1993 time loop adventure
Rating: 13/20
Plot: An office worker finds himself reliving the same day over and over again and tries his best to hero-up and save a woman he has a crush on from being murdered.
Same source material as the last movie in my Time Travel Movie Fest–a short story by Richard Lupoff–but with dramatically different results. This is more of a sci-fi thriller but with some comedy mixed in. The blend of lighthearted goofiness and the serious violent business doesn’t always work all that well. This isn’t terrible at all, especially for a television movie, but it has an inconsistent tone and suffers a bit from coming out around the same time as the more-memorable Groundhog Day.
I liked that we knew what was going on with the main character before he did. There’s a little inconsistency with Jonathan Silverman’s character Barry because he seems like a bumbling idiot a lot of the time and a little more heroic and suave at other times. There’s more inconsistency with his love interest Lisa played by Helen Slater. Her shifts from icy to warm don’t always work, and I’m not sure I ever liked her nearly as much as the main character. Martin Landau’s in this, and he brings this dignity to the proceedings.
Unlike Groundhog Day, this makes an effort to explain scientifically what is going on with this character. Of course, it didn’t make any sense to me, and I’m not sure if it’s because it’s just not sound science or because I’m stupid. Either way, the explanation isn’t really anything I need in a movie like this.
I suspect that while I’ll remember the big plot points for this one, the smaller details won’t be all that memorable. This movie is likable enough but is strangely derivative for a story that should have been more wild or original.
Oh, and look! It’s Danny Trejo playing a guy in jail. He played a prisoner in at least 8 movies from 1983 to 1993.
