Manfred Link is the president of the United States. He and the usually tipsy First Lady have a 28-year-old, sex-starved daughter named Gloria. The president is surrounded by a number of eccentric staffers and allies, including Vice President Shockley, Ambassador Spender, Press Secretary Bunthorne and a presidential aide named Feebleman. He also is advised by General Dumpston, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The administration needs the support of the (fictional) African nation of Upper Gorm for an upcoming vote and must deal with Longo, that country's United Nations ambassador. Unfortunately, it can find only one American who can speak the Upper Gormese language, a man named Alexander Grade. As best they can understand it, the ruler of Upper Gorm wants, in exchange, a number of Americans sent to his land so that his country, like the United States, can know what it is like to have an oppressed minority. Gloria is kidnapped and Americans are transported to Africa like slaves.
Critical reception to First Family was hostile, with many critics generally considering it unfunny. Some writers were especially unimpressed given the strong cast, all of whom were established comedians and comic actors. Buck Henry had written other successful TV shows and films such as Saturday Night Live and The Graduate, but critics felt he gave the actors largely inferior material in his directorial debut. Richard Corliss of Time magazine wrote that "Henry began with a funny situation but no plot", and that "Any episode of M*A*S*H, Taxi or The Muppet Show has more laughs and pathos per minute than this impeachable farce."[2]People magazine wrote that the screenplay "disintegrates about halfway through the film."[3]Vincent Canby of The New York Times offered a more positive review than other critics, praising the cast and opining that some of the sequences were funny.[4] However, he conceded that the film's second half appeared to run out of ideas.[4]
The film grossed $15 million at the box office.[1]
Actor John Hillerman was up for a role in the film and "wanted the part very badly", and had he gotten the role, he would have turned down the role of Higgins in Magnum, P.I.[5]
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