top Secret! (section)

==Release==
The film was test screened at various colleges and as a result of audience responses, the length was cut from around two hours to 90 minutes.<ref name=NewYorkTimes/> The film was scheduled for release on June 8, 1984, but Paramount pushed the date back to June 22, angering some exhibitors. The official reason was that Paramount wanted to avoid competing against ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' and ''[[Gremlins]]'' although rumours spread that the studio was dissatisfied with the film's quality. Producer Jon Davison denied this saying "Paramount has a lot of confidence in the picture or they wouldn't have cared. The mere fact that they've bothered to trouble some of their relationships with exhibitors shows their faith in the picture."<ref>{{Cite news|author=London, Michael|date=March 25, 1984|title=FILM CLIPS: FIRST DAY FIGURES FOR 'DOOM' EXCEED 'RAIDERS,' TRAIL 'JEDI'|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|page=oc_d6}}</ref>

===Box office===
The film was considered a [[box-office bomb]], though it still earned $20 million.<ref name=ScreenCrush/><ref>{{Cite news|author=Easton, Nina|date=December 2, 1988|title=Direct From the Files of the Play Squad|work=Los Angeles Times|page=E1}}</ref> A 1991 article speculated two possible reasons – the performance of ''[[Airplane II: The Sequel]]'' (although it had different producers from the original), along with "the lack of any clear sense of period, something that may throw viewers who insist on comedic nonessentials like interior logic. It's basically a parody of World War II-French Resistance movies, but along the way it also skewers '50s rock 'n' roll films&nbsp;... '60s "Beach Party" movies and 'The Blue Lagoon,' among other lampoon-worthy source material."<ref>{{Cite news|author=Lewis, Randy|date=August 8, 1991|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-08-08-ol-276-story.html|title='Top Secret' Has Lived Up to Name|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> "The lesson we took from ''Airplane!'' was just fill up 90 minutes with jokes, and you have a movie", reflected David Zucker later. "With ''Top Secret'', it's very funny, but it really isn't a good movie. It really didn't have a plot or real characters or real structure."<ref>Felty, Dana (November 3, 2006). [http://savannahnow.com/coastal-empire/2006-11-02/zucker-shares-secrets-slapstick "Zucker shares secrets of slapstick"]. [[savannahnow.com]] (''[[Savannah Morning News]]''). Retrieved January 27, 2017.</ref>

===Critical reception===
On [[review aggregator]] [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film has an approval rating of 77% based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Top Secret!'' finds the team of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker sending up everything from spy movies to Elvis musicals with reckless, loony abandon."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1021699_top_secret?|title=Top Secret! (1984) |publisher=[[Fandango Media]] |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=April 18, 2025}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film holds a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Top Secret! Reviews |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/top-secret! |access-date=July 10, 2023 |website=[[Metacritic]] |publisher=[[Fandom, Inc.]]}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] rated it {{frac|3|1|2}} out of 4 stars and applauded the humor, noting that "to describe the plot would be an exercise in futility" and "This movie will cheerfully go for a laugh wherever one is even remotely likely to be found."<ref>{{cite web|author-link=Roger Ebert|last=Ebert |first=Roger|url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/top-secret-1984 |title=Top Secret! |publisher=Ebert Digital LLC |work=RogerEbert.com |date=January 1, 1984 |access-date=March 16, 2015}}</ref> [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] considers this his all-time favorite movie.<ref>{{cite web |last=Eakin |first=Marah |date=July 18, 2014 |title="Weird Al" Yankovic answers our 11 Questions |url=http://www.avclub.com/article/weird-al-yankovic-answers-our-11-questions-206949 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209231325/http://www.avclub.com/article/weird-al-yankovic-answers-our-11-questions-206949 |archive-date=December 9, 2014 |access-date=March 16, 2015 |work=[[The A.V. Club]] |publisher=[[The Onion]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=June 26, 2018 |first=Erik |last=Abriss |title='Weird Al' Yankovic Explains Why ''Top Secret!'' Is the Funniest Film Ever Made |url=http://www.vulture.com/2018/06/weird-al-yankovic-on-why-he-loves-the-movie-top-secret.html |website=Vulture}}</ref>