= 3 stars

Starring Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock, Bill Paxton
Directed by John Hughes

I must say, watching a movie that I found hilarious as a teenager is a guilty pleasure (obviously, since I’ve done it repeatedly). 1985’s Weird Science has many of the charms and excesses of that period, more so as it’s directed by John Hughes, creator of several quintessential 80s teen flicks like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Pretty And Pink. In comparison with these, Weird Science is certainly the worst, but I didn’t find it half bad.

Weird Science is essentially a teenage boy’s fantasy realized. Gary and Wyatt, two geeks (their loserness quickly established after a pantsing before a girls’ PE class) decide to create the ultimate babe using home computer technology. Lisa, the made babe (Kelly LeBrock) reciprocates by making the nerds into studs through a Chicago bar visit, turning the bullies jealous, and spearheading an awesome, bitching party at Wyatt’s house, to which cute girls are invited. The house is predictably destroyed but repaired just before the clueless parents return.

Anyhow, through thirty-something eyes, the film is basically a series of amusing scenes with not much substance holding them together. None of the characters get beyond their stereotypes or really change - Kelly LeBrock is just “the awesome, hot babe” and the geeks are still geeks. There’s a scene where she confronts Gary’s parents, but the dialogue festers, and the resolution is for Lisa to pull out a gun, quote another eighties movie, and wipe the parents’ memory. Yeah, it’s entertaining for teenagers to see a hot babe pull a gun on mom and dad, but I can’t shake the feeling that Hughes couldn’t write his way out.

Not that any of this really matters, as I found the wackiness hilarious enough to compensate. There’s much juvenile nonsense like bras on heads and CGI breast size. The bar scene with a drunk Gary doing a pimp routine is quite crazy and wince inducing simultaneously. There’s even a band of Mad Max bikers that crash the party (wasn’t one of them in the Goonies).

I also laughed at the notoriously dated fashions of the 80s. Seriously, the “cool kids” look worse than the geeks in expensive shoulder pads, perms, neon eye shadow, earrings, and pins that can now all be found in the “free” bin at your local thrift store. Note a young Robert Downey Jr. as a prissied up rooster who dumps an ICEE on Gary’s head at the mall (the ultimate 80s teenage bummer). Special award goes to Kelly LeBrock’s hair - so high it may have been another character completely.

Another character worth noting is the truly disgusting, bully older brother Chet, young republican type (I’m sure by now would be working as a private contractor for the Bush Administration). Some really simple things he does like walking backwards into a door and opening it with his elbows, and twiddling a cigar, are still pretty funny.

Oh yeah, and Oingo Boingo did the theme song - how can you go wrong?

IMDB: Weird Science
Wikipedia: Weird Science
Rotten Tomatoes: Weird Science

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