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Review by Susan Granger
3 stars out of 4
What would the world look like to you if you had grown up in a plush,
multi-room suburban bomb fallout shelter that was supposed to be a
refuge from the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis? That's the premise of this
genial comedy that begins underground. Raised with only his paranoid
parents - dutiful yet frustrated Sissy Spacek and brilliant
scientist/inventor Christopher Walken - as role models and completely
isolated from outside information, Brendan Fraser ("George of the
Jungle") has a decidedly wholesome '60s value system. When he comes to
the surface of modern-day Los Angeles for supplies - and, perhaps, a
bride - he must keep his history a secret, which causes lots of
complications when he meets beautiful but hard-edged Alicia
Silverstone, who doesn't know what to make of this gentle, impossibly
well-mannered and archaically dressed hunk of adorable naivete. Nor
does her platonic room-mate, David Foley, whose overt homosexuality
Fraser never quite picks up on. Directed and co-written by Hugh Wilson
with Bill Kelly, it's conceptually the opposite of "Pleasantville,"
which threw two contemporary teens into the monochromatic world of a
'50s sitcom. But, while "Pleasantville" addressed some serious issues,
this frothy fluff is heavy into sheer silliness - and far too much
time is clumsily wasted on the elaborate set-up for the actual
story. Once again, Brendan Fraser proves his adroitness as a lovable,
innocent goofball in a fish-out-of-water situation and, if you're
intrigued by this young actor, I highly recommend you see him spar
with Ian McKellen in "Gods and Monsters." On the Granger Movie Gauge
of 1 to 10, "Blast from the Past" is a sweetly satirical 7. Frothy
fun.
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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out of 4
