BLAST FROM THE PAST Reviewed by Jamie Peck
Rating: *** (out of ****) New Line / 1:46 / 1999 / PG-13 (sex jokes, language) Cast: Brendan Fraser; Alicia Silverstone; Christopher Walken; Sissy Spacek; Dave Foley; Scott Thomson Director: Hugh Wilson Screenplay: Bill Kelly; Hugh Wilson
Last October's "Pleasantville" found the innocent 1950s going up against the liberal '90s and getting creamed, with teens from modern times reforming the pristine and pure "Father Knows Best"-esque universe they found themselves trapped in. The new comedy "Blast From the Past," then, covers similar terrain in reverse, featuring a hero whose life-long experience with early-'60s society and mores throws him into mass culture shock when he's suddenly thrust into a contemporary setting. The story, once set up, sounds incredibly goofy, but "Blast From the Past" is somehow a blast for the present that fondly recalls the bygone era with cozy warmth and comfortable affection.
In shying away from "Pleasantville"'s progressive preachiness - it's one big flaw - "Past" has frothy charm to spare, and a lot of it comes from the impeccable actors. That Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone are given the movie's romantic leads virtually promises a strong turnout of loyal young fans, but the big surprise is how good they are - both apart and together. He, too often cast as cartoonish lunkheads, radiates nice-guy appeal in a performance guaranteed to induce smiles and grins; she, who followed her stellar "Clueless" debut with less-than-stellar turns in tripe like "Hideaway" and "Excess Baggage," gets terrific mileage out of a smallish role.
Christopher Walken and Sissy Spacek show up as Fraser's good-natured but jaded parents, and their too-fun work here is the movie's equivalent of a bonus prize. Writer Bill Kelly and co-scribe/director Hugh Wilson ("The First Wives Club") play all their best ideas first, resulting in a terrific first hour that then begins to drag as it nears its conclusion; after an inspired sequence set in a swing club, some frustrating plotting takes place (that interlude with social services - huh?). But the cast is the real blast in "Past," and they're alive and shining even when the film isn't.
© 1999 Jamie Peck E-mail: jpeck1@gl.umbc.edu Visit The Reel Deal Online: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/ "Now you'd think that Karla the roommate would figure out that since Julia has been living for two years with terrifying nightmares, and since most of her friends and neighbors have been filleted by the Fisherman, it would be unwise to sneak into her room in the dark, make suspicious noises and hide in the closet. Roommates do not think like this in slasher movies." -Roger Ebert on "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer"
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