Blast From the Past Review
by Craig Roush (kinnopio AT execpc DOT com)February 21st, 1999
BLAST FROM THE PAST
** 1/2 (out of 4) - an enjoyable movie
Release Date: February 12, 1999
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken, Sissy Spacek, Dave Foley
Directed by: Hugh Wilson
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (brief language, sex and drug references)
Everyday life has a certain odd humor to it, especially to the uninformed viewer. Many of us have grown accustomed to it, having been frequent observers of "everyday life" for most of our lives. But pop sitcoms like "Seinfeld" have made millions by showing us how funny life really is, and now cinema has taken up that task as well. Like last year's HOLY MAN, which took a character unfamiliar with modern society and dropped him into pop culture, BLAST FROM THE PAST gives us a fresh and envigorating look at what society really is.
This brand new perspective of the ordinary is accompanied by quite a few laughs, too. Aided by Brendan Fraser's innocent countenance, which he used to great effect in 1997's GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE, and the straight-faced humor which Christopher Walken has mastered, the script manages to engage the audience in a charming manner. Although the jokes are rough on the edges early on, by the middle of the movie's 110-minute running time the comedy is very polished.
Directed by Hugh Wilson, who helmed the first POLICE ACADEMY movie, there's no reason it shouldn't be polished. Wilson also wrote the script with rookie scribe Bill Kelly, and it tells the story of the quentessential 60's family, the Webbers. Although perhaps a bit eccentric, everything appears normal until we learn that Calvin Webber (Walken) has been constructing a fallout shelter underneath his garage, and when news of the Cuban Missile Crisis breaks, Calvin and his wife Helen (Sissy Spacek) go underground for thirty years. It's there that Helen gives birth to Adam (Fraser), whom the Webbers raise on their own for nearly thirty years. Only then does Adam return to the surface to give us the AUSTIN POWERS-esque situation of a man from the sixties stuck in the nineties.
While on the surface, Adam unwittingly meets and charms Eve Rustikov (Alicia Silverstone), with the help of her gay friend Troy (David Foley). Both Silverstone and Foley play these roles perfectly, with Silverstone developing excellent romantic chemistry and Foley doing humorous asides. They make the movie a joy to watch, and the script, which takes a nearly implausible premise and makes it happen, is also in good form. Boiled down, BLAST FROM THE PAST is simply a bread-and-butter romantic comedy -- the narrative cop-out of an ending gives this away -- but it's good, clean, fun and that's all that counts. For those not looking for the serious drama of weepy love affairs, this is the ticket.
all contents © 1999 Craig Roush
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Craig Roush
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Kinnopio's Movie Reviews
http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio
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