President Manfred Link (Bob Newhart) has his fands full dealing with a contentious election year after narrowly avoiding loss in the previous election where he beat out a dead man and his dead running mate by the slimmest of margins. Add to that, Link must also deal with the idiosyncrasies of the island African nation of Upper Gorm who possess resources vital the U. S.. Meanwhile Manfred's family consisting of his alcoholic wife Constance (Madelahn Kahn) and sex starved 28 year old daughter Gloria (Gilda Radner) continually try Manfred's patience as Manfred's various aides and cabinet members try impotently to keep things controlled.
First Family came to us in 1980 from writer/director Buck Henry whom had previously co-directed Heaven Can Wait with Warren Beatty in 1978 which became the fifth highest grossing film of that year, had written the screenplays for well regarded films like The Graduate and What's Up, Dog?, as well as co-created classic spy spoof sitcom Get Smart with Mel Brooks. The movie was apparently troubled as test screenings to the film were so negative that Warner Bros. Regathered the crew to reshoot the ending. The movie's grosses fell well short of Heaven Can Wait, and critics of the time were equally disappointed with most of the reviews skewing negative and Siskel and Ebert declaring the film one of their "Dogs of the Week" on their TV program. The movie is rather lacking in comparison to previous efforts by its cast and writer/director and this is frankly a low point for many of them.
When you have a cast that includes the likes of Bob Newhart, Madeline Kahn, Gilda Radner, Harvey Korman, and Fred Willard, the bar is already high considering how funny these people have been in other productions. Add to that the great Buck Henry who's given us some inspired works that are still funny and entertaining to this day and the fact that First Family is as bad as it is, it's frankly inexcusable. The pacing is ridiculously slow and turgid and while that's not a deal breaker for comedy, you need to have rich well defined characters so your audience can get involved despite the slow pace. No one is given much to work with as the movie often goes for lamebrained "culture clash" humor with the fictional African nation of Upper Gorm featuring gags like their national beverage made of Donkey Blood and Cow Urine, or offering up virgins to have sex with a statue of a fertility god called Jucamba that has a giant phallic piece (I think that's what happens, it's not clear), and the movie never takes off and most of the gags just go limp because there's no punch to any of the gags with most of the set pieces resulting in ill-timed slapstick or pratting about in silly costumes.
First Family has been all but forgotten by time and there's a good reason for it. There's rich potential for a farcical comedy set in the upper echelons of U. S. political power, but Buck Henry doesn't give his cast rich material or tight direction and instead it comes off as a bunch of people trying desperately to be amusing and failing miserably.
