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- BLAST FROM THE PAST (DVD MOVIE)
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 1-JUN-2004
Media Type: DVDAlicia Silverstone was so hot after the success of Clueless that she formed her own production company at the age of 19, and Excess Baggage was the first movie she chose as a starring vehicle. Silverstone plays Emily, a spoiled rich girl who has everything but her father's affection, so she decides to stage her own kidnapping to see if dad will come to his senses and appreciate the daughter he so blindly disregards. But when Emily locks herself in the trunk of her own car, she's surprised when the car is stolen by Vincent (Benicio Del Toro, from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), a professional car thief whose part! ner (Harry Connick Jr.) has misplaced $200,000 of the Mob's money. Christopher Walken stars as Emily's "Uncle Ray," who's hot on her trail as she goes on the lam with Vincent. It's not the meandering plot that matters so much as the funny dialogue between Silverstone and Del Toro, who steals his scenes with a smoky mumble and easygoing charm. This one is mostly for Alicia fans, but the film has got enough good laughs and low-key appeal to make it a home-video sleeper. --Jeff ShannonStudio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 10/07/2008The author of How to Stop Looking for Someone Perfect and Find Someone to Love helps readers discover what about themselves keeps them from getting what they want. Reprint. 150,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo. Tour.Alicia Silverstone was so hot after the success of Clueless that she formed her own production company at the age of 19, and Excess Baggage was the first movie she chose as a starring vehicl! e. Silverstone plays Emily, a spoiled rich girl who has everyt! hing but her father's affection, so she decides to stage her own kidnapping to see if dad will come to his senses and appreciate the daughter he so blindly disregards. But when Emily locks herself in the trunk of her own car, she's surprised when the car is stolen by Vincent (Benicio Del Toro, from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), a professional car thief whose partner (Harry Connick Jr.) has misplaced $200,000 of the Mob's money. Christopher Walken stars as Emily's "Uncle Ray," who's hot on her trail as she goes on the lam with Vincent. It's not the meandering plot that matters so much as the funny dialogue between Silverstone and Del Toro, who steals his scenes with a smoky mumble and easygoing charm. This one is mostly for Alicia fans, but the film has got enough good laughs and low-key appeal to make it a home-video sleeper. --Jeff ShannonStudio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 11/09/2010Coasting on the successes of Gods and Monsters and George of the ! Jungle, Brendan Fraser turns in yet another winning performance in this fish-out-of-water comedy in which Pleasantville meets modern-day Los Angeles, with predictably funny results. Fraser stars as Adam, who was born in the bomb shelter of his paranoid inventor dad (a less-manic-than-usual Christopher Walken), who spirited his pregnant wife (Sissy Spacek, in fine comic form) underground when he thought the Communists dropped the bomb (actually, it was a plane crash). Armed with enough supplies to last 35 years, the parents bring up Adam in Leave It to Beaver style with nary any exposure to the outside world. When the supplies run out, and dad suffers a heart attack, Fraser goes up to modern-day L.A. for some shopping and long-awaited culture shock. More of a cute premise with lots of clever ideas attached than a fully fleshed out story, Blast from the Past is also supposed to be part romantic comedy, as the hunky Adam hooks up with his jaded Eve (Alicia Si! lverstone) and tries to convince her to marry him and go under! ground. The sparks don't fly, though, because Silverstone is saddled with the triple whammy of being miscast, playing an underwritten character, and suffering a very bad hairdo. Fraser, however, carries the film lightly and easily on his broad, goofy shoulders, mixing Adam's gee-whiz innocence with genuine emotion and curiosity; only Fraser could pull off Adam's first glimpse of a sunrise or the ocean with both humor and pathos. Also winning is Dave Foley as Silverstone's gay best friend, who manages to make the most innocuous statements sound like comic gems. --Mark Englehart
