"Lake Placid" (1999)
Reviewed by Samuel Pederson
The best thing about, "Lake Placid" is that it's only 80 minutes long and when it's over you're glad that you didn't waste more than an hour and a half of your time. It's nothing more than a bad rip-off of, "Jaws" (and I think that's being kind.) It was written by David E. Kelly ("Ally McBeal") as a horror-comedy but fails at both, miserably. I was never scared and I think that I only laughed once. The crocodile even fails in comparison to the snake in, "Anaconda."
The plot begins when a man is eaten in half by the giant crocodile in Black Lake in Maine. That brings the local sheriff (Brendan Gleeson) and a Fish-and-Game warden (Bill Pulman) to investigate. Also, a paleontologist (Bridget Fonda) from New York is sent to look at a tooth and an eccentric millionaire/crocodile lover (Oliver Platt) flies in because he wants to swim beside the beast. Soon there is tension between everybody because half the people want to kill the croc and the other half want to save it. There's also an eccentric old lady (Betty White) who lives by the lake and has a few secrets.
As I mentioned before Kelley and director Steve Minor (H20) don't go for a serious approach towards the material but they also don't have anything sly or satirical or witty to say either. The Betty White character is completely unfunny and none of the other characters are really that interesting, they're all basically idiots. If they had any brains the croc wouldn't have been that much of a challenge to catch and they wouldn't have put themselves in half of the situations that they did. But then again, if they were smart there wouldn't be a movie. Basically, "Lake Placid" is best undiscovered.
Rating: D
Copyright 1999 Samuel Pederson
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