Good concept, poorly executed.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Currently, "Alien From L.A." is #98 on IMDb's Bottom 100 list.Wanda is a fear-ridden nerdy woman with a VERY annoying voice (Kathy Ireland). She loses a boyfriend because of her many fears and prays to God to give her strength. Soon after, she receives a free ticket to Zamboanga, North Africa (which, by the way, is in the Philippines--not Africa as you learn in the film). There she meets up with an associate of her missing father and she soon falls into a tunnel that takes her deep within the earth. She ends up in a bizarre New Wave version of Atlantis--a dark place with a very screwy sense of design and fashion. There, she is seen as an alien--and soon the residents of this xenophobic society are in a panic trying to capture her. Along the way, a semi-hunky guy accompanies on her mild adventures.While I do not think that this film deserves to be among the entries on IMDb's infamous 'Bottom 100' list, it is bad. There are three main problems: Kathy Ireland, the script and the design. The worst of these clearly is Miss Ireland. Who would have thought to have this supermodel portraying a nerdy idiot?! In this role, she plays it VERY squeaky--with a high-pitched voice that sounds like a four year-old. It is VERY annoying and very hard on the ears--as well as sounding very fake. It also serves to make her seem stupid. As far as the script goes, it was very, very weak and silly--and the dialog was cringe-worthy throughout. And it was made much worse so by the freaky New Wave clothing, hair, body paint and the like. It frankly looks like the film's designers and fashion consultants were the guys from A Flock of Seagulls--but with a bargain basement budget. Overall, the film is dopey and not worth your time unless you are like me and you enjoy seeing celebrities crash and burn in their film debuts.

I watched the MST3K version, but if I saw the full version on DVD or video for £7 or less, i'd definitely buy it. That price isn't a reflection on the quality of the movie either, I just don't like buying movies much.Alien from L.A. is watchable in two ways. I thought the design of the production was, for the most part, excellent. I liked the cramped, fuzzy-smoky-steamy atmosphere and lighting, and I liked the costumes. I'm a sucker for "futuristic" dystopias, and one set of villains looked like Fat Sam's gang from Bugsy Malone grown up and glammed up. I like Bugsy, I like glam. I also like Flash Gordon and Dune, and the governmental bad guys(though some of them weren't..) would've fitted right into either. The world design of "Atlantis" made me happy.The second reason I couldn't look away from this movie was that I just couldn't *believe* Wanda (the main character). She starts the movie as such an unbelievable drip and the way she reacts to the letter that tells her her father is dead.. a mildly interested "O my gaahd~". NO KATHY IRELAND, THAT IS NOT HOW.Other people have mentioned her lack of sensible character development, but not the fact that when her glasses get smashed, she looks around for them from a distance, seems to SEE them, and shrug it off never needing them again. Maybe she's long sighted I guess, but that's never suggested by the movie.It is also not a good move to use an actress with a voice like that. Coupled with her bizarre reactionless acting it makes Wanda seem a complete space case and fairly impossible to sympathise with (as well as confusingly young before close-ups), and if you feel the need to hang a lampshade on a personal quirk three times in a film then you should just take the damn thing out somehow.Having said that though, if you took Wanda's weirdness and lack of expectable human qualities out of Alien From L.A, you'd have to replace it with something really amazing. The confusion that her character causes in the watcher is compelling. You might call it car- crash-watchable, but I think it's something rarer. There's almost no substance to the part at all, though she does things and goes places, changes clothes and follows a plot of a sort. It's like watching tightrope walkers; you think to yourself "can that really be happening?"-- but it is.Watching Alien From L.A. felt like watching a lot of other movies I've seen all at once. It reminded me of Tank Girl and The City of Lost Children and Garuda and The Worst Witch (the one with Tim Curry), Total Recall, 1984, there are these cool, kinda noir-y bits..This movie basically confuses me on a base level. The main character, performance and story are not good; perhaps just the average for some romantic/empowering made-for-TV. But they somehow found their way into another movie. A movie we never see the characters or plot of, a movie which takes place in an 80s-future city state that's averaged out from various previously existing sci-fi but which nevertheless carries it, adds a little of its own zing, and ends up workin' for me. Maybe that movie is about Gus's girl, or why the city is run by a revolving man, or why anybody listens to that guy on all the TVs, or why everybody is so interested in bones.I just really want someone to make that other movie. I really, really do. But until then, I am satisfied with Alien From L.A.

This movie is a bizarre fantasy tale, that I'm sure doesn't appeal to anyone over 10, but is too strange for children. The plot is stupid, and the acting is some of the worst I've ever seen.25-year old Kathy Ireland plays a teenage girl who acts like a 9-year old. She seems to have gotten her character's voice by listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks. Her high pitched, screechy baby voice gets annoying the second she starts talking. All of the other acting is bad, but really Kathy Ireland is by far the worst. The plot is also terrible and is kind of a mix between Alice in Wonderland and Mad Max. Wanda Saknussemm (Ireland) gets a letter saying her father, who left her a long time ago, fell down a bottomless pit in Africa, and when she goes to find him, she falls into an underground world full of strange Australian accented people. It's one of the corniest movie you'll ever see, with terrible lines throughout. It's annoying the effects this movie uses for character development. Kathy Ireland is a nerd who won't do anything or go anywhere. She flies to Africa....wow, what development! She drops her glasses and then doesn't need them. Why does dropping one's glasses represent them not becoming a nerd. It should represent her descent into blindness. It's just stupid. The only positive I can think is there are semi-good special effects and camera work, and the musical score sounds OK.Overall this a ridiculous family fantasy that will only appeal to those who expect nothing from a movie.My rating: 1/2 out of ****. 84 mins. PG for violence.

Every boy eventually learns the lesson that just because a girl is good-looking, it doesn't mean she's good. Well, lemme tell you, at age 19, lesson learned. It's hard to tell what's worse: Kathy Ireland's acting skills, or her ultra-high-pitched voice; the one that sounds like a screeching mouse on helium scratching its tiny little claws down a blackboard. With an incomprehensible plot set in outer space with dwarves that want Kathy Ireland's bones for some obscure reason, this movie is just wrong on so many levels. If there were ever a candidate for a Mystery Science Theater 3000 revival, this would be it.