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Conceived as a quasi-sequel to the cult favorite "Kentucky Fried Movie", the 1987 comedy "Amazon Women on the Moon" quickly disappeared from theaters after a half-hearted release that failed to capitalize on the presence of star directors Joe Dante and John Landis (possibly because the latter was on trial for manslaughter at the time). Instead of a straightforward narrative, the film is a collection of skits that are mostly designed to approximate an average evening of late-night television (at least in the glory days before the Late Show was replaced with infomercials) and like most sketch films, the results are pretty scattershot. The bits involving Rosanna Arquette and Steve Guttenberg attempting to go on a blind date and Michelle Pfeiffer as a new mother dealing with wacky obstetrician Griffin Dunne are painfully bad and a goof on the programming on Playboy TV is never as funny as the actual thing.

However, when the bits are funny, they are really, really funny. The centerpiece, a spoof/homage of the old Zsa Zsa Gabor classic "Queen from Outer Space" is both a hysterical satire and a loving tribute to tacky 1950’s B sci-fi flicks and there is an end-credit riff on 1930’s sex-exploitation films that is just as clever and funny. Best of all is the "Son of the Invisible Man" skit, in which a bit of trivia remembered only by hard-core Universal horror-film fanatics (that the serum that caused the Invisible Man to disappear also made him insane in the process) is expanded on (to say any more would kill the joke) with highly amusing results. There are a lot of other funny bits and pieces (including a show that purports to prove that Jack the Ripper was, in fact, the Loch Ness Monster-complete with "dramatic recreation) and whenever I see it, I find myself laughing. More importantly, my mother thinks it is pretty funny as well and whenever she is happy, I am as well. For those with a taste for off-beat humor, this film should make you happy as well. (Besides, where else are you going to find a film with a cast including Carrie Fisher, Andrew Dice Clay, Russ Meyer and Slappy White?)

Directed by John Landis, Joe Dante, Peter Horton, Robert K. Weiss and Carl Gottlieb. Starring Rosanna Arquette, Ed Begley Jr., Griffin Dunne, Michelle Pfeiffer, Henry Silva, Arsenio Hall, Steve Forrest and Henny Youngman. 1987. 85 minutes. Rated R. A Universal Home Video release.

-- DVD Review by Peter Sobczynski

Copyright © 2003 Peter Sobczynski
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While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.