The Experts

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.

While the movie wasn't that great, the dance between Travolta and Preston is worth watching this movie 10 times in a row! H O T is the only word to describe Preston. It was a fun movie, but not Oscar material. I would recommend the movie, but don't sit down thinking it is going to be the best you have ever seen.

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.

This is by no means any more of a good film than the ratings show, however I am personally a collector of films where the people playing the principal characters first met and later became an item, or better yet married, and better yet happily and lastingly.

This movie sure fills the bill because the dance and love scenes between Preston and Travolta look real to me because they obviously were!! HOT as only real can really be. After seeing this, I still liked "For the Love of the Game" because of Preston, the baseball theme, Costner doing what he really does which is playing baseball and golf, but the chemistry between Costner and Preston fades from weak to nothing.