My Science Project (1985)

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nTitle: My Science Project (1985)

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nDirector: Jonathan R. Betuel

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nCast: John Stockwell, Danielle Von Zerneck, Fisher Stevens, Dennis Hopper

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nReview:

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nMy Science Project came about around the time when teenagensci-fi comedies like Back to the Future (1985), The Last Star Fighter (1984),nWeird Science (1985) and Real Genius (1985) where huge box office hits. Some ofnthese teen sci-fi comedies made a lot of money, others didn’t fare so well. MynScience Project was one of the ones that didn’t fare so well at the box office.nThere are various reasons that we can attribute to its failure, one of them being that it didn’t have any “it” teenagers or big time producer/directors involvednin its production. For example, Back to the Future starred Michael J. Fox and hadnSteven Spielberg producing, Weird Science had super hot model Kelly LeBrock, RealnGenius had  Val Kilmer, but My SciencenProject counted with no name actors or producers. I mean, Fisher Stevens isn’tnexactly a huge box office draw and neither was anyone else on the film,nbasically, this was one of those movies in which everyone was just getting startednin the industry. Dennis Hoppers role is basically a glorified cameo, so it doesn’tnreally count.  Sometimes in a film, it’snthe special effects that are the star of the show, this was the case with ThenLast Star Fighter which employed computer effects heavily, which was a noveltynat the time. My Science Project also had a huge emphasis on visual effects, questionnis:  were they worth a damn?

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nThe thing about the film is that it starts out fun enough,nwith these teenagers, each doing their thing, one is a geek, the other a greasenmonkey, the other a television/comics freak and I was personally digging thenmovies first half in which we get to meet the protagonists. The girl of thengroup is ‘Ellie’ and she’s writing an article for the school newspaper while atnthe same time trying to go out with the grease monkey ‘Michael’. She’s all headnstrong about it asking him out. Problem is that Michael is confronted by his hippynscience teacher played by Dennis Hopper. By then the film was reminding me ofnBill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), which has a similar premise, twonbest friends have to travel through time to recover real life historicalnfigures in order to pass their history exams. Unfortunately once Michael turns thenmachine on the film turns into a dull visual effects show that never seems tonend. The effects are cool to look and I have to admit, I loved the soundneffects they used for it, but after a while it turns redundant. You simply getnmore of the same thing over and over again. You see, the time warp thing bringsnall sorts of creatures and characters from other times into the local highnschool, so it isn’t long before we’re seeing mutants, cavemen and dinosaursnroaming the halls of the school. I will say that there’s this cool moment wherena T-Rex pops into the school’s gym that I loved. But then we go back to thenoverdose of blue lights.

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nThe concept is a goodnone; the whole thing with having creatures come in and out of time also remindednme a whole lot of Weird Science, a film where they also fooled around with thensame idea. The only difference is that Weird Science was actually funny; thisnone loses the funny by focusing on the visual effects. At the time, these typesnof effects were very popular, I remember that Lifeforce (1985) was another filmnthat had a lot of these flashy blue lights on the screen, the problem for menwith My Science Project is that too much time is spent on the visual effectsnand the characters and their motivations get lost in the shuffle. The romancenbetween Michael and Ellie kind of loses steam; in my opinion they needed tonfocus a bit more on it so things would matter more. There’s this whole subplotnabout Michaels father getting married with a bimbo that has absolutely nothingnto do with the plot, it seems to have been included in there for no reason butnto stretch the films running time. There’s a moment where the film drags, butnthen we go back to the whole thing with the monsters in the school and thingsnget a bit more exciting. Then it’s all about turning off the machine and fighting whatever monsters come out of the worm hole. 

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nIn terms of performances, this movie’s saving grace is ofncourse, Dennis Hopper who plays the stoned out of his mind science teacher. Henisn’t in the film all that much, but when he is he lights up the screen andnsteals the show. Basically, Hopper plays the whole thing as if he was still ‘Billy’nfrom Easy Rider (1969), he says “yeah man” and “far out” a lot and wears anpeace symbol on his neck. He has one of the craziest moments in the film. Thennwe have Fisher Stevens, whom some of you might remember as the guy who inventedn‘Johnny Five’ in Short Circuit (1986). He’s easily the funniest thing in thenmovie, always referencing some 80’s movie or television show. There’s thisnmoment where he talks about John Carpenter’s Christine (1983). That’s one ofnthe things I like about this movie, the kids are all talking about very 80’snthings. For example, there’s this one moment when somebody asks “How many timesnhave you seen Jedi?” At another moment in the film some hoodlums are wearingnstorm trooper helmets! All these 80’s references made the whole thing verynnostalgic for me, I used to watch this one a lot back in the day. How 80’s is this movie? Well, wait till the end credits and hear the theme song for the film, thats how 80’s!. 

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nI watched this one with a friend of mine and she keptnpointing out how hot John Stockwell looked, unfortunately, his good looks didn’tntake him too far, he never turned into an 80’s “it boy”, what he did do wasnbecome a filmmaker. He’s gone on to make films like Crazy/Beautiful (2001), BluenCrush (2002), Into the Blue (2005) and Turistas (2006), his career as anfilmmaker is actually alive and kicking. Fisher Stevens also turned into a directornmaking films like Stand Up Guys (2012) and Just a Kiss (2002). Danielle VonnZerneck ‘s career isn’t filled with that many great films, but to me she willnalways be Ritchie Valens’s  girlfriend “Donna”nin La Bamba (1987). So maybe starring in My Science Project didn’t send them tonstardom, but hey, these protagonists have found a way to thrive in the filmnindustry in other ways. The only one whose career in the film industry fizzled wasnthe films director, Jonathan Betuel. He wrotenand directed the film, which was kind of cool because he also happens to be thenguy who wrote The Last Star Fighter (1984), one of my favorite films from then80’s. The success of The Last Star Figther is probably what got him this gig. Afternbeing involved in the making of these two films, he never directed any featurenfilms of note, unless you count the Whoopi Goldberg vehicle Theodore Rex (1995) which cost 33 million dollars yet wentnstraight to video, which probably explains why Betuel never worked again in the film industry, that’s what I callnone expensive flop! I haven’t seen Theodore Rex, but it is heralded as one of thenworst films ever made. They say it’s kind of like a remake of Blade Runner, butnwith Harrison Ford as a Dinosaur? Damn, now that I think about it, I’m going to have to see that! I’ll have me one of those ‘bad movie nights’.  Bottom line with My Science Project is, it’snnot a ‘top tier’ 80’s film, but it’s not completely forgettable rubbish either.nIf you’re feeling nostalgic about the 80’s, it’s at least worth a watch.

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nRating: 3 out of 5

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