Club Fed

My review was written in June 1991 after watching the film on Prism video cassette.

Comedy isn't pretty (per Steve Martin), and it's also a fragile commodity, as evidenced by the strenuously unfunny "Club Fed". Direct-to-video release mainly is a showcase for Judy Landers.

Film is produced by Lander's mom, Ruth Landers, who in the spirit of equal time also produced (with the same director, Nathaniel Christian), a vehicle for daughter Audrey Landers titled "California Casanova", another upcoming video release. Siblings have starred together on tv and in the video "Ghost Writer".

Judy, as a murdered gangster's girlfriend, is framed and sent to the new security prison Club Fed. FBI director Joseph Campanella has sen agent Lance Kinsey there as part of an embezzlement scam involving prison warden Burt Young, and film depicts the slapstick high jinks of Kinsey and numerous guest star inmates.

Silly stunts and in-jokes don't add up to laughs, and as usual for a Landers production, there's plenty of sex tease involving low-cut gowns for Judy. Pic's nadir occurs when Kinsey is on the phone and says "I want to speak to the (FBI) director", and helmer Christian steps into the scene for a dumb gag. It might have worked had a recognizable director had pulled it.

Pic's obviously in trouble when extraneous drug routines are essayed by Allen Garfield, Kinsey and Sherman Hemsley. No less than eight writers are credited with "additional sight gags".

I saw this late at night on the tube and burst out laughing from the get go. In the tradfition of the off-the-wall-alls-out spoffiness, this movie scores without having to rely on a big budget or fancy special effects. I was able to get my mind off of the daily doldrums and have fun, the old fashioned way by laughing.

Caught this on cable. It's loaded with belly laughs, I enjoyed it for what it was. I also recently saw another one in the same genre, "Scary Movie"(which was also very funny). It seems that on a very low budget, the filmmakers were able to entertain us effortlessly. I highly recommend it.

Well, first of all, the premise is a bit much. But it is a broad comedy and it takes you for a a wild ride. Rich people in prison! Okay, I guess we can match the names with the characters. Whether you like to chuckle or laugh, you'll do both with this film. Burt Young is the warden of a prison for the wealthy. JosephCampanella is an FBI director who plants an agent in CLUB FED. Alan Garfield is a crooked investment broker. Karen Black is a rich hotel owner. Sherman Hemsley is a crooked preacher and Judy Landers is an innocent girlfriend who takes the rap for her dead mafia boyfriend. We watched it late at night and had a great time.

Fans of the Police Academy series of broad comedies will find plenty to enjoy here; Lance Kinsey, who appeared in most of the Police Academy films, is the lead here. Others will not. Lots of silly, obvious jokes. Some are painful, but, I must admit, some of the gags had me laughing. But only some.

This is the kind of movie that throws everything at the wall and sees what sticks up there. If a joke isn't funny, relax, another gag will be along in half a second. The writing is uneven, and again, sometimes the script is funny, and at other times is just plain pathetic. All the lead actors are screen veterans, and in spite of the low budget, seem to be throwing their all into it. Hard to believe Allen Garfield devolved from an Academy Award nomination to this, but hey, sometimes you have to take whatever work you can get.

Overall, undemanding comedy fans may find this worthwhile to watch on TV. Okay, that sounded a bit harsh. But probably warranted.