The Experts

John Travolta has had a lot of comebacks. We all remember his biggest one, Pulp Fiction, that earned him an Oscar nomination. But there was also Look Who's Talking, and just this year, on the small screen with The People Vs. O.J. Simpson. With so many comebacks, there have been even more failed attempts. One of those was 1989's The Experts.

Two big city nightclub promoters, Travolta and Ayre Gross, think they are getting a big break when Cameron, Charles Martin Smith, approaches them to help him jazz up his nightclub in rural America. When the boys arrive, it feels like they have stepped into an episode of Leave It To Beaver. They come to find that they aren't in America at all, but a mock up town that was built in Russia and that Cameron is actually a KGB spy that wants their help in Americanizing their spys.

This movie has some flaws. First, the film was shelved by the studio for over two years, so when it was released it didn't feel so timely. The Russian scare of the 80's had pretty much died down by then. Also, the film is horribly edited. Characters appear and then disappear halfway through,while other characters are introduced, without any explanation. This is very noticeable with the Deborah Foreman character, who plays Gross' love interest. I thought it might have been due to reshoots, but after doing my homework I found out that the studio pressured the director, Dave Thomas, to go back and reshoot a lot of the movie but he couldn't because Travolta had gained a lot of weight after the filming wrapped.

That being said, I still really enjoy the movie. Travolta and Gross are both pretty funny and make a good team. Kelly Preston is also pretty good as a sexy, Russian agent who catches Travolta's eye. The two met on the set and not long after got married in real life. They even share a hot dance number in the film. James Keach is the real scene stealer in this as a rogue spy who wants to taste freedom.

I think former SCTV alum Thomas does a good job of capturing the humor in the movie, but the editing leaves something to be desired. It's hard for me to hate on him though since he is Doug McKenzie.

Overall, The Experts is a fun film despite it's shortcomings.

It's not available on dvd or blu ray.