In what appears to be the Pokémon of the 1980's, the "Gotcha!" game at the beginning is an annoying campus game of paint ball shooters who run around shooting each other, shouting out gotta when they succeed. Anthony Edwards is an expert in the game and when he goes to Europe with his roommate, he finds himself in trouble when he becomes involved with the older and alluring Linda Fiorentino, a Czech woman who is apparently a courier for espionage agents, heading with her from Paris to both West and East Berlin. Some mysterious film ends up in his possession, and that puts Russian agents on his trail and his life in jeopardy. The seemingly naive Edwards must play all the games he's learned through his paint ball gotcha game, and that results in the game being utilized when he returns to L. A. and discovers that the adventure with the agents is not over. But UCLA is Edward's territory, so he knows how to lead CIA agents into traps as well as the Boris Badinoff like KGB agents.
While the film is ridiculous in many ways, it is extremely entertaining in spite of the convoluted storyline and the absurdities a various events that happened throughout the film. He also has to deal with somewhat overprotective wealthy parents, veteran character actor Alex Rocco and Emmy-Winning soap actress Marla Adams, reminding me of a combination of Constance Towers and Dina Merrill with her sophisticated looks. Something about her pink big button earrings in her first scene had me laughing though, a far cry from the sophisticated way her "Young and the Restless" would be seen in public, either in 1985 (which she was on at the time) or her more recent stint that won her the award. Rocco is funny too, an interesting casting choice considering that he usually played blue collar workers, even when involved with Marj Dusay on "The Facts of Life" while playing Jo's father and Marj played Blair's sophisticated mother.
The beautiful Fiorentino is obviously emulating Natasha Fatale even though her character is a lot smarter. It's easy to see why Edwards would fall into her trap and she's not exactly a villain even if she is a bit of a minx. If you put aside expectations of any type of reality, you will find a lot of fun in this film and as much as I was rolling my eyes at it, I was laughing at it and with it and realizing that I was enjoying myself in spite of how implausible everything was. There are many funny moments even in the most intense situations, and Edwards, trying to get across to West Berlin from East Berlin, has a great reaction when he succeeds which is followed by an even funnier reaction from the West Berlin guard who is obviously American. Perhaps that 80's style of over the top irreverence makes this work, and as an action comedy, that makes this worth revisiting especially if you saw this when it first came out and want a good piece of 80's nostalgia.
While the film is ridiculous in many ways, it is extremely entertaining in spite of the convoluted storyline and the absurdities a various events that happened throughout the film. He also has to deal with somewhat overprotective wealthy parents, veteran character actor Alex Rocco and Emmy-Winning soap actress Marla Adams, reminding me of a combination of Constance Towers and Dina Merrill with her sophisticated looks. Something about her pink big button earrings in her first scene had me laughing though, a far cry from the sophisticated way her "Young and the Restless" would be seen in public, either in 1985 (which she was on at the time) or her more recent stint that won her the award. Rocco is funny too, an interesting casting choice considering that he usually played blue collar workers, even when involved with Marj Dusay on "The Facts of Life" while playing Jo's father and Marj played Blair's sophisticated mother.
The beautiful Fiorentino is obviously emulating Natasha Fatale even though her character is a lot smarter. It's easy to see why Edwards would fall into her trap and she's not exactly a villain even if she is a bit of a minx. If you put aside expectations of any type of reality, you will find a lot of fun in this film and as much as I was rolling my eyes at it, I was laughing at it and with it and realizing that I was enjoying myself in spite of how implausible everything was. There are many funny moments even in the most intense situations, and Edwards, trying to get across to West Berlin from East Berlin, has a great reaction when he succeeds which is followed by an even funnier reaction from the West Berlin guard who is obviously American. Perhaps that 80's style of over the top irreverence makes this work, and as an action comedy, that makes this worth revisiting especially if you saw this when it first came out and want a good piece of 80's nostalgia.