Lake Placid (1999) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com Member: Online Film Critics Society
**1/2 out of four
"I didn't know crocodiles could swim across oceans!" "Of course not! That information is concealed in books!"
Starring Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt, Brendan Gleeson, Betty White. Rated R.
I believe it was Wes Craven who first had the brilliant idea to combine horror and comedy with A Nightmare on Elm Street back in 1984. The obligatory gruesome killer no longer had to glumly and wordlessly chase his victims. Craven's butt-ugly and imposingly menacing Freddy Krueger didn't just turn unlucky teenagers into a bloody pulp, the bastard spewed wisecracks as well.
Since then, the horror-comedy genre has become quite popular, with its most notable success being the glorious Scream series: two (so far) witty, scary and nearly parodic slasher films that have built a remarkable fan base. So it's only fitting and, quite frankly, inevitable, that Hollywood's best and brightest wind up experimenting with this lucrative hybrid. David E. Kelley, the writer and creator of such tv smash hits as Ally McBeal and The Practice takes a stab at it as the screenwriter of Lake Placid, a snappy (no pun intended) and witty but not scary variation on Jaws.
Delivering one-liners is an artform and few do it with more panache then Oliver Platt, one of the stars in this flamboyant creature-feature about a gigantic crocodile that preys on those unfortunate enough to boat or dive in Lake Placid, Maine. Investigating the vicious reptile are a slow but lovable small-town sheriff (Brendan Gleeson), a cocky official from Fish and Game (Bill Pullman), a pretty lady from the New York Museum of Natural History (Bridget Fonda) and a filthy rich eccentric who worships crocodiles (Platt). The four of them seem to bite off more than they can chew when they get up close and personal with the crocodile in order to learn more about how it got all the way to Maine.
When it is clear that they are dealing with a very dangerous and an even more aggressive animal, the characters wage a cinematically familiar battle: do they kill the thing or do they try to trap it? The latter choice is clearly more humane and is preferred by the museum gal and the croc-worshipper while the other two characters would rather take the more sure-fire approach. It's a shame that instead of making a choice writer Kelley and director Steve Miner manage to have their cake and eat it too with a throwaway, ludicrous plot twist.
At its best, Lake Placid is enjoyable nonsense. It has some wonderful lines ("Had any bear attacks recently?" "Bears don't attack people underwater." "Probably a beaver then.") and has some fun with its crocodile premise, but it's inconceivable to brand the movie as "good". The main problem, as I see it, is that while the wisecracks that the characters lambast each other with are admittedly funny, the plot itself takes a back seat to them. The film moves from one sarcastic one-liner to the next with no consideration for its pacing or its storyline.
To the film's credit, the crocodiles look good (although I wish we'd seen some beavers) and we do see some nifty shots of heads being bitten off and severed toes lying on the ground. Then again with state of the art technology at every clown's fingertips seamless special effects tend to no longer come as a surprise (although I must admit I was taken aback by the caliber of what I saw in What Dreams May Come). That's very unfortunate because for the avid moviegoer, films that inspire a genuine feeling of awe and amazement like Jurassic Park did when it was first released are becoming increasingly difficult to come by.
I really liked Brendan Gleeson as the sheriff: he is funny, refreshingly self-deprecating and a hell of a lot of fun to watch. I similarly enjoyed Oliver Platt who took a break from being exclusively a character actor (and he's a terrific character actor too) to star in a movie that's trashy fun and give a performance that fits the same description. On the other hand Bridget Fonda and Bill Pullman constantly come off as either annoying or flat and I was surprised to see such inept performances from such accomplished thespians.
There's nothing wrong with enjoying a movie like this as long as you don't heap any undue praise onto it. It's not a cinematic accomplishment. It's not a great film or even a good one. It can, however, be fun: if one is in the mood for a campy monster movie rather than, say, a moving character study. ©1999 Eugene Novikov‰
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