John Candy plays Jack Gable, a soap-opera writer who finds himself trapped inside his own television program with a magic typewriter in this toothless comedy. Jack finds himself embroiled in protecting his beloved Laura (
Emma Samms), an actress who plays Rachel Hedison in Jack's show -- "Beyond Our Dreams" -- from having her character being killed off by the program's producers, the Sherwoods (
Jerry Orbach, Renee Taylor). Laura has recently broken off with her co-star and lover Dennis (
David Rasche) and is heading off for a weekend with Jack. As Jack unloads Laura's luggage, he conks himself on the head and knocks himself out. He awakens in a town bearing a name similar to the town in his soap opera. Dennis is on hand, but as his character in the show -- Dr. Paul Kirkland. Jack realizes that he has found himself in an alternative world made up of his soap opera world -- particularly apparent when he is recognized as Jack Gates, "the Wolf of Wall Street." Jack then meets Laura, who, in this soap opera world, is actually Janet Dubois, the daughter of a late biochemist who invented a pill that allows anyone to eat whatever they want and not gain any weight. The unscrupulous Hedison family (
Raymond Burr, Charles Rocket,
Dylan Baker) want to steal the formula for the pill and make a fortune for their pharmaceutical company. Jack then discovers that he can exit and re-enter the show at will and can alter the narrative of the show however he wants by typing up new plot points on his typewriter. In order to save Laura's character from the Sherwoods, Jack re-writes the show to save Janet by having his own character come to her rescue at the last minute. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide