“You ought
to know better than to walk into somebody’s house and start hitting people with
your Rex Harrison hat.”
There are some films you call 80’s
movies, because they are considered classics and happen to be made in the 1980’s
like Die Hard, Ghostbusters, or The Empire Strikes Back. Then there are movies that are called 80’s
movies because of their comment on the time.
In my opinion writer/director John Hughes made two films that fall into
the first category, that being The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day
Off. The latter category which is a
product of its time and is not one of his best, but is one of my favorites is
Weird Science.
The story is
simple, two geeks decide to make a girl on the computer and through movie logic,
she comes to life. She has the power to
do anything, so mayhem ensues. The boys
are played by Ilan Mitchell-Smith as Wyatt and Hughes alumni Anthony Michael
Hall as Gary. The girl they create in
her best performance in any film as Lisa is Kelly LeBrock, she is beautiful,
funny, sassy, and sexy in the role. She
honestly looks like she is having the time of her life, just being an all-powerful
creation of two geeks. As I said the
movie is very dated, it relies mostly on visual gags, funny line readings
mostly by LeBrock and Hall, and a young boy’s memory of what it’s like to be an
outcast. Plus you gotta love Bill Paxton
who is hilarious in every scene as big brother Chet.
Watching the
movie now, I can see some of the shortcomings through the great screenplay by
Hughes, mostly at the end. However,
overall it’s still a very funny movie and does have a slight timeless feel of movies
about a crazy weekend, or having a genie granting your wishes, even the ones
that you didn’t know were for your own good.
I also have an incredible amount of nostalgia that comes with this film,
like a kid who watches the same movie over and over again. I remember Weird Science being in every VCR
of every relative’s house for years. All
of my cousins watched it, and loved it, so much so, that laughing at some of
the scenes now really comes from their reactions to it 26 years ago. John Hughes did speak to a generation about
what it is like to be young and misunderstood in school, and I will always be grateful
for that. But the man made me laugh, and
still does. He will be missed.
--Robert L.
Castillo
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