IMDb RATING
4.9/10
2.9K
YOUR RATING
Two NYC guys get jobs starting a nightclub in Smalltown, USA. They don't know it's a spy training model town in USSR.Two NYC guys get jobs starting a nightclub in Smalltown, USA. They don't know it's a spy training model town in USSR.Two NYC guys get jobs starting a nightclub in Smalltown, USA. They don't know it's a spy training model town in USSR.
Brian Doyle-Murray
- Jones
- (as Brian Doyle Murray)
Featured reviews
I would sum this film up as Fun and easy going, An easy one to pull you from doing something else like it did me. I'm not normally a Travolta fan so I'm picky on which films I watch with him but I thought this was worth watching. You have to say that Travolta had good actors which helped to hold it up like Kelly Preston and Arye Gross. Don't go out your way to watch it but if your bored.....
OK, I will admit that this movie won't have you on the floor rolling with laughter. I will also admit that, despite that, I found this to be an enjoyable flick and lighthearted enough to be entertaining. The premise is good (I won't spoil it for you, but you can read it above), Travolta and Gross play their parts well (although almost too well, as I don't think either were really "acting"), and the dance scene between Travolta and his future wife is pretty hot! It is well worth the price of a rental, I would even buy it if I saw it for under $10. It is fun and you can pretty much guess the ending, but if you leave your brain in the drawer or somewhere else where you can't get to it while watching this flick, you will not have wasted your time. 8/10 for a truly enjoyable movie!
Two young New Yorkers Travis and Wendell are offered the chance to open-up a night-club in a small Nebraska town, well that's what they think. As unknowingly to them they're in the USSR, in which the inhabitants are Russian spies in a replica of an American town that seems to be caught in a time slump of 1950s. They were brought in to instill the current US pop culture / true modernistic outlook.
I wouldn't say it's a laugh out loud or timeless comedy classic, but "The Experts" is an endearing and perfectly pitched zinger with a whole bunch of fun performances. John Travolta and Arye Gross (looking good in mullets) are agreeably candid and work off each other well. They can find themselves really tearing each other apart, but they can't stay mad at each other for too long. A plucky Kelly Preston is unforgettably smoking and Deborah Foreman is likable too. James Keach is quite comical in his short role. Inoffensively light-headed and throwaway screwball comedy that wholesomely plays up its irony-laced one-idea gag of the materialistic appreciation of the American way of life and the acceptance of others. The messages might be heavy-handed, but the breezy script and evocatively original screenplay never over does it. Director Dave Thomas (a recognizable comedian actor) keeps it bright and carefree stringing together random activities with a hip soundtrack to back it up. Silly, but one of kind shenanigans.
I wouldn't say it's a laugh out loud or timeless comedy classic, but "The Experts" is an endearing and perfectly pitched zinger with a whole bunch of fun performances. John Travolta and Arye Gross (looking good in mullets) are agreeably candid and work off each other well. They can find themselves really tearing each other apart, but they can't stay mad at each other for too long. A plucky Kelly Preston is unforgettably smoking and Deborah Foreman is likable too. James Keach is quite comical in his short role. Inoffensively light-headed and throwaway screwball comedy that wholesomely plays up its irony-laced one-idea gag of the materialistic appreciation of the American way of life and the acceptance of others. The messages might be heavy-handed, but the breezy script and evocatively original screenplay never over does it. Director Dave Thomas (a recognizable comedian actor) keeps it bright and carefree stringing together random activities with a hip soundtrack to back it up. Silly, but one of kind shenanigans.
The movie is good albeit stupid, and it features the real life hook-up of Kelly Preston and John Travolta. I have this movie on VHS because I don't think it is even released on DVD yet. It sits on my shelf 364 days a year, but about once a year, it gets pulled off and watched. If you like this movie, you probably like The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Baseketball, and most of Kevin Smith's movies. It is funny to see what was "hip" in the late eighties. Travolta's snakeskin cowboy boots with the stainless steel tip, and Gross's bandana and vanilla ice pants. And need we forget, MULLETS GALORE. And GREASY MULLETS, at that! No real chemistry between the two main stars, although laughably Gross was a star on the rise here, and Travolta's career hadn't hit its second wind yet.
This has to be one of the most patently laughable cold war induced pieces of tripe I have ever seen. The principal idea of a seemingly 50's American town which is secretly in Russia with none of the inhabitants being aware is not a particularly bad one if it had been treated with a different director, different cast and not as a comedy. I defy anyone to watch Travolta's "I love America..." speech without falling into uncontrollable fits of laughter, the problem is that bit isn't supposed to be funny.
Did you know
- TriviaThe Paramount Pictures studio wanted director Dave Thomas to go back and re-shoot some scenes before its limited release in 1989, but in the intervening two years, star John Travolta had gained over thirty pounds in weight, which prevented any new scenes being shot.
- GoofsYuri states the town is about 80 miles from the Sea of Japan. The coordinates he gives (61°N, 130°E) is roughly 195 miles from the Sea of Okhotsk and nearly 1,000 miles from the Sea of Japan.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: UHF/Valentino Returns/Shag (1989)
- SoundtracksBack In The U.S.S.R.
By John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Performed by Jack Mack and the Heart Attack (as Jack Mack & The Heart Attack)
Produced by Steve Cropper
- How long is The Experts?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $13,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $169,203
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $169,203
- Jan 15, 1989
- Gross worldwide
- $169,203
- Runtime
- 1h 34m(94 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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