Weird Science

As entertaining as 1985's WEIRD SCIENCE may be, it was still a miss for the bard of teenage angst, John Hughes.  The writer/director dominated the genre in the mid-80s with his insightful, sometimes broad and silly high school sagas that, distilled to their essences, were just age old plots about the desperate need to fit in, to seek approval from peers.  Hughes gave his characters uncommonly intelligent dialogue and keen self-awareness. 

In that regard, WEIRD SCIENCE is no different.  Gary (Hughes reg. Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt (Ilan-Mitchell Smith) are two nerdy guys who are tired of their dismal social standing and humiliation by the cool people.  While Wyatt's folks are away, the boys hatch the farfetched plan of creating the perfect woman on a computer.  With FRANKENSTEIN to inspire them, they hook electrodes to shapely dolls and feed images of pinups and Albert Einstein and hack a government server to create Lisa (Kelly LeBrock), a stunningly beautiful, brilliant, and adventurous young woman with all sorts of powers at her disposal.  While Lisa is at the service of our heroes, willing to do whatever they desire, she's also a fiercely independent spitfire who sets about to right their lives, give them the confidence they desperately need.  But they have to at least feel comfortable showering with her first.

It sounds like some softcore cheapie designed for Cinemax, right? The scenario could easily travel that route, but this PG-13 movie is no exploitation tease.  The seamier elements are mostly kept in check, though there are plenty of sexual innuendoes and anatomy jokes. The film is fairly vulgar, but not in a SPRING BREAK or HARDBODIES sort of way.  Hughes riffs on all the familiar high school cliches: parties, drinking, popularity with his usual sharp eye, but this time with a bevy of special effects that get fairly elaborate.  A piano flies out of a house.  A motorcycle gang of mutants crashes said house.  Wyatt's loathsome older brother, Chet (Bill Paxton, achingly funny) is transformed into a giant frog-like creature.  It all makes sense in context.  It just gets a bit out of hand.

Some scenes just don't work.  Like when Lisa pulls a gun on Gary's dad when he refuses to let him go out. The rhythm, the acting, and the dialogue just don't flow, or make the point in any really humorous fashion.  The scene just sorta lies there.  Of course, it's revealed later that it was just a water gun.  When Lisa brings the boys to a blues club, it's a similarly D.O.A. moment.  Was Hughes going for something akin to that scene in ANIMAL HOUSE when the Deltas visit the all-black joint?

Nonetheless, WEIRD SCIENCE is a fun, highly quotable little flick, now considered a cult item. The performances are just right for this material and there's another decent soundtrack.  Quite the "experiment" for Hughes - melding sci-fi and his brand of high school soap opera - that doesn't quite make it but is still essential viewing for devotees.