AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON
(directors: Joe Dante/Carl Gottlieb/Peter Horton/John Landis/Robert K. Weiss; screenwriters: Michael Barrie/Jim Malholland; cinematographer: Daniel Pearl; editors: Bert Lovitt/Marshall Harvey/Malcolm Campbell/Art Alex Hajdu; music: Ira Newborn; cast: Rosanna Arquette (Karen), Ralph Bellamy (Mr. Gower), Steve Forrest (Capt. Nelson), Joey Travolta (Butch), Carrie Fisher (Mary Brown), Griffin Dunne (Doctor), Paul Bartel (Doctor), Steve Guttenberg (Jerry), Matt Adler (George), David Alan Grier (Don Simmons), Sybil Danning (Outer Space Queen), Michelle Pfeiffer (Brenda), Ed Begley Jr. (Archie Hahn Griffin), Russ Meyer (Video store clerk); Runtime: 85; MPAA Rating: R; producer: Robert K. Weiss; Universal; 1987)
“Too inane to fully work.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
There are at least 20 irreverent comedy sketches on such subjects as late night TV, bad oldie horror and sci-fi movies, hospitals and sexual mores, that range from ones that are awful to a few that are somewhat funny. The centerpiece sketch, meant to hold the film together with a theme, is Robert K. Weiss’ overlong parody of the sci-fi film from the 1950s, Amazon Women on the Moon. The other participating directors include Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton and John Landis.
The worst vignette is the John Landis one of furniture attacking a man. The Joe Dante vignette is a mildly funny spoof about a TV show that promotes the belief that Jack the Ripper may also have been the Loch Ness monster.
The crude spoof is a sequel to Landis’ “Kentucky Fried Movie.” It’s too inane to fully work. The ridiculous goofs on condo dwelling yuppies, tasteless commercials, computer dating and the failure of an invisibility serum to kick in, are patchy episodes cobbled together without much effort or imagination.
REVIEWED ON 10/8/2015 GRADE: C+