Blast from the Past (1999)

reviewed by
Berge Garabedian


BLAST FROM THE PAST
RATING:  6 / 10 --> Barely recommendable

For more reviews and movie trivia, visit http://www.joblo.com/

Brendan Fraser revisits his role as the "fish out of water" from his famous ENCINO MAN (7/10) hit back in 1992, while Alicia Silverstone continues to don her title as the Queen of the cuties, in this romantic comedy released just in time for the big Valentine's weekend.

PLOT: It's 1962, and an extremely paranoid man suddenly fears the launch of a nuclear war. He locks himself and his wife in a bomb shelter underground for the next 35 years (until the radiation clears away), where they raise a baby from birth. When the time comes, the boy, now a man, has to go "up" and get more supplies, and if possible, meet a nice, healthy girl to love as a companion.

CRITIQUE: Utterly predictable, this movie touches upon a cute little love story while sprinkling itself with some jokes that work, others that don't, an overly emphasized soundtrack and a nice chemistry between the two main leads. And this is despite the fact that Brendan Fraser does seem to have played this endearing dimwitted role once too often, and Silverstone yet to have conquered her puppy-eye and droopy face acting chops (Darn all that, cause she's still damn cute, and that's notwithstanding the slo-mo shot of her triple chin chugging up and down near the end of the movie). Their cutesy but highly foretold love story is one reason that I barely recommend this film, but the goofy performances of the two seasoned actors, Christopher Walken and Sissy Spacek, is yet another. Mind you, if you don't like either one of these actors, skip this flick altogether, cause there ain't much here that you haven't seen before.

I actually thought that the script could've been much, much funnier, and the story a hunka-hunka more original, with most of the semi-funny scenes having been covered in the TV adverts anyway. This film is obviously geared towards those film-loving teens again, and I guess that in their respect, it might just be a hit, with the presence of two charismatic actors, an overly slick soundtrack and a Valentine's weekend love connection release date. But as for the rest of us, I doubt that it will register any higher than a late summer Saturday night video rental night tied to some nachos. Maybe even a Sunday night rental. All in all, a brainless revisited concept done with a hip 90's soundtrack, a couple of solid veteran actors playing funny, charming leads, and an overall unmemorable time.

Oh yeah, and their characters are named Adam & Eve. Cute or corny? You decide.

Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Brendan Fraser was raised in Holland, Switzerland, and Canada. He was educated at the Upper Canada College in Toronto, the Actor's Conservatory and the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. He stands 6'3". Alicia Silverstone became legally emancipated at the tender age of 15 in order to work the hours required for the shooting schedule of THE CRUSH. She was turned down for the role of Juliet in 1996's ROMEO & JULIET (6.5/10), a part that later went to Claire Danes. Her first ever acting role was on TV's "The Wonder Years" in 1988. She was 12 at the time. She is also well-known for her starring role in three of Aerosmith's coolest music videos "Cryin", "Crazy" and "Amazing". Sissy Spacek is cousins with actor Rip Torn, the man who played the wonderful role of the producer "Arty" on TV's "The Larry Sanders Show". Actor Christopher Walken was assaulted in a street in New York in 1980 when he asked two men to turn down their music. His nose was broken in the incident. He also worked briefly as a lion tamer in a circus at age 15, and has a phobia of going too fast in cars. Director Hugh Wilson's big-screen directorial and writing debut was on the infamous 1984 POLICE ACADEMY. He's best known for having created, written, produced, directed and even guest starred in the slick TV sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati". Renny Harlin, the producer of this movie, is also a director in his own right. He's done THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (7.5/10), DIE HARD 2 (7.5/10) and CLIFFHANGER (7.5/10), amongst others. He was married to actress Geena Davis for about four years.

Review Date: February 11, 1999 Director: Hugh Wilson Writers: Hugh Wilson and Bill Kelly Producers: Hugh Wilson and Renny Harlin Actors: Brendan Fraser as Adam Webber, Alicia Silverstone as Eve Rustikov, Christopher Walken as Calvin Webber, Sissy Spacek as Helen Webber Genre: Comedy Year of Release: 1999


Visit JoBlo's Movie Emporium http://www.joblo.com


The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews