Robert J. Maxwell A jokey story in which a young concert violinist and composer, Tom Hanks, is mistaken for a Soviet spy who is passing on secret messages by means of the notes he plays. The CIA is out to uncover his network and put an end to his shenanigans.It's not too successful as a comedy but it deserves a few remarks. One is that there are some genuine laughs involved, especially dealing with Hanks' playing doctor with the wife of James Belushi, the tympanist. And its amusing too when the CIA agent, Lori Singer, tries to seduce Hanks in her bedroom on the other side of a one-way mirror, behind which sit Dabney Coleman and two or three ranks of CIA staff. Lori Singer, by the way, is a paragon of pulchritude.There are a lot of chases by cars, ambulance, and bicycles. Several bad guys are shot dead and their deaths played or laughs. In other words, there's quite a lot of action, though some of it smashes the perimeter of possibilities. Charles Durning is the Director of the CIA and winds up with egg on his face, prepared and presented by Edward Hermann.It's a divertimento. You might like it if you don't expect too much.

Uriah43 In a desperate attempt to keep his job as the director of the CIA "Ross" (Charles Durning) directs his assistant "Brown" (Edward Herrmann) to select a person at random and falsely suggest to his main rival "Cooper" (Dabney Coleman) that this innocent bystander has secret information that might thwart Cooper's political ambitions. To that end, Brown selects an eccentric musician named "Richard" (Tom Hanks) because he is wearing one red shoe due to a practical joke played on him by his best friend "Morris" (James Belushi). As expected, Cooper takes the bait and immediately puts all of his resources into finding out what Richard knows. However, what Cooper doesn't realize is the difficulty his agents encounter when they submerge themselves into Richard's bizarre life. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this movie started off a bit slow but got pretty funny towards the end with Morris deservedly having to endure his share of comedic mishaps. Admittedly, this wasn't a great comedy by any means but I still found it entertaining enough and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

gavin6942 A man picked randomly out of a crowd is made the target of CIA surveillance and pursuit.As Tom Hanks himself acknowledges, the movie is not that good. The plot is okay, but a bit convoluted. The comedy is more often of the absurd kind, and I am not sure it always succeeds. Jim Belushi is rather the strong point of the comedy parts. Also, as 1980s movies end to do, a romance is thrown in for some reason... it seems somewhat forced.What makes this movie worth watching, despite the "blah" of the overall plot and comedy, is the ensemble cast. Tom Hanks may be the star, but he probably doesn't have 50% of the screen time, because he is sharing it with Dabney Coleman, Jim Belushi, Carrie Fisher (in a small role), Charles Durning, Ed Hermann, Lori Singer, Gerrit Graham and more I'm not recalling at the moment. It is a truly impressive cast.

scrubby3 Then this movie is right up your alley! It is a wonderfully kooky movie about how an 'Average Joe' who is mistaken for a spy and gets mixed up in a world of spies. I laughed from beginning to end. It is one big mix up after another and it just keeps getting funnier and funnier as the movie goes along.Tom Hanks is a wonderful physical comic actor. He trips, falls, bangs into stuff. Meats the woman of his dreams.Why is he only wearing one red shoe when is he picked out of a crowd of people? You have to watch the movie!Like I said though you really must have an odd sense of humor to truly enjoy it. It is not one of those movies meant for dissection, it is meant to be mindlessly enjoyed.