Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Let me start off first by saying that this movie is not very good but I would put it against other movies of the same era and say that it is better than average.It certainly doesn't deserve the bad rap that it has gotten over the years and isn't a terrible movie either, however. I'm not sure why so many people hate this film. The direction, writing and acting are all just fine.Brooke Shields looks great and does a fair enough job of playing the main character.The story is also very unique and fun with her literally coming out of the comic strip as a real life character. Maybe the strangeness of that turns some people off.But it's a fun movie and worth seeing... if you can find it that is, it's not super well known or loved!

I searched for this for years, sniffing after it's bad reputation. Surprize-it's not that bad. The scenes with the comic strip artist are painful but brief. Most of the action is period 40's and the costumes are fun (Bob Mackie?). Brooke is just gorgeous, of course, and makes a plucky Brenda. Diana Scarwid is her nasty rival and Timothy Dalton her sexy love interest. If this had been done for TV (which it looks like) I think the critics would have been far kinder. If I recall, no one crucified Jill St. John for the 1976 version. This movie is strictly for comic book buffs or Brooke Sheilds fans.CC

Witless adaptation of a comic-strip revolving around the titular female crime reporter (which had previously been the source of a 1976 TV movie with Jill St. John); Brooke Shields looks good throughout but seems undecided whether to approach the role straight, or else play it for laughs! Indeed, this dilemma afflicts the entire production to its ultimate detriment – with the result that the film was shelved for some three years (it was, in fact, shot in 1986 i.e. prior to co-star Timothy Dalton's brief stint as James Bond)! At least, the latter seems to have had a good time making it for he subsequently tackled the part of the villain in another comic-strip adaptation with, again, some powerful gizmo as the object of contention between various factions (and nationalities) – namely ROCKETEER (1991; which I watched a day previously and found to be vastly superior)! Dalton's character here is actually enigmatic – dashing in spite of an eye-patch, he always turns up at unexpected moments to save, guide or otherwise romance the heroine.The chief villains are a gang of incompetent Russian agents (including a bald-headed goofball and the pint-sized cigar-smoking female leader), though also hindering Shields is the ambitious and vaguely vampish rival reporter played by Diana Scarwid. Incidentally, the plot involves a fantasy framework in which animator Tony Peck inhabits the world of his subject (they keep quarrelling about how he isn't fit to design Brenda's exploits because he continually looks down on her, something of which the film-makers themselves are guilty!) – this doesn't really work and is actually rather pointless.I was surprised to learn that renowned veteran cinematographer Freddie Francis (a beloved minor genre director in his own right) was behind this one in the former capacity; his craftsmanship at least renders the silly and positively dreary goings-on (which relocates to Brazil during the second half) pleasing to the eye. A number of guest appearances (including Eddie Albert as the Police Commissioner, Charles Durning as Starr's flamboyant boss, Henry Gibson as the obligatory eccentric scientist and Ed Nelson as the piano-playing American President) add nothing of substance to the film.

i thought this movie was unreal.it is certainly Brooke shields vehicle and she does an amazing job with it,she was totally impressive,endearing and mind blowing-ly gorgeous as the ace comic book reporter.her comedic abilities really shine through here so it is a shame that this film didn't become more recognized than it was. the editing in a certain part is terrible-witness Brenda Starr falling from a balcony in slow motion-but the rest is a hell of a lot of camp fun. Diana Scarwidis awesome in this role as is the Russian woman on Brenda's trail. i have watched this film over and over again and it gets better every time. do yourself a favour and dust it off a rental shelf and watch it.