Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1986)

My Review

“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” is a spy comedy film about a bank clerical worker who stumbles into the world of international espionage. This just plain terrible movie suffers from a badly written screenplay, lousy acting, and lack of focus and poor execution by the director, who happens to be Penny Marshall in her motion picture debut. The script was seemingly thrown together by David H. Frazoni, J. W. Melville, Patricia Irving, Christopher Thompson.

The star of the show is Whoopi Goldberg, a terrible choice for the lead. She suffers from a limited acting range, excessive use of four-letter words and foul language, and a parochial manner. Her co-stars are better but handicapped by the brainless material they had to work with: Jonathan Pryce, Stephen Collins, Jim Belushi, Carol Kane, Jon Lovitz, Phil Hartman, Tracey Ullman, Annie Potts, Michael McKean, John Wood, Peter Michael Goetz, and Roscoe Lee Browne.

The unwatchable “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” had modest success in theatrical release for Lawrence Gordon Productions, Silver Pictures, and 20th Century Fox. It was filmed in New York City, Los Angeles, and Beverly Hills.