408: Weird Science

[00:00:00] Alright, let's get to Weird Science. So this is another 80s sci-fi fantasy comedy as I mentioned. Came out in 1985. Is directed by John Hughes. Stars Anthony Michael Hall, Elon Island Mitchell Smith, Kelly LeBrock, Bill Paxton, Suzanne Snyder, Robert Downey Jr., and a few others.

[00:00:24] And the synopsis is two high school nerds use a computer program to literally create the perfect woman who promptly turns their lives upside down. I am a big John Hughes fan for the most part. One of my favorite movies of all time is Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

[00:00:40] I really like Breakfast Club as well and some of his others. This is one I saw for the first time I think in college. I didn't know much about John Hughes at the time.

[00:00:49] I was just trying to find 80s movies to watch that I had never seen and I often heard this one mentioned so it went in fairly blank. I'm a sucker for 80s movies and for 80s comedies especially.

[00:01:00] And even when I saw it for the first time, but especially now, this movie, it's... If you're willing to overlook a million things about the portrayal of Lisa in this, you can enjoy it.

[00:01:13] And maybe I'm being obnoxious, maybe I'm not being obnoxious enough about it, but the movie feels so dated. And I think even when I saw it for the first time, maybe that was seven, eight years ago, I was like, this movie is so sexist and misogynistic.

[00:01:26] And I'm not saying a movie... It is a fantasy for these guys creating the perfect woman. And so I get that. But still the overall portrayal of these two guys basically just using this woman for eye candy and to do their bidding and all that stuff is just...

[00:01:40] It's too overdone. It's so shallow. There is good comedy in terms of just the overall performances and situations, but the overall portrayal of that character and the concept is... It just does not work. And especially, I think every year that goes by, it gets more and more dated.

[00:01:56] By far my least favorite John Hughes movie. I really like the two lead actors. I think the actress who plays Lisa is great. I don't think I've seen her in anything else. It's cool to see Robert Downey Jr. in a very early role.

[00:02:08] He's very good as one of the bullies. Bill Paxton, always fantastic. I love Bill Paxton to death. RIP. And him playing this kind of army brat brother, bully brother is really funny. I love that stupid buzz cut.

[00:02:23] Similar to Bill and Ted, there are some good quotable lines in this, especially from Bill Paxton. The sequence at the night jazz club is hysterical. The performances from the two boys and the cigars, that concept and that delivery is hilarious.

[00:02:41] I can't deny that there are moments in the movie that I find genuinely very funny. It looks cool. It's the very 80s, but it is what it is. It's the product of its time and I think visually it looks pretty good.

[00:02:52] Overall, I do think that by the end, the movie just gets too ridiculous with the bikers and the missile and all that stuff. Where Bill and Ted is very fantastic going over the top, they do find a way, at least

[00:03:05] in some ways to keep it not grounded, but you believe it more so in the world than I would say John Hughes does with this. It is really too bad because I think the overall concept, I get it as a film, which is too

[00:03:21] bad because I want to like the movie more. I think even when I first started watching the movie way back when I was liking it and then by the end I was like, no, this movie isn't really working for me and especially not now.

[00:03:35] I do like the sequence towards the end where the brother Bill Paxton becomes a pile of manure or poop I think it is or at least some kind of blob. I really like that.

[00:03:45] So there are moments that stand out to me that are either funny, just entertaining, ridiculous, but overall the movie goes too far with a lot of things. The portrayal just does not work for me for a variety of reasons.

[00:03:58] Not one I ever really feel the need to rewatch again now that I've done it on the show. I was kind of dreading even rewatching it now for the second time. I wouldn't really recommend it.

[00:04:08] If there's any defenders of the movie out there, please let me know on social media at FilmBuds, letterboxd, email. Let me know because I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. Maybe my opinion will change later on. I don't know.

[00:04:20] But for two watches in, not a fan of the movie and it's too bad that it is, to me at least, a big dark spot on John Hughes' filmography that otherwise is pretty darn good. But this one does not hold up in the slightest.

[00:04:36] So that is a 2 out of 5.