Back in the U.S.S.R.

So this cool Whaley guy has young Jenny as partner in 1991 and the next year, he goes to Moscow to shoot with Natalya, the best Russian actress ever! I would be him i would consider my career as a winning one just for those 2 productions! Sure this movie may not have the best story for a thriller but it has the unique opportunity to have been shot entirely on Moscow and just after the collapse of CCCP! So every single minute of it is worthy the watching because you really discover a totally different country : streets, buildings, homes, fashion, everything is familiar but strange… How many American movies can offer you so much new stuff ?? As for Natalya, she was totally great : dynamic, smiling, careful and full of life ! So at the end, it may not be the movie of the century but i rank it among my best because we don't see anymore like this today, especially as Natalya nearly stops doing movies after

On his last day on vacation in Moscow, a young American's (Frank Whaley) attempts to get laid are sidetracked by a search for a stolen icon with the most preposterous set of plot twists imaginable. Worth watching (perhaps) as the first U.S. production to be filmed entirely in Russia, and much of the visual tour of Moscow is very impressive. Also, many of the performances by the Russian cast, especially co-star Natalya Negoda, are excellent. The film is fast moving, and the motivation and twists, especially the premise, are so ridiculous that one doesn't need to stop and wonder if they're believable -- they quite obviously aren't. Painless to watch if you're not too demanding.

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.

I thought with this film made in 1992 and the name of "Back in the USSR" that it would not be very good but I was pleasantly surprised! Lots of humor and lots of twists. It stays interesting the entire time especially the way they tie things at the end back to the beginning so it all comes together. If you're looking for extreme accuracy and details then this film isn't for you but if you're looking for a good story and to be entertained then give it a watch! The way it flows and the acting are great. My only complain was the love story part of it and sex scene seemed a little out there but again, it's a movie, made to entertain, not to be realistic!