15 Funniest Times Movies Broke The Fourth Wall

The comedy classic Airplane! manages to pack in just about every element of comedy in its brief 87 minute runtime. From sight gags to puns, dirty jokes to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar cameos, Airplane! has just about everything. And while it doesn't lean hard on the trope of breaking the fourth wall, one of the most memorable moments of this comedy gem is a brief aside, glancing at and acknowledging the audience.

Though the story of Airplane! is minimal, it does include a subplot in which a fighter pilot Ted (Robert Hays) and his girlfriend, a flight attendant named Elaine (Julie Hagerty) undergo strife in their relationship due to his psychological misgivings and his very particular and peculiar type of drinking problem. After she publicly strips him down and emasculates him, telling him that she can't live with him because she has no respect for him.

This should feel like a heavy moment, and in most other films, it would be. But in Airplane!, they manage to diffuse the tension and bring in a good laugh, as Ted reacts. He stares into the camera, and understatedly sums up the entire ordeal: "What a pisser."