Theme Song: There was an original song about women manipulating men, but I didn’t feel inspired to record it.
Interesting Dated References: Enjoying hanging out with coworkers outside of the office.
Social Context: Yet another post-Police Academy attempt at comedy via bumbling idiots unified by an occupation or social group.
Summary: The plot of All’s Fair makes little sense. A candy company run by a tyrannical military man has monthly all-male executive employee war games that everyone is fanatical about. Their wives, led by the ex-wife of the CEO, feel left out and take it upon themselves to undergo military training so they can compete as well.
This foolishness is wrapped up in 89 minutes of mediocre jokes about the difference between sexes, prat falls, emasculating mock-combat situations, and one of George Segal’s worst performances. There is a romantic subplot involving Ann (Jennifer Edwards) and Mark (Robert Carradine), but by the time we get to the final battle of the sexes, everything is so lackluster that I stopped paying attention. I think the ladies win.
When the ladies get serious about training, they recruit Klaus, played by Lou Ferrigno, to show them the ropes of military combat. However, a running joke about Klaus babysitting while they train is played to death, including in the closing wrap-up.
Jane Kaczmarek commits to her performance as an over-worked housewife. Still, almost everything else, including another subplot about ex-wife Florence (Sally Kellerman) buying a rival candy company and forging a hostile takeover of Segal’s company, is paper-thin and seems solely designed to fill runtime.
Worth Mentioning:
– Four names are listed in the “Screenplay By” section and two in the “Story By” section, totaling five men who insisted on writing credit for this movie.
Poster and Box Art: Look we all acknowledge Drew Struzan is a legacy talent but holy shit in the late 80s between this movie, the equally forgettable Weekend Warriors and Happy Hour, there was no project he wouldn’t turn down.
It’s a nice composition, though! Great effort!