Club Paradise

Plot synopsis:
Jack Moniker (Robin Williams) is a Chicago firefighter who becomes injured on the job. Using his disability money, he decides to retire and live the good life in a small Caribbean island called Saint Nicholas. He buys a small amount of property there and lives among other washed-up personalities such as Anthony Croyden Hayes (Peter O'Toole). Appointed by the British crown as governor of St. Nicholas, Hayes is more concerned with vacationing than governing. Miss Phillipa Lloyd (Twiggy), who is visiting St. Nicholas with some sailor friends of hers, decides to stay permanently and becomes Jack's girlfriend in the process. He playfully refers to her as "Miss Philadelphia".
Jack befriends financially troubled reggae musician Ernest Reed (Jimmy Cliff), and they together form "Club Paradise," which they market as a Club Med-style resort complete with a brochure that features photographs of Jack in various disguises on every page. This attracts a handful of tourists, including Barry and Barry (Rick Moranis and Eugene Levy) who are there for the pot and the women. Much of the film involves the tourists' comic misadventures adjusting to island life and the low-rent facilities of Club Paradise. Also travelling to the island is New York Times travel writer Terry Hamlin (Joanna Cassidy) who ends up spending most of her time in the company of Governor Hayes. Adding to the fun is suburban housewife Linda White (Andrea Martin), who is vacationing with her plastic surgeon husband Randy (Steven Kampmann). She tries her hand at just about everything the island has to offer, including cliff diving lessons from two handsome instructors, Christopher and Helmut.
Voit Zerbe (Brian Doyle-Murray) plays a key role, as a developer who wants to run Jack and Ernest off their property so he can build a massive high-end casino on the beach as part of a deal he's making with two business partners - one Swiss, the other Arab. To do that, he uses the help of the local prime minister Solomon Gundy (Adolph Caesar) and the prime minister's men to cause trouble and get Club Paradise to close "legally." Jack and Ernest go so far as to sneak aboard Zerbe's yacht to provide some "useful intelligence" for Governor Hayes by finding out what is going to happen to the future of Saint Nicholas. They skin dive to the yacht (not before Jack brings a helium tank instead of an oxygen tank) where they are captured by local police and thrown in jail. When Prime Minister Gundy's strong arm tactics don't work, he orders a military takeover of the island. Ernest builds up a resistance force, and St. Nicholas is soon threatened with the possibility of civil war, which is averted at the last minute with assistance from Jack and Governor Hayes. When Gundy's takeover fails, Zerbe and his partners leave Saint Nicholas and head for the Cayman Islands. Jack is then inspired to create a new tagline for the club: "Club Paradise: Your Hot Spot for Fun With Guns in the Sun."

Tags: comedy, humor

Review:
The charm is in its Carribbean setting, the mostly reggae soundtrack, Jimmy Cliff's character and Robin Williams' character--while we're at it throw Peter O'toole in their too.
Before Robin Williams solidly established himself as a star in "Good Morning, Vietnam", he starred in several innocuously silly movies such as "Club Paradise".
There, he joins up with tour guide Ernest Reed (Jimmy Cliff) and the two of them open a wild business, with the help of Gov. Anthony Cloyden Hayes (Peter O'Toole).
Once the rich American tourists start arriving, the high finks take off.The movie is mostly an excuse for a bunch of goofy things to happen, especially when the characters played by Eugene Levy and Rick Moranis embarrass themselves.
True, Williams did better with some of his later work, but "Club Paradise" is still pretty funny..
The eclectic selection of humorous scenes is well woven.O'Toole lends a great deal of sophistication to the film.
His thought provoking words on government and island life stirred my imagination.Williams seems to have been at his comical best early in his career.Moranis proves himself to be a true oddball.Certainly, this is a picture you should not miss seeing..
Yet it is the movies I remember the most and this is one of them.It is cute and fun and with some great actors playing, so what if it didn't win any Oscars?
Sure it wasn't gut bursting laughs by the minute, rather smiling all through the movie.No. It is all about the beautiful warm feeling you get, like coming directly from the Caribbean sun itself.
While I can only give it a six or a seven, I always think of it with a smile; it's definitely just as funny or funnier than the average comedy coming out today.Part of my affinity for this movie is the cast.
Robin Williams, as you would only expect, is his manic self here, a fish-out-of-water ex-Chicago fireman, struggling to open a low rent tourist resort in a banana republic.
He's got some funny bits, and his throwaway ad lib's are better than most other actors' scripted lines.The real bonus, though, is the rest of the cast.
Peter O'Toole swills drinks and purses his lips around his extra long cigarette holder,while spitting out his cynical, glib observations regarding the tropical paradise/hellhole.But some of the funniest moments here are provided by several veterans of SCTV.
Andrea Martin plays a pampered wife, most definitely out of her element in Williams' accomodations, while Rick Moranis and Eugene Levy are hilarious playing two slaughterhouse workers trying to score, in more ways than one.
Some of the drug humor connected with their characters is every bit as funny as anything Cheech & Chong attempted.Additionally, Brian Doyle-Murray, Twiggy, and Adolph Caesar round out a very busy cast.
Robin Williams is at his best  Club Paradise is full of great Jamaican music, buetiful scenery and is full of comedy.
This is one of my favorite movies with Robin Williams.
This is a great movie to watch in the dead of winter.
I love Club Paradise, great soundtrack by Jimmy Cliff and the only Robin Williams movie I can say I truly enjoy.Its a cute silly film, mostly disliked but a great post SCTV carry over cast with Eugene Levy and Rick moranis up to no good in the jungle.Williams delivers and Peter O' Toole is so superior as "The Govenor" truly wry British humor is used at all times.A great $4.99 value found recently for sale at Walgreens, pick it up and have a larf.Cherrio caps!-Sean in LA.
Some hokey gags, but lot's of hilarious banter from Robin Williams and Peter O'Toole, plus epic songs from Jimmy Cliff and others.
Lot's of great performances in smaller roles by Brian Doyle-Murray, Rick Moranis, Twiggy and Jimmy Cliff..
I found the movie funnier, when I first saw it back in 87' with a friend, who was a Robin William's fan.
With a new found love, sexy Twiggy, Williams sets up a new resort called Club Paradise, where soon greedy and corrupt forces are trying to buy it up, where Williams and co won't budge.
Really here is a clichéd and unoriginal scenario in these sort of comedies, laughs scarce, far or a few between, yet I still enjoyed it, but truly it's a comedy that sags, that does have some interesting moments, one involving a anaconda choking one of the female guests, that same guest earlier having one hell of a shower as promised by Williams.
William's likable character is one of the few components that makes the film watchable, as does Twiggy, providing eye candy, where Peter O Toole is fun too as a contradicting aristocrat, despite that stupid Razzie nomination.
The lucky, pot smoking locals are very appreciative too.u. Also with Jimmy Cliff singing, we also get to watch him act too, and he ain't half bad.
If you weigh up Club Paradise with Williams and Twiggy, etc.
Despite the presence of possibly the (collectively) funniest cast in the history of film, "Club Paradise" is only sporadically amusing.
Robin Williams heads a cast which includes Peter O'Toole and Jimmy Cliff.
Second City and SCTV vet Harold Ramis directs a script by he and fellow Second City & SNL alum Brian Doyle-Murray (who also plays one of the villains of the piece), and fills it with a ton of other Second City vets including Joe Flaherty, Steven Kampmann, Robin Duke, Mary Gross, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, and Rick Moranis.
This is a very fun movie starring Robin Williams, the cast is great, it has the whole cast of SCTV, except for John Candy, who should have been in it playing one of Robin Williamw' buddies or something.
It's got everyone else though, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, Brian Doyle-Murray, Mary Gross(Saturday Night Live), Andrea Martin(AKA Edith Prickley), and Joe Flaherty is hilarious as the crazy unexperienced pilot.
The movie's slapstick was awful to the point of it being painful to watch, but I really enjoyed the witty banter and verbal jibes between the cast most of the time.
There were plenty of times the film had me laughing out loud with their verbal jabs, but the physical comedy was so overacted, it looked like a silly, low budget comedy.
I gave it 6 stars because it's still a fun movie and it's always a pleasure to see stars like Peter O'Toole and Robin Williams mixing it up with other comedic talents, even though this one falls a bit short..
This movie must have been a hell of a lot of fun to be working on the set of.
You get a beautiful tropical setting and a cast full of very funny, talented actors and comedians.
You get Robin Williams working with nearly the entire cast of SCTV and a few fun SNL faces(Mary Gross, Robin Duke, and Brian Doyle-Murray) and veteran Peter O'Toole thrown in for good measure, all under the direction of another SCTV veteran, Harold Ramis.
It is a lot of fun seeing these people work together.Unfortunately, the film lacks in everything else.
I cannot recommend this film, but the cast does make it watchable, if it isn't worth watching..
Chicago firefighter Jack Moniker (Robin Williams) dreams of retiring to the Caribbean island St. Nicholas.
Minister of finance and tourism Solomon Gundy wants to take over Jack's reggae friend Ernest Reed (Jimmy Cliff)'s club over his back taxes.
Jack starts Club Paradise which brings in tourists such as best friends Barry (Rick Moranis) and Barry (Eugene Levy), New York Times travel writer Terry Hamlin (Joanna Cassidy), friends Mary Lou (Robin Duke) and Jackie (Mary Gross), and Linda White (Andrea Martin) and her plastic surgeon husband Randy (Steven Kampmann).
With Robin Williams and Peter O'Toole, there should be more laughs.
Too many great lines from Robin Williams and Barry and Barry make the movie!
I wish more people knew about this movie, one of the better 80's vacation comedies.
Robin Williams was amazing and is known for so many bigger films but he is great in this.
Williams is in full flight, Martin, Moranis and Levy are hilarious, Doyle-Murray wrote his own retorts, and O'Toole holds his own as the "Formerly Honorable...".
Throw in music by Jimmy Cliff, and this film is a must see for anyone who loves a comic romp..
Robin Williams has never been better in a comedic role (though he's been very good in serious roles), but Peter O'Toole steals the show and appears to be having a great time doing it.
Rick Moranis and Eugene Levy are brilliant playing the hormone-driven island-goers and Brian-Doyle Murray was perfectly cast as the money-hungry developer.
For a good, mindless laugh, you can't beat Club Paradise..
This movie isn't as good as Schindler's List or anything obviously but it's not supposed to be, it is just a fun silly comedy movie and for what it is supposed to be it is a good movie and fun to watch.Robin Williams is doing his usual stuff in this or at least the stuff he used to do all the time with the manic comic over acting and zany character work.Peter O'Toole is Peter O'Toole and he is awesome in everything he has ever done including some great comedy work including this movie, Club Paradise.Take it for what it's worth and have a nice simple laugh watching a fun Harold Ramis movie!.
And CLUB PARADISE is one of the worst films he's made, which is saying something.
It's hard to imagine that something so bad could have been directed by Harold Ramis (usually a rather reliable director/writer).The cast all look awkward and the jokes are forced and unfunny.
You see the names: Robin Williams, Peter O'Toole, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis.
You decide to actually watch "Club Paradise."This movie is dreadful.
This story might have been more funny on paper, because as a movie it wasn't particularly impressive.What the movie had working for it was its impressive cast list with lots of familiar faces.
And while it is a part of the Robin Williams movie legacy, it is nowhere near his best work.So if you want to get away for about an hour and a half, "Club Paradise" is not the best of locations..
Injured while risking his life to save an angry German shepherd, Chicago Firefighter Jack Moniker retires and moves to a small Caribbean island named St. Nicholas.Allegedly, this film was originally supposed to star Bill Murray and John Cleese (I assume instead of Robin Williams and Peter O'Toole).
One is clearly known more for humor, but they are both classy, reputable actors.What makes this film memorable (and there are not many things that do) are the nipples of Eugene Levy.
They seem to have a bigger role in this film than Rick Moranis..
Williams, O'Toole, and the rest of the cast are hampered by characters that are dull and uninteresting.
I'm an aspiring screenwriter myself, and after I watched this film, I said to myself: "I could have written better characters..." That my dear friends is what went wrong..
This film is an example of bad comedy writing, and lame humor.
Even Robin Williams seems to be a bit bored, and is clearly not at his best here.
Granted, there is a great ensemble cast, but none of them are given a whole lot to do and, save Robin Williams, are underdeveloped.
The film does start off rather well, with Robin Williams' character Jack Moniker retiring from the Chicago Fire Department on a disability settlement and heading off to St. Nicholas, a tropical island.
There, he settles in and gets involved with a local businessman/musician named Ernest Reed (Jimmy Cliff, who gives some excellent musical performances) who runs a resort called Club Paradise.These initial scenes were quite funny as they showed Jack getting used to his surroundings and later, dealing with the tourists who visit the island.
Among those visitors are Eugene Levy and Rick Moranis, two losers who are trying to score with women and get high.
He and Robin Williams even get to play off each other a little bit.However, if there's one major flaw in the movie it's that it tries to do too much in its finale.
On the good side of things, the best element outside of Robin Williams and Peter O'Toole was the music, consisting almost exclusively of reggae.
Overall, while the film is a nice 80's time capsule it's quite forgettable and I wouldn't consider it essential viewing for Robin Williams fans..
Robin Williams stars as a retired fire worker from Chicago who moves to the Caribbean to help a rundown "resort" cater to affluent Americans.
But they coulda done more with the women.Co-stars include Twiggy, Peter O'Toole, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Joanna Cassidy, Eugene Levy, Jimmy Cliff and Adolph Caesar.The film runs 96 minutes and was shot in Port Antonio, Jamaica, Chicago and L.A.GRADE: C+.
This is possibly one of Robin Williams' lesser known movies, but it is quite good.
Williams plays Jack Moniker, a jaded firefighter who retires to a small Caribbean island named St. Nicholas.
A pretty good cast,which includes, Twiggy, Rick Moranis, Gene Levy, Peter O'Toole, Joanna Cassidy and Jimmy Cliff.
Robin Williams is a wee bit subdued in this, not a lot of his familiar quick one liners, he's still funny though.
The highlight of the movie are, the great Reggae music, performed by Jimmy Cliff, the madcap antics of the character, Linda White, played by Andrea Martin and Joe Flahery's role as a wacky aircraft pilot.
The down side is seeing the great Peter O'Toole looking so poorly.
Robin Williams and friends from the Second City gang take a vacation on the lovely, fictional isle of St.Nicholas (filmed in Jamaica) in the summer of 1985 and bring along Peter O'Toole, Twiggy and Jimmy Cliff.
Enjoy the tropical locations and songs by reggae star Jimmy Cliff.
Fans of Williams and SCTV will get a kick of seeing all the comic actors in one place, but will be hard pressed to enjoy it.
Robin Williams and Peter O'Toole were funny.
Eugene Levy and Rick Moranis were funny.
It is still a funny comedy with gobs of stars and characters.
One Of Robin Williams' Worst Films.
Hollywood can give Robin Williams the best casts, the best directors and the best screenwriters in the world of film comedy but they still won't be able to give him a truly memorable comedic film or performance.
"Club Paradise", despite the much talent that it has been given, just might be the worst film of Williams' career (next to "Insomnia").
The perfect cast: Robin Williams; Eugene Levy and Rick Moranis as a couple of losers who think all the women love them; and the hilarious Andrea Martin as the wild wife of a boring businessman.
Match that with the great direction of Harold Ramis (Vacation, Caddyshack), and a script by Brian-Doyle Murray (Bill's brother) and you have the makings of a hit!
The story wasn't much, but this movie was more of a collection of one-liners and funny sketches than of plot development.
If you put all that important stuff aside, you have a great movie that is just plain fun to watch.
The whole cast of second city, plus Robin Williams and Peter O'Toole, this is a treat to watch, fun one liners, great scenery, cool music.
Mindless Fun. You'll either fall in love with this film or you won't.The story of an injured fireman who goes to the tropics and becomes involved with a hotel, Twiggy and local politics is a film played strictly for laughs.
The humor is very broad and often not very clever but if you can go with its good natured attitude you'll have a good time.The cast of Robin Williams, Jimmy Cliff, Twiggy and several escapees from SCTV is up to the task of being Silly.
Peter O'Toole is even better than the rest as the world weary British Envoy to the island who wants nothing more than to be allowed to drink.For me this film is a perfect ten on the enjoyment scale.
Robin Williams stars in Harold Ramis' 1986 comedy.
The late, Williams (Mrs. Doubtfire) plays Jack, a Chicago fireman who leaves his profession and travels to Jamaican island, St. Nicholas where he helps turn a failing dive "Club Paradise" into a resort.
Rick Moranis (Ghostbusters), Eugene Levy (Splash), Brian Doyle-Murray (Caddyshack), Andrea Martin (Black Christmas) and the late, Peter O'Toole (Lawrence of Arabia) co-star.
This is a good, wacky 80's comedy and Williams is great in it.
Williams was just about a huge star, Ramis was a competent film maker, and it was part of that weird sub genre that had comedians trying to save a hotel or shack against property developers, like Summer Rental, or that one where Demi Moore had dreadlocks.But once you watch the movie, its easy to see why this hasn't been shown much since its release, despite the fact that it's entirely watchable, its inconsistent, and it doesn't know what to do with its final act.Williams is as good as ever, he always was a remarkable screen presence, and the support is good too, especially Levy, Moranis, and O'Toole.But then the film has Twiggy, the model, and Jimmy Cliff, the singer.
Both cannot really act and bring the film to a stand still.The final third feels rushed and out of place in a comedy, featuring gun toting soldiers trying to get Williams and Cliff, it's almost as if Ramis didn't know how to end this, so he just put a little bit of action, and a speech come the end.But it's not a bad movie by any means, it's just a good story has been handled hastily, and this is the outcome.Worth seeing if your a Williams fan..
classic movie with great quotes.
various great songs by jimmy cliff.
second, great quotes by rick moranis and eugene levy, most referring to marijuana.
sure, robin williams has an annoying role in this movie and a lot of his jokes are terrible...