Alien from L.A. (1988)

"Your glasses make you look stupid, your hair is ugly, you dress like a nerd, you walk like a clod, and your voice gives me a headache." - Robbie

A girl from L.A. gets lost in an underground civilization of weirdos.
Starring: Kathy Ireland, William R. Moses, Richard Haines, Deep Roy

Link to IMDB

Wanda Saknussemm is a nerdy and naive girl living in L.A. and trying to enjoy her summer, but her boyfriend just dumped her for not being adventurous enough. The only person that ever really understood Wanda was her dad, but he's been traveling for the last 10 years doing archaeological research. When Wanda gets a letter from Africa, telling her how her father was killed when he fell down a bottomless pit, she decides it's time for a real adventure out into the world to learn about her dad and, hopefully, herself.
In Africa, Wanda finds the tomb where her father was working and proceeds to fall down the same bottomless pit! Except, of course, it has a bottom and she finds herself in a massive cavern. She befriends a man named Gus, who lives underground, and he explains that there's actually an entire city down here and it's called Atlantis. That's the name of the city her dad was researching, so she figures it's the best place to start looking for information about him.

Gus

Atlantis is a massive city, complete with its own culture and government. There's some tension about "aliens" from the "surface world" that the politicians assure everyone doesn't exist, so Wanda decides she better keep her identity a secret. Of course, that doesn't last long...
Wanda eventually gets kidnapped and sold to Mambino, a rich criminal boss that wants an alien for a pet. The politicians also discover who she is, and the dangerous General Rykov begins hunting for her. A large portion of the movie just becomes one long chase scene through the twisted streets of the city, as Wanda and Gus are on the run from Mambino's goons and the military. It really starts to get repetitive and seems like they ran out of ideas (and money) to play with.

"You seem like an unusual girl, Wanda, and not just because your voice is so strange." - Charming

The excitement doesn't completely fade though, as weirdness abounds in Atlantis and there's always something dumb to laugh at. Most notably, Wanda meets Charming, a handsome man that believes her story about the surface world and he helps her get some answers about her father. Instead of just being a damsel in distress, Wanda does get to be a bit of a hero herself, as she confronts the politicians who are debating if the "alien" is actually dangerous or not. Can Wanda discover the truth about her father? Will she ever see the L.A. sunlight again, and show her friends that she has found some self-confidence?

Mambino

General Rykov

The large city sets and flamboyant costumes are pretty interesting, and really bring the underworld to life in a cheap but fun imitation of the gritty Bladerunner style. It's too bad they didn't save some of the budget for a better script, because the story itself is the weakest part of the movie. It's pretty goofy and the ending gets rushed into a mess, but at least it remains comprehensible. 15 minutes into the movie I had predicted a dumb twist ending, but they playfully avoid the obvious twist and give Wanda a proper conclusion that she earned.

Be sure not to miss:
- Shank and Rykov are played by the same actress.
- The music can get a bit too epic. This isn't Ben Hur, dammit!
- What the hell was going on with the Lord Over's chair??
- Wanda's whiny voice does get a bit annoying, but no matter how hard they try, making Kathy Ireland unattractive is hard to do.

Internet review:
"You might find enjoyment here although it's a little tough to explain why exactly." - SpaceMufane

Should I watch it?
It's not a bad watch, it just gets a bit too dumb for its own good.

Where can I find it?
I've never been able to find it online, so when I saw the DVD in a bargain bin at Sears I grabbed it for $3.
But the MST3K version is around.

Alien from L.A. gets...