Gotcha!: Blu-Ray Review

Less than a year after delivering the 1984 comedy smash, Revenge of the Nerds, director Jeff Kanew went in a bit of a different direction with Gotcha!. Both films centered on college students, but unlike Nerds, Kanew mixed the comedy in Gotcha! with a bit of action and espionage. He also helped his star, Anthony Edwards to not get typecast. This week, the 1985 film arrives on Blu-ray for the first time in the U.S., thanks to Kino Lorber.

Gotcha! Centers on college student Jonathan Moore (Edwards), who spends most of his free time playing a paintball gun game, called Gotcha.  It is hunt or be hunted, in which fellow students chase each other around campus and shooting them with paint balls. Yeah, there is no way a game like that could exist in today’s society, but damn it does look like fun. When Jonathan and his friend Manolo (Nick Corri) take a trip to Paris, he finds himself mostly taking in the sights alone, while Manolo takes in the local women. That all changes when Jonathan meets Sasha (Linda Fiorentino) an older woman who seems to be attracted to the teenager’s boyish charms. Things take a turn however when Jonathan leaves Paris to follow Sasha to East Berlin, where he learns that her work may be much more dangerous that he thought.

Gotcha! is one of those 80’s films that I always liked but never loved growing up. Having said that, I absolutely, adored Fiorentino in the film and even more than three decades later, I still love her as Sasha. The villain here (played by Klaus Löwitsch) is about as generic as they come and not the least bit interesting. The film is at its best when dealing with the relationship between the two leads. Regardless, it is never dull, which is probably why I watched it a lot on cable as a kid.

The Blu-ray transfer is quite solid and features new audio commentaries from director Jeff Kanew and entertainment Journalist Bryan Reesman. If you are a fan of Gotcha!, you may want to pick this one up.

Bonus Features:

  • NEW Audio Commentary by Director Jeff Kanew
  • NEW Audio Commentary by Entertainment Journalist and Author Bryan Reesman
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Dual-Layered BD50 Disc
  • Optional English Subtitles

By: Marc Ferman