The cause of feminism was a big one in the 70's and Hollywood is always one who'll gladly try to cash-in on any cause-du-jour. It's too bad that "Superchick" does such a lackluster job in doing that.
Perennial t.v. guest star, Joyce Jillson, plays "superchick" Tara B. True. She's the ultimate swinging 70's icon of the modern woman. A stewardess by trade, she has men in every port of call and never passes up the fun of a good time. But when one of her beaus gets her involved with a plot to hijack her flight, she busts out some heavy-duty karate action to stop them!
With a plot that preposterous, you'd think there's a lot of funny hijinks to be had. You'd be wrong. This exploitation sex comedy never really gets out of first gear. Most of the attempts at humor just don't work. What is passed off as clever and hip, is actually just boring and tedious. A scene where Tara almost gets busted at a pot party, is a prime example. She tries to play an innocent act, but it's so over the top ridiculous that you think she'd get arrested for bad overacting. A lot of the humor in the film ends up the same way. One of the rare moments it doesn't, is the scene with the flasher (played by Gus Peters). It's one of the very few moments that will actually bring a chuckle or two. Sadly, moments like that are very few and far in-between. Pretty much a kiss of death for a film of this kind. But the problems here don't just rest with an unfunny script.
Most of the actors just don't get to develop any connection with the audience. To call them ciphers to "Superchick" would be to insult non-entities everywhere. Even such well-known quantities, like Uschi Digard playing a lesbian porn star and John Carradine as a perverted has-been horror actor, look to be just phoning it in. There's no spark or interest in any of the performances at all. And for a film that is rooted in the "sexploitation" genre, there is very little in the way of nudity presented (with most of that given by Uschi Digard in one single scene). It's a sexploitation film with very little of a sexual component to it. Many PG-13 films today have more raunchiness to them. And as for the plane hijacking plot, by the time we reach the climax of that, your interest is likely to have wandered into thinking about anything else. Even the karate fight lacks any punch.
"Superchick" not only fails to be a funny satire spoof of the modern 70's feminist, but it fails at being a fun and sleazy exploitation film. Basically, it fails to do what it was likely intended to do. There's too little depravity and bawdiness for it to work as a sexploitation film, and too much contrived hokeyness for it to be truly funny. There's little here to recommend anyone check this out, even genre fans. There's lots of other films of this type that do a much better job with this kind of material. You should seek those out over this decidedly "un-super" flop!
Perennial t.v. guest star, Joyce Jillson, plays "superchick" Tara B. True. She's the ultimate swinging 70's icon of the modern woman. A stewardess by trade, she has men in every port of call and never passes up the fun of a good time. But when one of her beaus gets her involved with a plot to hijack her flight, she busts out some heavy-duty karate action to stop them!
With a plot that preposterous, you'd think there's a lot of funny hijinks to be had. You'd be wrong. This exploitation sex comedy never really gets out of first gear. Most of the attempts at humor just don't work. What is passed off as clever and hip, is actually just boring and tedious. A scene where Tara almost gets busted at a pot party, is a prime example. She tries to play an innocent act, but it's so over the top ridiculous that you think she'd get arrested for bad overacting. A lot of the humor in the film ends up the same way. One of the rare moments it doesn't, is the scene with the flasher (played by Gus Peters). It's one of the very few moments that will actually bring a chuckle or two. Sadly, moments like that are very few and far in-between. Pretty much a kiss of death for a film of this kind. But the problems here don't just rest with an unfunny script.
Most of the actors just don't get to develop any connection with the audience. To call them ciphers to "Superchick" would be to insult non-entities everywhere. Even such well-known quantities, like Uschi Digard playing a lesbian porn star and John Carradine as a perverted has-been horror actor, look to be just phoning it in. There's no spark or interest in any of the performances at all. And for a film that is rooted in the "sexploitation" genre, there is very little in the way of nudity presented (with most of that given by Uschi Digard in one single scene). It's a sexploitation film with very little of a sexual component to it. Many PG-13 films today have more raunchiness to them. And as for the plane hijacking plot, by the time we reach the climax of that, your interest is likely to have wandered into thinking about anything else. Even the karate fight lacks any punch.
"Superchick" not only fails to be a funny satire spoof of the modern 70's feminist, but it fails at being a fun and sleazy exploitation film. Basically, it fails to do what it was likely intended to do. There's too little depravity and bawdiness for it to work as a sexploitation film, and too much contrived hokeyness for it to be truly funny. There's little here to recommend anyone check this out, even genre fans. There's lots of other films of this type that do a much better job with this kind of material. You should seek those out over this decidedly "un-super" flop!