Club Fed

Some examples of the type of comedy in this movie: a camera has a sign on it saying 'Secret Surveillance Camera'. A gun with a silencer says 'Silencer' but, as it turns out, the silencer doesn't work. FBI agents wear Groucho glasses as disguises.

Howard Polk is an FBI agent assigned to undercover work in a prison more luxurious than most resorts, where only the richest criminals go, to be pampered like few people would be even on the outside. Girls in bikinis are everywhere, and the guards are dressed like Chippendale dancers. Classical musicians provide ambience (one clarinetist makes a brief detour into jazz). Polk's boss claims that a prisoner named Angelica is embezzling from the prison (in fact, the FBI boss has planted a warden whose job is to frame Angelica--who claims to have already been framed), and the boss wants Polk to find evidence of misconduct so the place can be shut down and the inmates can be sent to regular prisons. Also, a large, demented red-haired woman seems to want Angelica dead but doesn't have much luck.

Anyway, that's what passes for a plot. Some comic highlights: before and after scenes (funny for different reasons) when the clumsy and dense Angelica has sex with a man. A bizarre car chase that's too ridiculous to be anything but funny. The announcement (resembling a game show) of Angelica's sentence. A man in stripes wanting to leave his regular prison for this palatial one. An ethics class at the prison where everyone is dressed like Little Lord Fauntleroy.

Whether or not Judy Landers can act, in this movie she seems quite talented, and her character is very likeable. I was disappointed in Sherman Hemsley. Normally even he can bring quality to a production such as this, but I didn't care for his very sinful Reverend.

Some of the jokes worked, and others didn't (for me, anyway). And some jokes were just plain sick. But there was plenty here for me to enjoy.

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.

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 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.