WEIRD SCIENCE (FILM)

'''Weird Science''' (1985) is a popular 1980s teen film written and directed by John Hughes and starring Kelly LeBrock.
The title song was written and performed by American New Wave stalwarts Oingo Boingo.
'Taglines:'

★ It's all in the name of science. 'Weird Science'.

★ It's purely sexual. (UK)

★ If you can't get a date, make one!

★ They went from zeroes to heroes in one fantastic weekend.
The title "Weird Science" was taken from the famous pre-Comics Code 1950s EC Comics magazine ''Weird Science''.

Contents

Plot summary

Cast

Other facts

Goofs

Criticisms and comparisons to other Hughes films

TV series

External links

Footnotes

Plot summary

Two pubescent nerds, Gary (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith), unpopular and unable to meet girls on their own, use a computer to design the perfect woman. They feed various data (images mostly) into Wyatt's computer. Lacking sufficient processing power, they hack into a US Government mainframe and use its power to create a computer simulation of "the perfect woman" in order to place her in "real life sexual situations" and see how she reacts. A bizarre electrical storm (à la ''Frankenstein'', their inspiration) follows, and they find themselves unable to shut the computer off.
Mysteriously, the result is "Lisa" (Kelly LeBrock), a real-life woman (who emerges from a red fog in the bathroom). She is a sexed-up but deeply caring "80's babe" with Einstein's IQ, David Lee Roth's attitude and inexplicable supernatural powers. Self-aware from the moment of her creation, Lisa sets about revealing their inner coolness, transforming Gary and Wyatt from nerds into men through a series of wacky and bizarre adventures. Using her magic powers, she takes them to a Blues Club, confronts Wyatt's nasty, bullying, domineering older brother Chet (Bill Paxton), and throws a giant party at Wyatt's upscale home. In the end, the boys get no sex from their mentor, but are seemingly on the path to a relationship with two cute girls their own age.

Cast

★ Anthony Michael Hall as Gary Wallace

★ Ilan Mitchell-Smith as Wyatt Donnelly

★ Kelly LeBrock as Lisa

★ Bill Paxton as Chet Donnelly

★ Suzanne Snyder as Deb

★ Judie Aronson as Hilly

★ Robert Downey, Jr. as Ian

★ Robert Rusler as Max

★ Vernon Wells as Lord General

★ Britt Leach as Al Wallace, Gary's dad

★ Barbara Lang as Lucy Wallace, Gary's mom

★ Ivor Barry as Henry Donnelly, Wyatt and Chet's grandfather

★ Ann Coyle as Carmen Donnelly, Wyatt and Chet's grandmother

★ Michael Berryman as Mutant Biker

★ Jennifer Balgobin as Female Biker

★ John Kapelos as Dino

★ Jill Whitlow as Susan, perfume salegirl

★ Chino 'Fats' Williams as Bar Patron

★ Jeff Jensen as Metal Face

Other facts

★ John Hughes wrote this film in two days.

★ Anthony Michael Hall makes a reference to a girlfriend from Canada. His character "Brian" from ''The Breakfast Club'' (1985) also makes a reference to an imaginary girlfriend from Canada.

★ Kelly LeBrock initially turned down the role of Lisa, as she was vacationing in France at the time and was "having too much fun riding horses on the beach".

★ The Time Magazine from which Gary and Wyatt accidentally create a nuclear missile is the January 31, 1983 issue. ^[1]

★ Shermer, the fictional town in which many of John Hughes' movies are set, is derived from the name of a village (Shermerville) outside Chicago, Illinois. Northbrook, an affluent suburb, is the community used to represent Shermer in Hughes' films. Shermer Road can be found there.

★ During the computer scene, when the two are gaining access to a better computer, a reference to The Twilight Zone is made; The Twilight Zone intro is shown as computer generated images.

Goofs

★ Gary's shoes at his headboard change positions between shots.

★ When everything is being "sucked" out of the house, the girl playing the piano is obviously being pulled by a cable.

★ Right before Ian and Max drop the Icee on Wyatt and Gary, the cup is filled well over the top. Seconds later when they drop it, the level of the liquid in the cup has dropped considerably.

★ Lisa gets a beer for Gary and puts it down in front of him at the beginning of the scene when she meets his parents. A minute later, the glass of beer is gone.

Criticisms and comparisons to other Hughes films

''Weird Science'' is generally not viewed as favorably as John Hughes’ other coming of age teen films, such as ''The Breakfast Club'', ''Pretty in Pink'', ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'', and ''Sixteen Candles''. For example, the movie is rated at 53% on the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes, whereas the other aforementioned Hughes films have a combined average rating of almost 91%.
The humour in the film is aimed more at teenage boys, and centers around the fantasy of creating the “perfect woman”. Similarly, the comedy is broader and raunchier than in other Hughes films, and there are no strong teenage female characters.
Despite this, the film shares some themes common to all of Hughes' classic teen films. Examples of these include the virtue of being true to oneself, the value of friendship and the difficulties faced by those who are different.

TV series

:''Main article: Weird Science (TV series)
A television show based on the film debuted in 1994 and ran for 88 episodes. Following the same basic plot as the movie it starred Vanessa Angel as Lisa, Michael Manasseri as Wyatt, John Mallory Asher as Gary, and Lee Tergesen as Chet.

External links

★ The Weird Science DVD Official Universal Studios Site

★

Footnotes

1. http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,1101830131,00.html