Not for Publication

This jaw-droppingly unfunny, embarrassing "satire" on tabloid publications and political corruption has no pacing, no timing, no humor, no brains, no nothing. Paul Bartel has always been--for the most part, anyway--a good director with a wicked sense of humor, as the black comedy "Eating Raoul" and the hilarious parody "Death Race 2000" have shown, so God only knows what happened here, but this disjointed mess is virtually unwatchable. It makes Sylvester Stallone's hideous so-called comedy "Oscar" look like a sophisticated drawing-room farce by Noel Coward. An embarrassment for all concerned. You'll lose brain cells just reading the video box cover. You've been warned!

In this media saturated age, it's hard to remember a time when seeing an oddball film was hard to do. As I dare to share my age I was 17 or 18 when this film first popped up on Cinemax. Growing up in Iowa I read more about cult or pyschotronic movies than I had the chance to see them, so when a Paul Bartel movie showed up on cable it was something to see. I can't say it's a great movie, but it's odd mix of strange and sweet still makes it endearing to me. And hey, any movie that starts out with showgirls packing heat hunting down a sexist producer wins points with me. Plus Nancy Allen (a shame she doesn't get the respect she deserves for the brave work she did in the eighties) and a lot of oddball character actors makes this a fun film to watch for anyone who grew up loving the cult movies, actors, and directors of the seventies and eighties like I did.

Starring Nancy Allen as a reporter for a sleazy tabloid and David Naughton as a photographer, this movie attempts to be a satire , with very little success. Both the script and the acting are really cheesy and the soundtrack is awful. Not a great movie, good for a bad 80's movie night.

Bought this for $1 at a swap meet, got a couple laughs out of it--it has a good heart if it fails elsewhere (Nancy Allen and David Naughton REALLY couldn't act!). The musical number was dumb but in a sweet way--like "Eating Raoul" you have innocents living in a world of corruption (an orgy party where people dress up as animals in a light comedy...??!!!) and a director who can't seem to decide which world he likes more. I was pleased to see how "Bartel"-esque this actually was, with a decided "gay sensibility" going on underneath everything (note lingering shots of muscle-men in g-strings) and a residue after watching that makes you feel a little un-clean for some reason. Tries awfully hard for the rhythm of "His Girl Friday" and I appreciated the attempt.

This is how the awful "Switching Channels" would have been with Bartel behind the wheel--still bad but at least with original moments.

I'd watch this again before I'd return to the dark and filthy/scary world of Bartel's bleak "Private Parts..."

This is destined to be a forgotten 80's film, a shame...didn't think it was so bad.