Blast from the Past (1999)
Director: Hugh Wilson Cast: Brendan Fraser, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken, Sissy Spacek, Dave Foley Screenplay: Bill Kelly, Hugh Wilson Producers: Renny Harlin, Hugh Wilson Runtime: US Distribution: New Line Rated PG-13: brief language, sex, drug references
Copyright 1998 Nathaniel R. Atcheson
Every once in a while, a movie comes along that makes me wish it had less of a plot. Blast from the Past, for instance, is a film with some great acting and a few truly funny moments, but is often compromised by a really silly story that is neither believable nor terribly original. That's too bad, because the heart of Blast from the Past features a funny, touching relationship between two young people who are made for each other.
The film begins in 1962; Calvin and Helen Webber (Christopher Walken and Sissy Spacek) find themselves frightened that the Cold War is going to end in a nuclear holocaust, so they retreat to a fallout shelter for thirty-five years. Calvin assumes that the world above has been annihilated, but he's wrong -- the only thing that blows up is their house, due to an unexpected (and very convenient) plane crash. Helen, at this time, is pregnant, and gives birth to Adam within fifteen minutes of entering the shelter.
Jump ahead thirty-five years; Adam has grown into a man (Brendan Fraser). Calvin has taught Adam the ways of the world -- how to box, speak French, and verbalize thoughts clearly. (Helen, by comparison, has taught him how to dance.) Adam decides he wants to meet a girl ("I've only been thinking about it for the last fifteen years," he assures his mother). So, he goes to the surface, and what ensues is pretty obvious: he falls for the first attractive girl he meets, Eve (Alicia Silverstone). Eve is your typical 90s-girl; she lives in LA, and finds it hard to keep a job longer than six hours. She likes to date, but finds that most of her boyfriends feature good hair and nice posteriors, but lack in cognitive abilities.
This kind of story has been done a few times. I suppose there are people out there who would assert that the fish-out-of-water comedy has an infinite capacity to entertain. I agree to an extent -- there are countless possible formulas for the fish-out-of-water comedy, and the makers of Blast from the Past have chosen The Walking Anachronism -- the man who doesn't fit in because he's a product of another era. Brendan Fraser makes the perfect outsider; with the crew-cut, gleaming teeth, and bulging eyes, Fraser seems to be straight out of the 60s (I'm sure his pastel clothing helps the image, too).
Silverstone is also at her comic best; with this role, she proves to me that she can escape the ditsy plague that hangs over her head like a rain cloud. She and Fraser complement each other with silky smoothness; they do it so well that every scene they share is a mass of enjoyment, hilarious and affecting. It's one of those stories where you want the characters to get together, and you know they will, but you fret over it anyway. Walken and Spacek are both very funny, but Dave Foley, as Eve's gay friend, steals all of his scenes.
But the dopey plots frequently overtake the film like a wave of nausea. I was willing to suspend my disbelief of the premise: I mean, come on, it's not like the Webbers fallout would have gone unnoticed for thirty-five years (even if they did build something on top of it). And I really doubt that a middle-class family of the 60s would have enough resources to survive for thirty-five years underground. The problem is that this goofy background story takes up far too much of the film (almost forty-five minutes, to be exact). When Adam finally reaches the surface, the picture takes itself a little more seriously.
Until, that is, the rest of the story is introduced. The main focus is the relationship between Adam and Eve (and yes, they do recognize the significance of their names). But why do we need a dumb subplot in which Adam and Eve sell baseball cards to acquire frozen poultry? And why is there an annoying scene in which Eve sends a psychiatrist at Adam? Blast from the Past is far more effective when it concentrates on its characters, and lets the actors do the work. It's often funny, yes, but it's inconsistent. Perhaps the fish-out-of-water template can only yield a silly plot like this. I just wish someone had put more faith in Fraser and Silverstone: I'd rather have watched them talk for 90 minutes then ever have seen the inside of that ridiculous fallout shelter.
Psychosis Rating: 6/10
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Nathaniel R. Atcheson
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