Weird Science
directed by John Hughes
starring Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, and Bill Paxton
Arrow Films
Weird Science came out in 1985 as John Hughes’s 10th film, depending on how you count. His big hits, Sixteen Candles and Breakfast Club, and a pair of well-received National Lampoon titles made him a bona fide star. While Weird Science may not his best effort, it’s still an entertaining and profitable movie with a few brilliant points, including Bill Paxton as the “Chet Monster” puppet. Chet is gross and weird in a good way, and his appearance may well be the pinnacle of this film.
The film’s premise is straightforward: Gary (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) are awkward yet horny teens, each with a bit of a nerd streak in them and access to state-of-the-art computers. And by “state of the art,” I mean 8-bit antiques with 5-inch floppy disks and a screen that has about a kilobyte of pixels. But that’s enough to go on, and the boys set out to build a perfect digital woman. They feed the computer glossy cutouts from Playboy, and magically, the stunning Lisa appears, played by Kelly LeBrock. Lisa cleans the boys up a bit and takes them clubbing in an iffy part of town — at least iffy for two awkward white kids from the ‘burbs. That leads to a car chase and a house destroying party. It’s just some 8-bit yearnings, but they did nearly destroy the house. That’s the big confidence builder even if the school bullies are still able to whip their butts in gym class.
While the premise is sound, the dialog can occasionally be cringeworthy by today’s standards. I always wrestle with those moral problems. What is sociably acceptable is a fluid question in all eras, and today we have hard, digital evidence of what we said back then, and sometimes it’s not pretty.
Backing up the new 4K UHD Blu-ray edition, we have the usual stack of behind-the-scenes production shorts and commentary tracks, all of which are well done. I suspect many of you may have seen Weird Science on initial release, and while the emotions still get to you, the gags often fall flat and the premise is wobbly at best, but given time, all cinema attains that sepia tint of nostalgia, and a condescending smirk of “look a those quaint old teens.” The nostalgia is setting it, and even the fact I received the film by mail seems a bit old school.
If you were the nerdy kid who wanted a hot date, there’s still a resonance here, even if you never trashed a house.
