Club Fed

I enjoy comedies. This was not a comedy. It is just silly. Over-the-top comedies like Airplane have clever, well thought out humor none of which is present in this movie.

Full of errors but not humor. For the first few seconds I thought that maybe this was going to be a movie worth watching. A few minutes later I realized that it was absolute junk. The script is completely lacking. The situations are just plain stupid. The only way that I would have been able to enjoy such a movie would be if I was drunk. Very drunk.

If you enjoy really mediocre slapstick then this might be the movie for you. Otehrwise avoid it. You will be hugely disappointed.

I had a good time viewing this film. I liked its broad off the wall humor. It looked like everyone had a good time making this movie. Sherman Hemsley is hilarious as a preacher who gets thrown in a prison for rich people. Judy Landers is cute. There is also some fun performances by Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner, Karen Black, and Allen Garfield. The direction was quick non pretentious and lively.

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.

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".

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.