Film

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.

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