First off at the time I was a huge Olivia Newton-John fan and felt she had what it took. Reteaming Olivia with Travolta was a smart move but the chosen script just didn't do it. There was too much for a 85 minute movie for one thing which I'll speculate on.
1. Too many characters ruined the story itself, you never see her flatmates which rendered them useless characters. The loansharks just cloud up the screen time. The landlord was another useless character. That alone weighed the movie down.
2. Odd scenes like the acting class, where did that come from. The restaurant scene also came out of nowhere.
3. Unbelievable characters finish this mess. There was totally no chemistry between any of the actor's including Olivia and John.
Coming off a box office bomb wasn't a good thing for Olivia Newton-John to begin with. Xanadu just didn't do the business not only Hollywood hoped for but Olivia herself. John Travolta was also in a rut and needed a hit. I'm sure they could have picked a better script, I say that because Olivia was wanting to shed her goodie goodie image and she saw her chance here, a wannabe bank robber who befriends the wannabe bank robber. The only thing that worked was the music.
The plot itself was weak, a bank teller who robs the bank. A down on his luck inventor out to rob the bank. Three angles out to prove that these two supposed to be bad people can be changed to good. The devil just adds to the confusion. Finally loan sharks out to collect the money owed by John's character. Which in all gave the viewer 5 storylines which never connected at the end. What we actually get is really two random people who keep bumping into each other. In all it's just a mess we get and sadly the two biggest star's get lost in it. Had the editing been more cautious maybe he/she/they could have saved it but the finished product just couldn't do.
The end just didn't add up and was waiting for each storyline to come together which never happens. We never learn how her acting classes go except for that one scene. Never learn what happened to the loan sharks either. Just too much going on for the 85 minutes the movie was.
It does have a couple interesting scenes but the overall is just too cluttered.
Coming off a box office bomb wasn't a good thing for Olivia Newton-John to begin with. Xanadu just didn't do the business not only Hollywood hoped for but Olivia herself. John Travolta was also in a rut and needed a hit. I'm sure they could have picked a better script, I say that because Olivia was wanting to shed her goodie goodie image and she saw her chance here, a wannabe bank robber who befriends the wannabe bank robber. The only thing that worked was the music.
The plot itself was weak, a bank teller who robs the bank. A down on his luck inventor out to rob the bank. Three angles out to prove that these two supposed to be bad people can be changed to good. The devil just adds to the confusion. Finally loan sharks out to collect the money owed by John's character. Which in all gave the viewer 5 storylines which never connected at the end. What we actually get is really two random people who keep bumping into each other. In all it's just a mess we get and sadly the two biggest star's get lost in it. Had the editing been more cautious maybe he/she/they could have saved it but the finished product just couldn't do.
The end just didn't add up and was waiting for each storyline to come together which never happens. We never learn how her acting classes go except for that one scene. Never learn what happened to the loan sharks either. Just too much going on for the 85 minutes the movie was.
It does have a couple interesting scenes but the overall is just too cluttered.