"Flubber" Has Bounce
by Homer Yen
(c) 1997
Bowling balls bounce high into the air and out of sight. Basketball players make incredible slam dunks by leaping from mid-court. Golf balls ricochet off walls like a pinball. All this thanks to a mysterious rubber polymer called Flubber. It's unique characteristic is that when you apply a little amount of energy, it gives off an exponential amount in return. This breakthrough was discovered by Professor Philip Brainard (Robin Williams), a genius when it comes to science but a forgetful dolt when it comes to daily routines. He goes to the wrong class to teach, he easily forgets names, and worst of all, he has already twice missed his wedding ceremony. "One more chance," says finacee Sara Jean Reynolds (Marcia Gay Harden), who is also President of Medfield College where they both work. But Sara Jean has more than an absent-minded professor to worry about. Medfield is also bankrupt, and a greedy creditor is about to foreclose.
Brainard knows that Flubber holds the answer to his woes. As an alternative energy source (he modifies his old car so that it can fly), companies would pay millions. He could save the college and salvage his relationship all at once. However, people soon learn about his discovery and want to steal it including the creditor and a rival scientist.
This is a pleasant film, but it's appeal is geared towards a younger audience. Robin Williams gives a charismatically manic performance as the memory-challenged professor. He is likable, but his fellow performers seem kind of silly. The comedy is purely slapstick, and thus begins to curiously look like one of those Home Alone movies. People get hit by flying objects, they slip and fall, and everyone generally winds up with a head full of lumps. If there is any proof that the comedy is pure silliness, all you have to know is that two of the hired goons are named Smith and Wesson. But this is also a Disney production, and Disney's brand of wonderful magic is present throughout the film. Flubber takes on a cute, life-like quality (it whimpers and whines); there is a terrific sequence that involves a basketball game pitting jocks versus 'flubberized' nerds; and there is an incredible dancing sequence which I can only describe as the Flubber Mambo. The professor is also aided by a cute, self-aware, floating, mechanical assistant named Weebo. She flashes images on her miniature television screen from various shows to convey her feelings. Why didn't the professor just create more of these? They'd sell like hotcakes! He probably forgot.
While flubber may ultimately save Medfield college, it isn't enough to make this movie anything truly special.
Grade: C+
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