Blast from the Past (1999)

reviewed by
David Sunga

BLAST FROM THE PAST (1999)

Rating: 3 stars (out of 4.0)
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Key to rating system:
2.0 stars - Debatable
2.5 stars - Some people may like it
3.0 stars - I liked it
3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie
4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out
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A Movie Review by David Sunga

Directed by: Hugh Wilson

Written by: Bill Kelly and Hugh Wilson

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken, Sissy Spacek, and Dave Foley

Synopsis: BLAST FROM THE PAST is a romantic comedy that explores what might happen if a polite, young suitor raised with the boundless idealism and homespun LEAVE IT TO BEAVER values of early 1960s TV sitcoms falls in love with a disbelieving 1990s gal.

In 1964 when Mr. and Mrs. Webber (Christopher Walken and Sissy Spacek) mistake a plane crash for an atomic bomb attack, they sequester themselves in a large underground fallout shelter which is automatically locked for 35 years. Through their misunderstanding their child Adam is raised completely oblivious of the world above and all its changes as the family waits for the "fallout" to clear. When 35-year-old Adam (Brendan Fraser) at last emerges from the shelter in search of a possible wife, he may be the only completely innocent gentleman left in a crowded and raucous, modern world of traffic, adult bookstores, dirt, and superficial relationships. Adam is literally a BLAST FROM THE PAST. Luckily he befriends Eve (Alicia Silverstone), who helps him navigate the new world. Will Adam's un-hip good nature and childlike faith in Eve prevail in the jaded 1990s?

Opinion: Brendan Fraser (from GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE) is credible as an awestruck 35-year-old who is still pure and naïve, and Alicia Silverstone as his love interest displays just the right combination of world-weariness and heart. Meanwhile Sissy Spacek and Christopher Walken as the two old fashioned parents are able to stay funny and keep a straight face at the same time.

BLAST FROM THE PAST also has interesting undercurrents. While chuckling at the real paranoia of the early Cold War, the film resounds with a bigger theme: earnestness versus cynicism. In the story, years of accidental isolation have enabled main character Adam to grow up unspoiled, retaining community and family values amidst a selfish world. In real life it's not so easy. Isolationist dictatorships can perhaps hold technological and cultural evolution in stasis, but for the rest of us, the juggernaut of "progress" seems inevitable. BLAST FROM THE PAST shows how technology has progressed as expected, but a more humane society has not.

Sweet, romantic, funny, intelligent. I like it.

Reviewed by David Sunga
February 12, 1999

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Blast from the Past (1999)

reviewed byDavid Sunga

reviewed by
David Sunga