Review: Weird Science


Two high school nerds (Anthony Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith) ‘create’ the perfect woman on their computers and thanks to a major lightning storm (and some Hollywood magic- i.e. Total BS), she physically materialises (as Kelly LeBrock)! But she’s not just there for T&A purposes, they’ve given her a brain, after all (what, are these guys idiots or something? Why would they do that? Why?), as she teaches the boys a thing or two and tries to boost their popularity. Robert Downey Jr is amusing as a snotty ‘cool’ guy named Ian (A cool guy named Ian?). Bill Paxton plays Mitchell-Smith’s psychotic, grotesque military man brother Chet. In a particularly surreal excursion, Aussie Vernon Wells (the villain in “Mad Max 2”, and the underrated “Commando”) and the inimitable Michael Berryman (“The Hills Have Eyes”) turn up as freakish bikers, clearly inspired by “Mad Max 2”.

 

1985 John Hughes (“Sixteen Candles”, “The Breakfast Club”, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, “Uncle Buck”) comedy is the bastard stepson of the Brat Pack John Hughes oeuvre, neglected or reviled for reasons completely unbeknownst to me. Sure, its science is dopey (Since when have computers functioned like that anyway? Cute Barbie dolls, though), but that’s kinda beside the point. The idea is definitely one that teen males, particularly geeky ones, will get behind, and Hall’s lead performance is easily the best of his early work. Best of all, is the all-out, disgustingly funny turn by Paxton (don’t ask him about it though, apparently he hates talking about Chet) as the brother from hell.

 

It’s not always on target (they don’t want a girl with big boobs? Are these two dweebs nuts? Seriously, what’s up with that?), but pretty good-natured in a smutty sort of way, and often funny. Hall’s attempts at talking like an African-American blues enthusiast, are screamingly funny. The screenplay is by Hughes himself, the oh-so 80s music score is by Danny Elfman (“Batman”, “The Simpsons”) featuring a memorable (like it or not) title song by his band Oingo Boingo.

 

Rating: B-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Boyka: Undisputed

Yuri Boyka (Scott Adkins) is out of prison and fighting for a living, with ambitions for the ‘Most Complete Fighter’ to make a real name for himself. However, after an opponent dies during a fight, the deeply religious Boyka starts to have a crisis of conscience. He tries to make amends with the man’s widow, which eventually pits him against a local gangster (Alon Moni Aboutboul, quite good). Anything with Scott Adkins will generally get me interested, and although this series peaked with the superlative “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , this 2017 film from director Todor Chapkanov (director of the SyFy movies “Copperhead” and “Ghost Town” ) is no slouch in a series yet to deliver anything less than solid entertainment. Producer Isaac Florentine is missed in the director’s chair, but Chapkanov gives us at the very least the series’ most dramatically ambitious entry, as Adkins’ ‘most complete fighter’ Yuri Boyka continues on his journey to redemption here. In this one, the
Read more

Review: Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear

Scott Adkins is once again Casey, an American proponent of the martial art of Ninjutsu. When Casey’s pregnant Japanese wife (Mika Hijii) is rubbed out, he’s on a vengeance mission to find her killers. A friendly face, Nakabara (Kane Kosugi) turns up at the funeral, and suggests Casey come to Thailand to deal with his grief in another country. Casey initially declines, but eventually takes Nakabara up on his offer. However, his wife’s murder still haunts Casey, and with intel supplied by Nakabara, the trail eventually leads Casey to a brutal drug baron named Goro (Shun Sugata).   I was extremely disappointed with the first “Ninja” , but had heard that this 2013 sequel from director Isaac Florentine ( “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , “Undisputed III: Redemption” , “Ninja” ) was a damn near masterpiece of the martial-arts action movie genre. Having now finally gotten my hot little hands on it, I’d say the hype is a bit much, but this is unquestionably a much better film than the f
Read more