I'm hard pressed to think of a film that has so much going for it and yet fails so miserably.

A major waste of a film, poorly scripted and not very funny. The imbecilic American stereotype (a staple of Thatcher-era English comedy), particularly Sikking's one-note character, is grating. The morons themselves are pretty grating as well, though Smith amusingly underplays his part. The whole thing is a mass of wasted potential, coming across more as a mediocre episode of Comic Strip Presents, rather than an actual film. There are some amusing bits, though, especially in the latter half. Whoever in the production thought listening to Iron Maiden qualifies as 'torture' deserves an afterlife of endless Celine Dion, though.

Unpopular opinion time: I will say, though, that this is a lot more watchable than a similar, near-contemporaneous sci-fi film, Buckaroo Banzai, primarily because it's not nearly as self-involved and intentionally pretentious as that "cult" film.