Ah, the wonder of Blu-Ray re-releases! Amazon Women on the Moon was a much treasured VHS rental for me as a teenager (I can imagine the teenage me enjoying the segment ‘Video Dates’ very much…). It’s recently been released on Blu-Ray for the first time, and I watched it again, expecting to find it not very funny…
The film is just a series of sketches based around late night TV back in 80s, where an old sci-fi film is constantly interrupted with ads, other shows, and sketches. It’s patchy – but for the large part it’s hilarious. I think a lot of the weaker material is placed earlier in the film, and gradually the better humour takes over… By the time I was at the segment “Roast Your Loved One” directed by the great Joe Dante, I was laughing my head off.
It’s risqué in parts, very 80s but it’s also packed with some great actors – and it’s nice to see people like the late Russ Meyer and B.B King making funny cameos.
The sci-fi movie that the film is built around is the most irritating thing in the film (until Sybil Danning turns up! – this blogpost is definitely regressing to being written by my teenage self…) but the film manages to overcome nearly all of the weaker elements to make it a fun, silly, treat.
Alongside Joe Dante’s segments, other directors include John Landis, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton and Robert K Weiss. And apart from the previously mentioned cameo appearances it’s a rare treat to see Steve Guttenberg doing his shtick again – he really is a funny and odd actor (but don’t worry, I won’t be writing about Police Academy anytime soon.)
Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hire for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer. He’s also a leading UK script consultant. You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb. You can get in touch with Matthew on matcoop23@yahoo.co.uk or hire him on Peopleperhour