A couple of buddy cops, some badass action, a sinister villain, and black face. If that list doesn’t get you insanely excited, then you obviously missed it when It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia aired their unofficial sequel to the Mel Gibson/Danny Glover blockbuster action franchise in Lethal Weapon 5. As soon as it was announced that they’d follow up that sequel with another sequel, I started counting down the days until The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6. And the episode is absolutely everything that sort of anticipation deserves.
The original cut of Lethal Weapon 5 that we got to see in that episode was far too short. It definitely left me (and a lot of others) wanting much more. Thankfully, what the fans wished for was the show’s command. This episode is almost entirely focused on the movie they made, with more than half the run-time consisting of footage from the movie. There’s horrible effects, bad acting, forced lines, and it’s all classic Sunny.
Lethal Weapon 6 picks up with an Australian Riggs and a black faced Murtaugh as they’re even further from their days as partners. The evil Native American chief they killed in the previous installment is raised from the dead, and he blows up Riggs’ fiance/Murtaugh’s daughter on the day of the wedding, causing Murtaugh to come out of retirement yet again.
Of course, this episode of Sunny doesn’t only give us the movie. Instead, the episode is set up as Mac, Dennis, and Charlie trying to secure funding to finish the movie. They disagreed with their original backer (Frank) on what exactly constitutes tasteful nudity, and so they set out to find the money needed at an array of businesses (none of which are the sort of places that finance movies.)
Lethal Weapon 6 isn’t only another awesome Lethal Weapon movie though, as there are a ton of Top Gun references thrown in as well. Combining those two movies might be the greatest idea ever. Keeping all the great parts of Lethal Weapon and throwing in the homoerotic subtones of Top Gun makes for some absolutely hilarious scenes, that also pay tribute to everything I love about ’80s action flicks.
Almost as strong as the scenes within Lethal Weapon 6 are the moments when Mac, Dennis, and Charlie are pitching the movie. From thinking a young girl at a small company would be able to help with effects since she worked for a “.com” to one businessman mistaking the nude shower scene for gay porn, the reactions from the viewers are exactly what would be expected from any sane person. The fact that the Gang didn’t think that would be the case just makes it all the better.
