Jumpin' Jack Flash

In my humble opinion at 5.3 this movie is horribly underrated it's a fun, colourful, exciting hour and a half of a movie. Whoopi Goldberg plays the quirky and livewire Terri Doolitle a low level bank employee who gets involved in a dangerous spy game involving the CIA, British Secret Service and the KGB (made in the 80's the cold war was still in full swing).

Contacted via her computer (the computer geeks out there will love seeing this earlier version of the internet) by a secret agent codename 'Jumping Jack Flash' (Jonathan Pryce) Terri must use her street smarts and attitude to save the day against rogue agents, KGB the police and while not being fired from her own job.

The only drawback to this movie is it is quite profane those adverse to the occasional swear word should probably steer clear. It's similar in the level of language used to Beverley Hills Cop, so probably not one for the small kids. But fun for everyone else.

7/10 - Good honest fun probably Whoopi Goldbergs funniest movie and certainly no Sister Act thank god!!!

This is a fast-paced and to-the-point crime comedy starring Whoopi Goldberg as banker Terry Doolittle who communicates with clients electronically on her computer throughout the world. One day, she receives a coded message from an unknown man who is pleading for help, as he is stuck in limbo in an unknown country. The suspense builds as an espionage case is revealed to be involved and culprits are after Terry.

Goldberg delivers her unique brand of humor (especially liked the scene where her cocktail dress got caught in the shredder) and her fast-talking and no-nonsense attitude. Stephen Collins plays Terry's newly-hired co-worker Marty Phillips, who seems to be caught in places where Terry is in trouble. Carol Kane plays Terry's sassy and high-pitched voice co-worker Cynthia, and Annie Potts plays the mysterious Liz Carlson, who seems to be the only person Terry can trust in the espionage case.

It's a somewhat classic-style spy genre film, which I thought could have used a bit more action and suspense. However, the plot was well-paced and the acting was pretty good, giving us a pretty entertaining feature.

Grade B

There aren't not that many female directors around and Penny Marshall is one of the few who scored some hits with her movies in the eighties ("She's having a baby", "The hard way") and of course "Jumpin' Jack Flash", one of those delicious comedies from the eighties that aren't dated, and that aren't silly. Whoopi Goldberg who was a bit the hot "strange" spot from Hollywood since her appearance in "The color purple" did some nice comedies from which this one must be one of the finest. She plays the role of Teresa aka Terry, a weirdo who is obsessed by movies and books, and during daytime she spend eight hours in a bank behind a computer (a must for pcfreaks to see how dated they are!!!). Her hilarious boss Mr James Page (Peter Michael Goetz) forbids her to chat, she obeys till Jumpin Jack Flash knocks. She can't resist the power not to respond and soon she discovers that Jumpin Jack Flash is a CIA-agent who is somewhere in East Europe (it was still a cold war) and he begs him to help. Sooner as Teresa thinks she has become a target from the KGB as well and as you can guess she ends up in dangerous hilarious situations (or are you kidnapped any day in a phone booth?). Absolutely do not to try to understand the plot, there isn't one and if there should be some it has no meaning...it's just a CIA-agent who runs for the KGB, that's all but that's not the reason why you should watch this, it's just to see a fine comedy that stands for 90 minutes of entertainment.

28 July 2009. At times Whoopi Godberg goes too far and becomes weird and at other times brings her own unique, frolicking fresh comedy that outshines most traditional comic gaps. Sometimes the plot is convoluted from logical belief and at other times grips with a sizzling suspenseful twist. This movie is a mixed bag, but has a nice espionage storyline that holds up well especially considering this is an early mix of both serious spy drama with comic humor, a usually impossibly difficult blend to get right. There are some old new young faces here. The main plot point of rarely actually seeing one of the main characters is intriguing and unique to this movie, one of its claim of fame. Repeated viewing isn't recommended very often, as part of the compelling nature of this movie is its mystery action theme which gets somewhat old and helps to keep the movie going along with the usually balance drama-comic high points.

Whoopi Goldberg saves the day in this comedy, that is not brilliant (I've seen hundreds of better movies) but it pleases anyway. The plot is not that original, but it's interesting. Watching this movie is a good thing to do in a Sunday afternoon when you're together with your family and friends.