Back in the U.S.S.R.

Back in the ussr is a confusing film without much going for it except the gorgeous natalya negoda.. who barely makes it watchable.. besides her it is a nonsensical film without any real coherent plot or good acting.. on a scale of one to ten ..a 3

Nothing works in this absolutely witless teen fantasy, a lame Hitchcock rip-off about a stolen Russian icon and the plucky young American tourist who has to find it, pursued all the while by Soviet cops, Mafia killers, American embassy stooges, the Russian Orthodox Church, evil art dealers, assorted black marketeers (including a presumably desperate Roman Polanski), and the lovely Natalya Negoda, doing a somewhat sanitized variation of her delinquent character role from 'Little Vera'. Why travel all the way to Russia to make such a bone-headed, embarrassing movie, when even the local actors are so unconvincing? The answer is obvious: the film looks as if it was produced by the Moscow Tourist Council, with the full support of a government anxious for western currency, and eager to cash in on the promotional value of a slick, action-packed comedy caper filmed in their backyard. Ship this one to a distant Gulag.

Nothing special but a fairly entertaining movie. Several Ruskie groups want a valuable artifact they believe a innocent tourist has, and will stop at nothing to get it, thus making life miserable for the flabbergasted visitor. Whaley was good as the continually upset tourist; seems like he is always playing the sniveling wimp who blows his top only to immediately begin apologizing.

While on a Russian tour, Archer; a young American tourist's experience takes an unexpected turn when he meets a mysterious woman named Lena. She has accidentally stolen a priceless work of art, and as events spin out of control Archer finds himself without a passport, accused of murder, hunted by the police, and pursued by a ruthless smuggler.

The main reason I saw this movie was to see Roman Polanski's performance as an actor. He was great in The Fearless Vampire Killers, The Tenant, and A Pure Formality. Like in A Generation, Polanski has a small role in this movie as well; nevertheless he proves he is a very talented yet overlooked thespian. As for the movie itself it's rather poor. It has the elements of making this a good thriller but the director aims for the Hollywood approach and it simply doesn't work. The use of young actors was a mistake in my opinion, if the protagonists would have been a little older the style of the film might have been more mature and we might have gotten a completely different movie. Instead we get a ridiculous film that doesn't really have any substance at all, and proper organization. The film leaves a great deal of questions unanswered; I can't even begin to explain how many holes were left uncovered. Basically it's just a sloppy movie. The only reason to see this is for Polanski. If he wasn't in it, trust me I would never have seen this movie.

This time that film back in the ussr (1992) is supposed to be on DVD. This time I want it for real. Same thing as jumpin at the boneyard and night and the city (1992). Those 3 20th century fox films from 1992 need to be on dvd.