Director: Hugh Wilson
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken, Sissy Spacek
Have I Seen it Before: I remember liking the film a great deal, and I can oddly enough point precisely to when I saw it. One of the last days of Spring Break, 1999. And just about the only thing that could distract one’s mind from the reality that there really was another stretch of eighth grade yet to complete was an impromptu movie. It was between this and something else, and for the life of me, I can’t remember what that other movie would have been. Back then, I was thoroughly amused by the movie.
But a movie can’t possibly hold up for that long, right?
Did I Like It: Mostly, yes. I remember laughing more frequently somehow then, but then again I suppose if you asked me honestly, I probably remember laughing a lot more in general in the late 90s.
If there were a couple of comedy stars more charming than Fraser and Silverstone in their 90s prime*, then they’d likely be just a little too precious for their own good. Here, they are exactly as delightful as they need to be. The concept is just clever enough to hold interest throughout. Only the smallest percentage of jokes age like hot milk, and most of those have to do with an absolutely slumming Dave Foley prancing through a caricature that wouldn’t pass the smell test on a Kids in the Hall sketch.
That’s not a bad batting average. If only we could find the movie that turned back the clock twenty-five years or so.
*Sort of wild to think not so much about how much Silverstone needed a hit after Batman & Robin (1997) forced us all to forget how much we all liked her in Clueless (1995), and that Fraser would just maybe (so far) peak a few months later with The Mummy (1999).