Blast from the Past

reviewed by Vivian Rose, age 14, from US

"Blast from the Past" is a tolerable movie.

Brendan Frasier stars as Adam, a thirty-five year old man who has been living his entire life underground, in a tightly sealed chamber with his parents. (Just hours before his birth in 1962, his parents took cover in their expansive bomb shelter because of the nuclear war threat.) When an airplane crashed into their house while they were hiding in their bomb shelter, the shelter locked itself up tight for thirty-five years - at which point it would be safe for them to venture aboveground. (No such thing ever happened, of course.) Now, Adam goes aboveground to find food, other supplies, and, hopefully, a wife.

Obviously, a lot has changed. Adam, however, doesn't seem to be very bright, and doesn't exactly catch on. (Have you noticed that when a comedy places its main character in a very odd situation, the character is always an imbecile to begin with?) It's not long before he meets Eve (Alicia Silverstone), and naturally she falls for him.

I liked the concept of this movie - people staying underground for a long period of time- but I would have liked to see it done more seriously. Also, there were a lot of discrepancies, which could have been made more realistic. At one point, Adam picks up a remote control and seems to use it quite familiarly.

"Blast from the Past" struck me as "Austin Powers of Suburbia", except that Austin Powers didn't age for thirty years. Also, the "Austin Powers" movie was a lot funnier.

My rating: 2 stars

Rating : PG-13 for brief language, sex and drug references

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