The film's plot is eerily similar to the real-life events documented in American Factory, except the factory is Chinese and there's no happy ending.
To make matters worse, Japan's economic bubble burst in the 1990s meant that the factory will be closed as many Japanese companies would either scale down their overseas operations or went bankrupt.
Unintentional Period Piece: Entire movie was made during the 1980s when American auto industries were outcompeted by their Japanese counterpart. Rather than playing on the fear of Japan Takes Over the World as common during the time, the film tried to portray it in a more optimistic tone.
From the comic:
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Archer Goodwoody is supposed to be at least somewhat sympathetic as a troubled teen scarred by the death of his parents and offering a valid point that simply surviving isn't worth much if you aren't happy as well. In practice, he comes off as a lazy, horny, self-absorbed idiot, who wouldn't be very likable even if he weren't living in a post-apocalyptic world full of killer apes where his antics could get people killed. Even his own brother finds him exasperating and wishes he'd cut it out with the clowning.
