It stars Val Kilmer (in his film debut role) and Lucy Gutteridge alongside a supporting cast featuring Omar Sharif, Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, and Jeremy Kemp.

At a dinner, Nick encounters Hillary Flammond, a member of the local resistance movement who is attempting to avoid the authorities.

He pretends to be her date to get to know her, and performs an impromptu song and dance ("Tutti Frutti"), mistakenly thinking he was asked to do so, to the delight of Hillary and the diners, but to the annoyance of General Streck, the mastermind of the "reunification" plot.

In an escape attempt, he ends up in the secret prison laboratory of Dr. Paul Flammond, a brilliant scientist developing the "Polaris naval mine", a device that can destroy the entire NATO submarine fleet as part of the government's plot.

The East Germans decide that Nick must perform to avoid an international incident, and he does so to the rapturous joy of the local girls ("How Silly Can You Get"/"Spend This Night with Me").

The next morning, they are moved to the "Potato Farm" where they meet members of the French Resistance, led by Nigel "The Torch", who was Hillary's lover from when they were stranded on an island as youths.

After fighting off an attack by the East Germans (who were tipped off by a mystery traitor) they move to a pizza restaurant, where Nick proves his identity by performing for the locals ("Straighten Out the Rug").

Lucy Gutteridge, who plays the female lead, had just appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Nicholas Nickleby.

"[2] Two well-known actors who were cast in the film were Omar Sharif as Agent Cedric and Peter Cushing as a Swedish bookstore proprietor.

The official reason was that Paramount wanted to avoid competing against Ghostbusters and Gremlins although rumours spread that the studio was dissatisfied with the film's quality.

[5][10] A 1991 article speculated two possible reasons – the performance of Airplane II: The Sequel (although it had different producers from the original), along with "the lack of any clear sense of period, something that may throw viewers who insist on comedic nonessentials like interior logic.

finds the team of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker sending up everything from spy movies to Elvis musicals with reckless, loony abandon.

"[13] On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

[14] Roger Ebert rated it 3+1⁄2 out of 4 stars and applauded the humor, noting that "to describe the plot would be an exercise in futility" and "This movie will cheerfully go for a laugh wherever one is even remotely likely to be found.