Synopsis
Acclaimed director John Landis (Animal House, The Blues Brothers) presents this madcap send-up of late night TV, low-budget sci-fi films and canned-laughter-filled sitcoms packed with off-the-wall sketches that will have you in stitches. Centered around a television station which features a 1950s-style sci-fi movie interspersed with a series of wild commercials, wacky shorts and weird specials, this lampoon of contemporary life and pop culture skewers some of the silliest spectacles ever created in the name of entertainment. A truly outrageous look at the best of the worst that television has to offer.
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Cast
- Michelle PfeifferBrenda Landers
- Peter HortonHarry Landers
- Monique GabrielleTaryn Steele
- Steve ForrestCapt. Nelson
- Griffin DunneDoctor
- Joey TravoltaButch
- Sybil DanningQueen Lara
- Forrest J. AckermanU.S. President
- Rosanna ArquetteKaren
- Ed Begley Jr.Griffin
Recommendations
- 70
The New York Times
An anarchic, often hilarious adventure in dial-spinning, a collection of brief skits and wacko parodies that are sometimes quite clever, though they're just as often happily sophomoric, too. - 70
Los Angeles Times
When it's funny it's often hilarious and low-down, but when it isn't, it's embarrassingly grim. On the whole, however, it balances out as an amiable diversion -- provided you're in a suitably relaxed and undemanding mood. [18 Sept 1987, p.14] - 60
Variety
Amazon Women on the Moon is irreverent, vulgar and silly and has some hilarious moments and some real groaners too. - 60
Empire
A fun night in with the tellybox, but then it never claimed to be anything more. - 50
TV Guide Magazine
The basic problem is that most of the humor is based on things that are beyond parody. Bad television commercials and lame low-budget films are funny enough as they are; exaggerating their ridiculousness is unnecessary. What is successful is the painstakingly accurate recreation of everything from the commercials to the title skit. The talented filmmakers demonstrate that they can handle a multitude of directing chores, and, although the scripting may lack imagination, the visuals are handled quite well. - 50
Time Out
The overall result, unsurprisingly, is patchy in the extreme. Weiss' title piece - fragments guying the portentous scripts, wooden acting and non-existent budgets of Z-grade '50s sci-fi movies - is obvious but occasionally spot-on with its appalling sets and repetitive use of the same bit of landscape. - 50
Chicago Tribune
The large number of video jokes in Amazon Women suggests a product principally designed with the home screen in mind, and perhaps it will look sharper there. [18 Sept 1987, p.E] - 42
Christian Science Monitor
Lots of filmmakers, lots of opportunities, lots of bad taste, very few laughs. [25 Sept 1987, p.23]
