Feds

Feds is a 1988 American comedy film written and directed by Dan Goldberg, and starring Rebecca De Mornay and Mary Gross.[2] The plot follows two women, the ex-Marine Ellie and Bryn Mawr graduate Janis, who aim to become FBI agents and enroll at the training center in Quantico. The ending credits stated the real FBI did not support the film or assist the production in any way.

This article is about the 1988 film. For the 1997 crime drama series, see Feds (TV series). For the 2011 film, see Fedz. For University of Waterloo undergraduate student union, see Federation of Students, University of Waterloo.

Feds
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDan Goldberg
Written byDan Goldberg
Len Blum
Produced byLen Blum
Ilona Herzberg
Starring
CinematographyTimothy Suhrstedt
Edited byDonn Cambern
Music byRandy Edelman
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • October 28, 1988 (1988-10-28) (United States)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3,838,793[1]

Plot

Ellie DeWitt is a U.S. Marine veteran who wants to become an FBI agent. However, while she has great physical skills, she struggles at the academic level. Conversely, her roommate Janis Zuckerman is highly intelligent, but physically very weak. Overcoming the male recruits' assumptions of them, Ellie and Janis team up to help each other through the basic training so they can both become federal agents.

During their training, Ellie and Janis must deal with an instructor who seems determined to fail the pair, a fellow trainee who seems more interested in flirting with Ellie (until Ellie asserts her Marine training and pins him against the wall in one exercise), and befriend a geeky co-trainee who seems unable to complete the smallest task.

Joining forces, the three tackle the final practice simulation, (badly) forging the instructor's signature ('he sneezed') and breaking into the telephone room to discover the location of the "hostage". They also use their radio to mislead the other agents into a swamp to make sure they do not find the hostage first.

The two graduate with honors and in the credits scene, both Ellie and Janis are assigned as partners to the Los Angeles office.

Cast

Production

Dan Goldberg and Len Blum, the screenwriters behind Meatballs and Stripes, originally planned to make a film about "the daffy, goofy sex-crazed guys at the FBI academy."[3] When they couldn't get stars of previous Ivan Reitman films like Bill Murray or Dan Aykroyd to sign on, the pair switched the story mid-script to a female-focused film.[3][4]

Feds was made during a cycle of American cop comedies that came out after the box-office success of Police Academy (1984). These films included Police Academy's sequels, Night Patrol (1984), Moving Violations (1985), Off Beat (1986), and Hollywood Vice Squad (1986).[5]

Critical reception

Feds received mixed reviews from critics. Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "The stars--De Mornay as the brawn and Gross as the brains--are good enough to make this dopey idea work. But Blum and Goldberg don’t give them much better than the usual parade of elephantine slapstick, grotesque topical humor, sexual innuendo and rock ‘n’ roll sound bites."[3] Rita Kempley of The Washington Post wrote negatively of the film and said De Mornay and Gross are "playing badly written, weirdly reactionary parts."[4] Time Out said, "director Goldberg seems uncertain whether he should be aiming for slapstick or an earnest docu-drama about sexism in the FBI."[6]

Andi Zeisler of Bitch magazine pointed out Feds was apparently the first female buddy cop movie when critics falsely claimed the 2013 comedy film The Heat was the first in that sub-genre.[7]

Home media

Feds was released on DVD by Warner Bros. on July 7, 2010.[8]

References
  1. Feds at Box Office Mojo
  2. Maslin, Janet (October 29, 1988). "Feds (1988) Reviews/Film; Women at F.B.I. School". The New York Times.
  3. Wilmington, Michael (October 31, 1988). "Movie Reviews : Awkward 'Feds' Fails but Not De Mornay and Gross". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  4. Kempley, Rita (October 29, 1988). "'Feds'". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  5. Foster, Tom (October 9, 2017). "The Top Five Cop Action Movie Comedies of the 80s". TVOvermind. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  6. "Feds". Time Out. September 10, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  7. Zeisler, Andi (July 5, 2013). "Turning Up The Heat: Eight Great (and Not-So-Great) Female Buddy Comedies". Bitch Media. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  8. "Feds". Amazon. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
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