Ever wanted to see John Travolta with a fierce mullet and a bad fashion sense? Check out 'The Experts,' a cold-war influenced, pre-Truman Show comedy that was a good idea, but should've developed into something more.
This is the story of KGB agents who have developed an isolated town which will emulate a sleepy Midwestern American town. The purpose is to fully assimilate it's agents into American culture so that they may go undetected when they infiltrate the states (although some of the residents had been there their whole lives and seemed unlikely of doing anything in the actual America for which it serves as a template). But, sensing that the training ground is out-of-touch with modern America, one of the executives of the agency hires to bumbling New Yorkers to be their guide to what's hip in 1989 America. They lure them to the town under the guise that they're developing a night club and want those two to advise them.
Unaware of what is going on, their "experts" stick out like a sore thumb in the 50's Midwest style neighborhood, before others catch on and emulate the two newcomers' love of dirty dancing, club music, and mass materialism of electronic consumer goods in the same way that the modern teenagers in Pleasantville effected their surroundings. Only, the other agents disapprove of the changes in their people who seem wholly unaware of their artificial surroundings (much like "the experts") and don't want the Experts to stay. Meanwhile, it is only a matter of time before the Experts figure out what is really going on as they tend to rub some of the higher-up executives the wrong way with their presence.
The idea was fun, and deserved a lot more quirkiness and less family-friendly appeal in order to make one of those really funky late 80s comedies that celebrate that modern American city culture. The movie, however, by mid-state tends to drag on in repetition and by the end, becomes completely balled up in corniness as the town becomes chaotic and the filmmakers struggle for a perfect resolution in which American culture prevails over the perceived stuffiness of then-Communist Russia. It is instead a more moderate comedy with some funny moments, but overall is more or less droll. Not that hilarious, not that different. But there is some appeal, especially if you're searching out lost titles of the 80s, no matter how mild they may be.
Worth a shot, if for nothing else, than to see Arye Gross and John Travolta in ridiculous 80s garb.
This is the story of KGB agents who have developed an isolated town which will emulate a sleepy Midwestern American town. The purpose is to fully assimilate it's agents into American culture so that they may go undetected when they infiltrate the states (although some of the residents had been there their whole lives and seemed unlikely of doing anything in the actual America for which it serves as a template). But, sensing that the training ground is out-of-touch with modern America, one of the executives of the agency hires to bumbling New Yorkers to be their guide to what's hip in 1989 America. They lure them to the town under the guise that they're developing a night club and want those two to advise them.
Unaware of what is going on, their "experts" stick out like a sore thumb in the 50's Midwest style neighborhood, before others catch on and emulate the two newcomers' love of dirty dancing, club music, and mass materialism of electronic consumer goods in the same way that the modern teenagers in Pleasantville effected their surroundings. Only, the other agents disapprove of the changes in their people who seem wholly unaware of their artificial surroundings (much like "the experts") and don't want the Experts to stay. Meanwhile, it is only a matter of time before the Experts figure out what is really going on as they tend to rub some of the higher-up executives the wrong way with their presence.
The idea was fun, and deserved a lot more quirkiness and less family-friendly appeal in order to make one of those really funky late 80s comedies that celebrate that modern American city culture. The movie, however, by mid-state tends to drag on in repetition and by the end, becomes completely balled up in corniness as the town becomes chaotic and the filmmakers struggle for a perfect resolution in which American culture prevails over the perceived stuffiness of then-Communist Russia. It is instead a more moderate comedy with some funny moments, but overall is more or less droll. Not that hilarious, not that different. But there is some appeal, especially if you're searching out lost titles of the 80s, no matter how mild they may be.
Worth a shot, if for nothing else, than to see Arye Gross and John Travolta in ridiculous 80s garb.