The Experts

A John Travolta film that slipped through the cracks? Yes, indeed, which is where it should have stayed. How's this for an intelligent premise? The Russians have built a fake American town in order to train operatives, but something isn't quite right. So they go to America to drug and kidnap a pair of experts: John Travolta and Arye Gross, two New Yorkers who are led to believe that they are being hired to run a nightclub somewhere in Nebraska. Why do the Soviets need American expertise? Because their make-believe town is straight out of the '50s, and they've never heard of VCRs or Walkmans. Only an idiot or an impressionable teenager would swallow this setup. The global village concept is fairly well-established, and since many Soviet citizens own VCRs and Walkmans, it's a bit of a stretcher to believe that modern technology hasn't trickled up to the government. Of course, most of the humor is spent on either demeaning or patronizing the Russian populace (if there is a hell, I suspect it includes being patronized by John Travolta). And, of course, the filmmakers blow their own shaky premise sky high, when Soviet agent Kelly Preston gets on the dance floor and demonstrates moves that could only be acquired by repeated viewings of Dirty Dancing. Not to put too fine a point on it, if stupidity were a legal offense, the filmmakers would be looking at life imprisonment. Not recommended. (R. Pitman)