short takes (1)

First Family is so messed up, it's actually interesting.You keep wondering what could have been in Buck Henry's mind as he wrote and directed this nonsense. Bob Newhart plays the President, Gilda Radner is his daughter, and the plot involves a fictional African country with a secret formula for fertilizer. Early on, there is some sharp satire amid the vulgar foolishness, but the story soon lapses into an eccentricity of staggering proportions. The cast lies helpless in its grasp.