Posted: Tue., Dec. 31, 1991, 11:00pm PT

Back in the USSR

By Variety Staff

Largo. Director Deran Sarafian; Producer Lindsay Smith, Ilmar Taska; Screenplay Lindsay Smith; Camera Yuri Neyman; Editor Ian Crafford; Music Les Hooper; Art Director Vladimir Philippov

Frank Whaley Natalya Negoda Roman Polanski Andrew Divoff Dey Young Brian Blessed

"Back in the USSR" is an amateurish adventure about the Russian underworld shot entirely in Moscow. This attempt to capitalize on perestroika stumbles over a weak script, wooden acting and inferior tech credits.

Story, by Lindsay Smith, founder of the American/Soviet Film Initiative, and Russian producer Ilmar Taska, involves vacationing young American Frank Whaley, whose amorous pursuits lead him into a cops-and-robbers escapade featuring a parade of loathsome characters. Russian actress Natalya Negoda is thhe love interest, and Roman Polanski plays the chief villain. In an obvious attempt at humor, nightclub owner Polanski is shown in one scene relishing nubile maidens on stage.

(Color) Extract of a review from 1992. Running time: 89 MIN.