Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in Chicago, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Encino Man (1992)
Director: Les Mayfield
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This depressingly witless teen comedy continues the revenge-of-the-nerds theme popularised by Bill, Ted, Wayne and Garth. 'It's not enough to be a geek from Encino,' Harold (Astin) tells spaced-out friend Dave (Shore), 'I'm gonna be Prom King'. The message of these films is not just that the last shall be first, but that it's cool to bea dweeb. What's striking is that the underdogsare not transformed by their experiences - the ugly ducklings don't become swans - but their values are completely vindicated, and the world (Wayne's world) remade in their image. Here, Dave and Harold dig up a frozen caveman in their back yard, defrost and groom him, and in no time 'Link' (Fraser) is all but indistinguishable from the other high school neanderthals. That Link's make-over proves so painless - so devoid of comic or dramatic situations - suggests that this high-concept movie forgot what it was about.Author: TCh
Cast & crew
Director: Les Mayfield
Producer: George Zaloom
Cast: Sean Astin, Brendan Fraser, Pauly Shore, Megan Ward, Robin Tunney, Mariette Hartley, Richard Masur, Michael DeLuise full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 88 mins
Features
Gray's anatomy
James Gray wants to push buttons—again.
The next big thing?
Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.
Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema
So you think you can dance, comrade?
Puppet master
Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.
Socratic method
Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.
Wander woman
Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.
Oscars
Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.
What do you think?
Post your review now